ok so whats the deal with raising & eating rabbits?

[DianeS]

Yes my DW had the same "cute" issue yesterday when I told her we should raise them for food but I think I can talk her into it.

Anyone have any advice on that? How do you deal with it?

I like litters that all look alike. One may do cute things and you start to like that rabbit, but the next day you can't tell which one it was because they're all the same color. That helps me, personally.
To get that, I use bland, solid-colored breeding stock, primarially Californians.

I have also learned that I have a soft spot for brown-eyed rabbits, but find the ones that glow red in the dark to be rather creepy. So red-eyed stock for my meat rabbits all the way!

 

[lorihadams]

we use a .22 short shot deringer to the back of the head. quick and easy and no do overs needed.

 

[MyKidLuvsGreenEgz]

We're getting rid of one of our flocks of chickens so next year we'll have rabbits in their 6x10 kennel, covered on 3 sides with tarp-covered osb. Very little snow gets in. Cover front with tarps on very cold days. Wondering if meat rabbits would do okay in there, each in their own "cage", off the ground, of course, with a shoot underneath to collect poo. Chickens in the next kennel, about 1 foot away. Both are covered with this huge lean-to.

Thoughts?

 

[Dawn419]

we use a .22 short shot deringer to the back of the head. quick and easy and no do overs needed.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I'd asked about using my little deringer to "do the job" on our meat rabbits years ago and never got a direct answer. Peeps were to busy coaching me on gun safety, which would have been appreciated if I hadn't been around guns before. I grew up with them, have a very healthy respect for them and carried the M60 for the Met Section (gathered wind/air info for the gun batteries/field artillery) in the Army.

Since I never got the answer I was looking for, we bartered with the neighbor to do the deed.

 

[lorihadams]

We just got into meat rabbits and the guy we got them from suggested using a tack hammer to whack them in the back of the head. I just couldn't do that in front of my children (age 4 and 6). They have both been hunting with us before and have seen us shoot a deer and have also seen us cut the heads off our meat chickens but bludgeoning just seems a little barbaric for me.

We used a forked stick to pin the rabbit to the ground. Lift up the ears and place the stick over the neck and press down. Put the barrel of the deringer to the back of the head, just behind the ears and shoot forward towards the middle of the eye area. Quick and easy. Didn't bother my kids at all. Took two of us to do it though and that is the only drawback, I held the rabbit for my husband to pin it and then stepped back once he had it secure while he shot it. We only had a couple that moved a bit after the shot so it really wasn't bad.

My 4 yr old DD got bored with it and went and played in the sandbox while we finished. My 6 yr old DS thought it was cool to see the innards.

I would have answered you if I had been doing it back then, Dawn.

 

[Dawn419]

Actually, Lori, your answer is right on time as we will be getting back into meat rabbits sometime in the near future.

We got a great deal on some cages (feeders, waterers and nest boxes included) in July of last year but still need to get a shed built to protect the cages from the weather.

When we had the meat rabbits in TN, I tried naming them with food names...didn't help me at all so I won't be doing the name thing anymore.

 

[lorihadams]

I don't name anyone either. It made it easier that the first 12 we had to butcher came to us about 2-3 weeks before butchering so we didn't really have time to get attached.

We are expecting our first official planned litter any day now. We lost 2 litters over xmas because we didn't know the does were pregnant. They came to us pregnant or got pregnant without us knowing the dates. WE suspected they were but had no way to know when they were due. We lost 11 kits because they froze to death. We were getting ready to put a nesting box in with one when she kindled and the other threw everything out of the box we put in there and then had them on the floor 2 days later. I am giving her one more shot at motherhood and if she does the same thing again I will be getting a replacement doe. I hate it cause I really like that particular doe, she's very sweet and easily handled but if she won't kindle properly then there is no point in keeping her.

We have to build new hutches cause the ones we got with all the bunnies just aren't working. They are too deep and need repair. I'm thinking we'll pull all the wire off of them and rebuild with new materials for the framing and do it the way we want it. I want all wire floors, much easier to keep clean. Everything needs a good scrubbing too...power washing really. The guy we got them from really isn't into cleanliness.