Raising rabbits strictly to harvest manure -- anyone done this?

[Berry_bunny]

My 8-year-old DD is loving her flock of bantam chickens, but now her younger brother wants to join 4-H too and is interested in a rabbit. We have a family policy that there will be no animals on our little homestead that do not contribute something, and the kids need to make enough money from their animal projects to cover basic feed and bedding costs (we foot the bill for startup costs, like housing and the original animals). However, he's not interested in eating rabbits and frankly neither is anyone else in our family. I know some people raise Angora bunnies for their fur, but all that combing and upkeep is more than he can deal with. So now I'm thinking about finding a way to harvest bunny poop pellets for him to sell to local gardeners at the farmer's market. I'm a gardener myself, and I know from my own experience that bunny poop is a wonderful thing. It's not a "hot" manure, so as long as it's not mixed with bedding or lots of urine it can be applied directly to the garden without composting (and in a nice little pre-pelleted package too!). Figuring out how to harvest the manure without getting bedding mixed in is the trick. I'm thinking a two-tiered wire floor might work -- the bunny floor, with holes big enough for poops to fall through, and a second floor beneath with smaller wire so urine and liquids fall through to the ground but poops are left behind. Spread 'em out to dry and package for sale. Sounds good, right? But will it work? And how do you keep the bedding out?

Anyone ever done this, or heard of anyone who has? I've seen a lot of internet research about vermicomposting under rabbit cages, but nothing about harvesting the poop itself. We live near a pretty crunchy, progressive University town with lots of interest in backyard gardens and a lot of disposable income, so I'm thinking, who can resist a little boy selling all-natural bunny poop for your garden, right?

So i am in the same boat. I have rabbits and want to sell the manure. I have built 2 screens using hardware cloth and welded wire fabric to separate the bunny berries from the "nutrified " hay. and it works just ok. I can sift a pile of bunny berries and hay pretty quickly and it takes off a lot of the hay. but not all of it. There is always a significant portion of hay that makes it through the screens and into the bunny berry pile after multiple passes through the screen. I also have to agitate the pile to get it to go through the screen. which forces more hay through.
if you want a clean nice pile of pure bunny berries with no hay, ( like you see in the pictures on line) your going to have to get something like a trommel. but you can charge more for sifted bunny berries.

 

[cassie]

Eons ago when I was in grade school a girl in my fifth grade class raised and sold nightcrawlers. She built up quite a profitable business. Worm castings are much desired by gardeners too.

 

[EverythingDucks]

An easy and mess rree way to collect dropping would be to just litter train them. It's quite easy and the litter can be thrown in the garden with the poop.
All you need is an appropriate sized litter box (cat size), something to line the bottom (newspaper, puppypads, paper bags), paper based litter, and a bunch of hay.
Just set it in the corner of there area and place any droppings in the box. Eventually they'll get the hang of it.
If you want to just keep them as pets you can get them fixed. This will make them even more friendly and help with litter training.

 

[Badchickenpun]

Resurrecting this thread. I'm considering doing the same. Wife makes all animals into pest. So thinking of animals that can add to our little farm that add without killing. Got chickens for eggs, thinking of rabbits for fertilizer...
Has anyone mentioned using a shop vac? I would make a run for the rabbits, not just a hutch, so droppings would be all over... could a person just go out a suck them up daily?

 

[EverythingDucks]

Resurrecting this thread. I'm considering doing the same. Wife makes all animals into pest. So thinking of animals that can add to our little farm that add without killing. Got chickens for eggs, thinking of rabbits for fertilizer...
Has anyone mentioned using a shop vac? I would make a run for the rabbits, not just a hutch, so droppings would be all over... could a person just go out a suck them up daily?

You could, but litter training would be so much easier.
If they're going to be pets (assuming you don't mean pests..) I would keep them indoors where they'll be much safer. You'll also be able to bond with them more and it'd make collecting droppings easier. As I mentioned above, getting them fixed will make this process easier and when you adopt, you don't have to pay for that.

 

[Badchickenpun]

You could, but litter training would be so much easier.
If they're going to be pets (assuming you don't mean pests..) I would keep them indoors where they'll be much safer. You'll also be able to bond with them more and it'd make collecting droppings easier. As I mentioned above, getting them fixed will make this process easier and when you adopt, you don't have to pay for that.

Lol. Yeah, pets.
We are wanting more outside animals. Not inside. While I wouldn't say pets in the companionship light, I just mean she couldn't handle us killing a critter for profit or food.