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SurvivalGround >> Raising Rabbits
| 7/4/11 10:40 AM | |
jjgrappler1017
Member Since: 10/25/07 Posts: 298 |
I see in the survival ground that alot of people are talking of self-sufficiency with gardening and other things. I have not really seen anyone talk about raising rabbits. They're quiet, don't smell, easy to keep, and quite prolific. I raise rabbits and they're the easiest animal I have ever dealt with. |
| 7/4/11 11:17 AM | |
CR1chard
7 
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 8436 |
I know several people that will use rabbit droppings for fertilizer/compost, but don't know anyone cold-hearted enough to process a bunny for food. |
| 7/4/11 1:43 PM | |
Ham and Egger
63
Member Since: 4/19/04 Posts: 1546 |
I was thinking about getting some Angora Bunnies. That way I could use their droppings, Id either sell their fur or my wife would start learning how to knit. If I had to Id eat them but she would not like it... |
| 7/4/11 2:22 PM | |
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jjgrappler1017
Member Since: 10/25/07 Posts: 299 |
I raise them to eat and my old lady isn't fond of the idea either. But they are a great multipurpose animal. The droppings are great for the garden and can be put right in the garden. The pelts can be used and the meat is delicious. |
| 7/4/11 7:49 PM | |
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jjgrappler1017
Member Since: 10/25/07 Posts: 300 |
Most breeeds can tolerate the cold weather. Keep them out of rain and wind and they will do fine. A popular breed for people to start out with are Californians and New Zealands. They have fast grow out rates and are pretty easy to find in most areas. |
| 7/4/11 7:51 PM | |
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LakerGirl
203
Member Since: 9/13/06 Posts: 11707 |
My father raises them. He usually slaughters them, smokes them and then pays his tabs at a local bar with the tender delicious meat. He also utilizes a hanging pen system for them so they stay off the ground. They reproduce like, well, rabbits. He bought a few about 10 years back and they just keep reupping. |
| 7/4/11 8:43 PM | |
|
jjgrappler1017
Member Since: 10/25/07 Posts: 301 |
LakerGirl - My father raises them. He usually slaughters them, smokes them and then pays his tabs at a local bar with the tender delicious meat. He also utilizes a hanging pen system for them so they stay off the ground. They reproduce like, well, rabbits. He bought a few about 10 years back and they just keep reupping. If that aint the truth lol. I also have mine in hanging cages as well. They are an easy animal to start out with, I would argue even easier than keeping chickens. |
| 7/7/11 11:03 PM | |
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Ham and Egger
63
Member Since: 4/19/04 Posts: 1587 |
superCalo -JkdSam - They're more of a survival food than a self sufficiency food. You can eat them until you're full and still starve to death. Its called rabbit starvation. Lean meats dont have everything you need to survive so you die of malnutrition. |
| 7/8/11 2:53 AM | |
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Ham and Egger
63
Member Since: 4/19/04 Posts: 1593 |
superCalo -Ham and Egger -superCalo -JkdSam - They're more of a survival food than a self sufficiency food. You can eat them until you're full and still starve to death. Any super lean meat. Some believe youd die sooner than if you ate nothing at all. You just stuff yourself full of nothing but lean meat and get protein poisoning. You get starved for fat. You've got to eat other things. The groups that depend on the blubber animals are the most fortunate in the hunting way of life, for they never suffer from fat-hunger. This trouble is worst, so far as North America is concerned, among those forest Indians who depend at times on rabbits, the leanest animal in the North, and who develop the extreme fat-hunger known as rabbit-starvation. Rabbit eaters, if they have no fat from another source—beaver, moose, fish—will develop diarrhoea in about a week, with headache, lassitude and vague discomfort. If there are enough rabbits, the people eat till their stomachs are distended; but no matter how much they eat they feel unsatisfied. Some think a man will die sooner if he eats continually of fat-free meat than if he eats nothing, but this is a belief on which sufficient evidence for a decision has not been gathered in the North. Deaths from rabbit-starvation, or from the eating of other skinny meat, are rare; for everyone understands the principle, and any possible preventive steps are naturally taken. I do plan on getting some rabbits, but after I get this gardening thing down and add a few more raised beds. |
| 7/8/11 2:54 AM | |
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Ham and Egger
63
Member Since: 4/19/04 Posts: 1594 |
