Breeding Rabbits?? Does it make money?

[cassie]

Willow's Meadow :

Breeding any animal is not a good paying job....its a labor of love and usually you lose more money then you make. Please spay and neutur ALL you rabbits and if you want more adopt from a local shelter!!!!!!! There are to many homeless....abandoned and abused rabbits out there today. Number one if you breed you are adding more rabbits onto other rabbits that are out there. And number two you should be spending the time and money on rescuing, fostering and caring for abandoned rabbits instead of putting money towards breeding more rabbits.

Boy, am I out of the loop. I always thought rabbits were raised for food or fiber with just a few for pets. Where I come from, neutering, fostering, and rescuing rabbits is not on the radar. Excess rabbits are put in the pot. Period. The only people I know of who neuter rabbits are those that are keeping angora rabbits for fur. Am I living in a fantasy world?​

 

[mississippifarmboy]

Hey, wait! I disagree! You can make a killing on rabbits. I make as much money on our rabbits as I do our chickens!


huhhh. Hold on (Gotta figure something)

*mumble*mumble*chews on pencil*mumble*mumble*silently subtracts feed, barns, starting stock, treats, cages, feeders, waterers, fencing*mumble*mumble*

oh darn, I'm loosing my butt on chickens.....

nevermind.... carry on.

 

[sourland]

No, Cassie, I think you are still part of the real world.

 

[WhiteMountainsRanch]

You can get rabbits here all day long for free from the shelters... there are WAYYYY too many rabbits! Vets here will spay or neuter one as well fairly cheaply.


Unless you are selling them to eat I don't think you would be able to sell them at all, let alone make money. I have mine because I love them.

 

[mattfulleroc]

I began raising and showing rabbits as a 10 year old boy when I joined 4-H. As a child it was one of the most rewarding experiences imaginable...every day was a learning experience. Although I had a mentor guiding me and teaching me about proper husbandry and showmanship, I still remember caring for rabbits when the temperature was 20 below zero as well as dealing with the heat and their lives as we did everything imagineable to keep them from overheating and yet mindful not to cause them to catch cold and die...the summer highlight was the fair. During my 8 year. 4-H tenure I believe had the grand champion meatpen 6 times. Due to the 4-H auction I sold these 3 young rabbits and earned enough money to pay for my project as well as my tuition for college.

Many years have passed. I still have English Angoras....no llonger NZW. I am able to enjoy showing them, all have won their "legs" and are registered as Grand Champions. I keep a record of inquiries and although breed only an occasional litter (selling rabbits for $450-$550 each) I still don't make money nor come close to breaking even if I consider the time, travel, feed, housing, etc., as well as the exhaustive task of making sure to the best of my abilit the rabbits will be well cared for and the owners know what they are getting into prior to a commitment which can last 10-12 years.

Matt Fuller

 

[mattfulleroc]

I began raising and showing rabbits as a 10 year old boy when I joined 4-H. As a child it was one of the most rewarding experiences imaginable...every day was a learning experience. Although I had a mentor guiding me and teaching me about proper husbandry and showmanship, I still remember caring for rabbits when the temperature was 20 below zero as well as dealing with the heat and their lives as we did everything imagineable to keep them from overheating and yet mindful not to cause them to catch cold and die...the summer highlight was the fair. During my 8 year. 4-H tenure I believe had the grand champion meatpen 6 times. Due to the 4-H auction I sold these 3 young rabbits and earned enough money to pay for my project as well as my tuition for college.

Many years have passed. I still have English Angoras....no llonger NZW. I am able to enjoy showing them, all have won their "legs" and are registered as Grand Champions. I keep a record of inquiries and although breed only an occasional litter (selling rabbits for $450-$550 each) I still don't make money nor come close to breaking even if I consider the time, travel, feed, housing, etc., as well as the exhaustive task of making sure to the best of my abilit the rabbits will be well cared for and the owners know what they are getting into prior to a commitment which can last 10-12 years.

