Stormcrow's Hobby Farm

[Sally PB]

How much meat do you get off a rabbit?

Sorry, I should have asked all my questions in one post.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Is there an age when the meat gets tough and the cooking methods change, as with chickens?

We baked ours in chicken broth.

I think we ate older ones, in fact I'm sure we did. I don't think it really ever changed texture though with how we cooked them

 

[Sally PB]

I don't need rabbits. I do not need rabbits. I do not need cute, fluffy, tasty, garden-feed pooping rabbits.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

How much meat do you get off a rabbit?

Sorry, I should have asked all my questions in one post.

My wife and I usually split one for dinner, and have leftovers. Basically like a decent sized grocery story chicken, only proportioned differently.

 

[NatJ]

Might save you some money and be better for the bunnies if you give them a solid floor, they have to eat their pellets/droppings twice to extract all the nutrients as they only have one stomach.

The floor will not make a difference in that.

Rabbit produce two kinds of droppings. The ones they need to re-eat have a soft texture, and the rabbit eats those as they are produced. A solid floor would not be any help for these droppings, because they never even reach the floor before getting eaten.

The hard round droppings that people consider typical of rabbits are ones that have already gone through the rabbit once, and the rabbit would not re-eat those droppings no matter what kind of floor they have. Letting them fall through the wire floor is fine.

They’ll use a litter tray like a cat does which makes cleaning them out easier.

No and yes. Adult rabbits will use a litter box to some extent. Young bunnies will mostly not. Any rabbit tends to poop while eating, so most poop ends up where the rabbit eats. This is even more obvious with young bunnies. The younger they are butchered, the less point in having a litter box for the bunnies.

 

[NanaK]

How long do you breed them before they are rotated out?
At this point are they too old to eat?

 

[Ital]

The floor will not make a difference in that.

Rabbit produce two kinds of droppings. The ones they need to re-eat have a soft texture, and the rabbit eats those as they are produced. A solid floor would not be any help for these droppings, because they never even reach the floor before getting eaten.

The hard round droppings that people consider typical of rabbits are ones that have already gone through the rabbit once, and the rabbit would not re-eat those droppings no matter what kind of floor they have. Letting them fall through the wire floor is fine.


No and yes. Adult rabbits will use a litter box to some extent. Young bunnies will mostly not. Any rabbit tends to poop while eating, so most poop ends up where the rabbit eats. This is even more obvious with young bunnies. They younger they are butchered, the less point in having a litter box for the bunnies.

Wow! I’ve not seen this and wondered how they know the difference between droppings that need to be eaten again and the one’s they’ve finished with.
Do they literally reach their heads around and catch it before it drops?! They must know it needs a second run before it’s dropped which blows my mind, I figured there must be some kind of visual inspection involved.
I get all my rabbit info from my friend who has very old ones living loose in the house as pets so it’s probably a bit different with young meat bunnies.

 

[NatJ]

Wow! I’ve not seen this and wondered how they know the difference between droppings that need to be eaten again and the one’s they’ve finished with.
Do they literally reach their heads around and catch it before it drops?!

Yes, exactly that. And I've only seen it a few times, so they must do it mostly when no-one is watching.

The wikipedia article on rabbits has more about it (section "digestion"), although I have also seen it described in various books on raising rabbits.

They must know it needs a second run before it’s dropped which blows my mind, I figured there must be some kind of visual inspection involved.

Maybe it feels different as it comes out? I have wondered too, although I would have expected them to sniff rather than look if they were going to check (because rabbits like to be active at night, when it is dark.)

I get all my rabbit info from my friend who has very old ones living loose in the house as pets so it’s probably a bit different with young meat bunnies.

Yes, the litter box information would definitely be different. Whether the bunnies are for meat or not, the young ones are still not going to use a litter box enough to make it worth the fuss. The main difference with meat rabbits is you don't keep most of them long enough to grow up and show adult behavior. (An advantage of raising meat rabbits: you have a constant succession of cute little bunnies, and as they get older and less cute you eat them but have another batch to admire and play with. Constant cuteness without overpopulation!)

 

[U_Stormcrow]

(An advantage of raising meat rabbits: you have a constant succession of cute little bunnies, and as they get older and less cute you eat them but have another batch to admire and play with. Constant cuteness without overpopulation!)

Can confirm.

 

[Ital]

Yes, exactly that. And I've only seen it a few times, so they must do it mostly when no-one is watching.

The wikipedia article on rabbits has more about it (section "digestion"), although I have also seen it described in various books on raising rabbits.


Maybe it feels different as it comes out? I have wondered too, although I would have expected them to sniff rather than look if they were going to check (because rabbits like to be active at night, when it is dark.)


Yes, the litter box information would definitely be different. Whether the bunnies are for meat or not, the young ones are still not going to use a litter box enough to make it worth the fuss. The main difference with meat rabbits is you don't keep most of them long enough to grow up and show adult behavior. (An advantage of raising meat rabbits: you have a constant succession of cute little bunnies, and as they get older and less cute you eat them but have another batch to admire and play with. Constant cuteness without overpopulation!)

Thanks! I love learning new things.. I was thinking about keeping some on wire above my compost worm bins but figured it wouldn’t work because of their need to eat things twice. I’m googling miniature rabbit now .
ETA omg the Netherland Dwarf is so cute!!!
‘looks like a kit no matter how old it gets’
And gluten free rabbit food is available here! Seriously considering this, very exciting news