^^^ The large paragraph in the middle was written by an explorer named Vilhjalmur Stefansson. |
| 7/8/11 9:17 PM | |
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jjgrappler1017
Member Since: 10/25/07 Posts: 308 |
JkdSam - They're more of a survival food than a self sufficiency food. You can eat them until you're full and still starve to death. That has to do with wild rabbits lack of fat. Domesticated rabbits have more fat still it wouldn't be the only thing I would eat. |
| 7/10/11 11:19 PM | |
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eljamaiquino
Member Since: 4/2/08 Posts: 3374 |
If you have legumes, nuts, or olives, I think the lack of fat wouldn't be a huge problem.... |
| 7/17/11 11:34 PM | |
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Saiga12
28
Member Since: 7/17/09 Posts: 961 |
Wrap them in bacon, problem solved. Bacon is the solution to many of life's problems. Working on getting my privacy fence finished before I start raising rabbits. I thought my neighbors were going to call animal control last year when I used the beam on my wood shed to hang and process a doe I killed. Couldn't imagine the horrified looks they'd give me when I kill and skin cute little bunnies. |
| 7/20/11 3:45 PM | |
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Warcraft
Member Since: 4/25/11 Posts: 38 |
What's the best way to cook rabbit? |
| 7/25/11 2:15 PM | |
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jjgrappler1017
Member Since: 10/25/07 Posts: 310 |
Cook it much like chicken. The only thing to watch out for is drying it out since it is a leaner meat. If you use a younger rabbit named a fryer they can be cooked quicker because they are more tender. Older rabbits known as roasters need to be slow cooked like in a crock pot because they aren't as tender. |
| 7/29/11 12:37 AM | |
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n2bateyou
35
Member Since: 4/18/06 Posts: 3966 |
The reservations regarding on rabbits regarding 'protein poisining' are easily overcome by adding something simple to your diet like nuts, pork, any kind of simple carbohydrate, bear meat is fatty... Depending on any single source of food is foolish anyhow, if disease struck you would be screwed. But they would be a very simple source of quality protein |
| 9/23/11 4:15 PM | |
Hessian
Member Since: 8/19/06 Posts: 5679 |
Warcraft - What's the best way to cook rabbit? For most people it is made into a stew. I boil it and then use the next day after marinating for Thai dishes. |
| 9/25/11 4:00 PM | |
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NonIntervention
Member Since: 3/23/11 Posts: 631 |
Good article for beginners in this months Mother Earth News on this subject. I don't get upset about killing Bambi, Wilbur, or Chickens, but I have my doubts about being able to snap rabbit necks and be OK. |
| 11/13/11 4:30 PM | |
|
B17
475
Member Since: 2/16/08 Posts: 8703 |
sub |
| 11/13/11 7:51 PM | |
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de braco
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 1057 |
NonIntervention - Good article for beginners in this months Mother Earth News on this subject. Start keeping some and see their demeanor and social interactions. You'll get over that in a hurry. |
| 11/14/11 7:45 PM | |
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NonIntervention
Member Since: 3/23/11 Posts: 831 |
^I keep chickens ad kill them already. It's not fun but I can do it. I don't currently have pigs, but have spent lots of time around them and have done the deed myself. |
| 11/14/11 9:57 PM | |
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de braco
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 1059 |
I was speaking specifically about rabbits. It's not pretty. I had a commercial rabbitery 30 yrs ago, can't stand the sight of one to this day. The way to go would be with a warren system. It does away with a lot of the cannibalism and health issues. |
| 11/14/11 10:20 PM | |
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Hessian
Member Since: 8/19/06 Posts: 6072 |
I would rather harvest rabbits all day then chickens. Good cleaver and a good skinning knife. Also a hanging hook rack or two. A good yank and off to the next one. |
| 11/14/11 10:34 PM | |
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de braco
Member Since: 1/1/01 Posts: 1062 |
Rabbits are much easier |
| 11/16/11 12:08 AM | |
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NonIntervention
Member Since: 3/23/11 Posts: 832 |
de braco - I was speaking specifically about rabbits. It's not pretty. I had a commercial rabbitery 30 yrs ago, can't stand the sight of one to this day. The way to go would be with a warren system. It does away with a lot of the cannibalism and health issues. I read you totally wrong. I see what you meant now. |
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