Animals for meat setup help (likely rabbits)

[The Birb King]

View attachment 3411085

That rooster is like "Ha imagine being stuck in a cage!"

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I posted the picture to show I am no longer raising them in large runs individually. Couldn't keep them from digging out. Now I have 4 (soon to be 5, maybe 6 if I can fit it) individual pens plus two breeder pens which are much larger.

 

[grizleyguy]

What about Muscovy ducks. They free range. Require little additional food. Great at brooding and raising ducklings. Also awesome meat. They do take longer to mature but it only costs ur time. Just feed enuf to get them in there duck pen to lock em up at night. Cheaper and easier than chicken or rabbit raising

 

[The Birb King]

On second thought, maybe get guineas for meat.

 

[NatJ]

If I add a rooster and assuming my chickens are for egg production (2 of them seem quite meaty maybe they are apt for meat too) would their descendents be fine for meat?

Any chicken is edible.
Some grow bigger than others, and some grow faster than others, but even the smallest will usually get larger than a quail.

If you butcher them young, they are more tender.
If you butcher them older, they are bigger but the meat is more tough.
No matter how old they are, you can always grind the meat (like for sausage), or chop it into small pieces, or cook it long and slow with moisture. And of those methods will make it chewable.

Letting them rest for a few days after butchering but before cooking would also make them less tough than if you skip that step.

While googling I landed on a vegan page that claimed most rabbits were killed at 3 weeks right after weaning but from what I've read that's rare and most people process them between 8 and 12 weeks but it did make me think, can I process them after weaning as they claim? Has anyone here done that? We do eat suckling pig at 2 months which affects meat texture and flavor (most consider it for the best). What size is a 4 week rabbit? Maybe the right size for a single meal? It'd be some work to prepare one rabbit for just one meal but I could see myself spending a couple of hours dispatching and preparing many rabbits every once in a while and freezing the excess for later consumption. That would also save on feed because you'd only need to feed the couple, not to mention not needing to sex the rabbits and having further hatches (unless when replacing the reproduction couple).

If I do want to dispatch between 8 and 12 weeks how much do they eat between when they start eating feed until slaughter?

You could butcher rabbits as young as you like, but I would probably aim for 8 weeks or so.

Butchering them at 8-12 weeks works well because they are not mature yet, so the whole litter can live in one pen together and you don't need to separate the sexes.
I don't remember how much they eat (it's been a while since I raised them), but overall the 8-12 week range is considered one of the best ranges for how fast they grow on how many pounds of food.

The "best" age to butcher is not the same for everyone. So if you try rabbits, I would suggest you look at a 4-week bunny, and maybe butcher one, and do another one a few weeks later, and another one a few weeks after that. Once you've done one litter at a range of ages, you will probably have a pretty good idea of which ages are best for your situation.

(That last paragraph goes for chickens too. Butcher a few at different ages, beginning at "probably too early" and ending with "probably too late," and that will help you learn what is best in your situation.)

If I choose to leave for a week will rabbits be ok by themselves if I put enough water and feed? Can they control what they eat and save it or would they overeat and then have no food for later?

Growing bunnies, and females that are pregnant or nursing, usually do fine with free feed, if the feed is hay, or if the feed is pelleted food meant to provide a complete diet.

Bucks (males) may get too fat, although just a week or two will probably not be too big of a deal.

If you are feeding them any kind of concentrated food (like grains), they might overeat and have trouble if you give them a week's portion at once.