Matt Fuller

 

[bossynbella]

I have found that you can make money raising them if you are willing to spend money on the parent stock. I have a pair of nice Siamese Satins I paid $25 for each. It was a tough decision when I got them as there where lots of Lionheads, mini lops, and mini rexs for $5 $10. They where so pretty i went for it and it has been a great purchase. Buster and Sage are great rabbits, and we had two litters this year one of 4 and one of 7 and have sold all but three of the last litter at $20 -$25 each. Will easily sell the others at the end of this month at th local chicken swap. So they paid for there food and the original investment no problem. You just need to pick a breed that is maybe less available. If there are tons of them out there you are not going to be able to get as much for them.
Just my two cents worth.
Rabbits are lots of fun, we really enjoy ours.

A couple pictures, just because I like to share my pretty bunnies.


A 6wk old buck from the first litter this year. 6 where born and 4 lived it was her first litter so I was happy with that. 2 bucks 2 does.

Buster our buck

Not the best picture but its the four girls from the second litter and the three black ones are half Siamese Satin and half Blue Newzealand. Same dad different mom. Born the same day 7 in each litter . If you want meat bunnies this is the way to go. They are almost twice the size of the pure Satins. The males it is even more noticeable on. Was disappointed they where all black though.

 

[Akane]

A purebred pedigreed rabbit here sells for around $40 pretty much across the board. Unless they would be DQ or are older. A rabbit that has won and is still young enough to breed might make $100. I spent a lot of time looking around and I found the prices pretty consistent. I got my chocolate pair for only $50 for both because the doe is 1.5 years and the buck is over 2. Plus the person was selling out nearly all their herd. Other than that I did not find any rabbits that could be entered in a show irregardless whether they'd win for much less than $40 each. Although buying multiple rabbits at the same time often gets you a discount. If you start with pedigreed stock of at least moderate quality you have the potential to break even. If you start with higher quality animals you have the potential to make money. You just have to be smart about it.

Kind of like with chickens. If you build a brand new chicken coop, get brand new supplies of the best quality, and buy a bunch of cheap birds or typical hatchery quality you are never going to manage so much as breaking even. You probably won't get anywhere close. If you use the old oat bin out back with cut down saplings as roosts, an old stock tank for water, no electricity, and start with some fairly inexpensive but desireable and uncommon chickens who also manage to feed themselves on free range 3 months out of the year yes you can make money. Been there, done that. My chickens at least paid for their own feed and ongoing costs. Now the oatbin is the future rabbitry with cages made out of random supplies already in existence and the chicken feeders/waterers that were purchased over time are being used on rabbits. I'm also thinking about raising meat rabbits in a colony so no cage building supplies and one community water and feed container.

 

[Frosty]

Back in the early 90's I had a coworker whose wife got ill and he offered me his mixed breed rabbits and cages at a good price. I decided to 'supplement my income' raising rabbits. There was a very high demand around Easter, but I couldn't bring myself to do it because what happens to the bunny when the novelty wears off? The bunny would either be dumped or neglected. So I made sure that I didn't have bunnies available in that time frame. I was selling the bunnies for $5 each at a local pet store and couldn't keep up with demand. Then demand suddenly stopped, and I ended up with about 50 bunnies that I had to GIVE away, and even then it took time and in that time I was still feeding and caring for these bunnies. Would I try that again? No way. I still have the cages and am considering raising bunnies again, but just to feed my pets. If (as suggested) you have a proccessing facility nearby and there is demand for rabbit (for pets or humans), start with research to figure costs vs income and go from there. But don't plan on selling to the pet market, you can't predict when it will drop out and it will likely be when you have a whole bunch of babies.

 

[jackrooster]

Quote:
I LOVE YOU SIAMESE RABBIT! I want a siamese buck just like that.......I thought about breeding mini lops ?? not sure how well that would go over?