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

[MysticScorpio82]

How are you planning to sell it? I know you mentioned farmer's markets or a greenhouse, but do you have the supplies to bag it or are people supposed to come and pick it up? I am really curious and think it's a great idea!

Best wishes!

 

[denim deb]

I have a plastic dish pan in w/my rabbits. They'll poop in there. When it gets full, I just empty it into my garden. I never trained them for this. I used to have a large dish in there for food. Only problem being, they were hopping in to eat when they were little, then pooping in the dish! I got a regular feeder for them, and put the dish pan in there to see if they'd continue to poop in it. They did! The good thing about this is that they're not pooping and peeing in their house, so it makes clean up a breeze.

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

The problem you may run into is that the people that really know how awesome rabbit poo is generally track down people who will GIVE it away. If you have a farm stand anyway, you may be able to sell enough to pay for feed for one bunny with some creative packaging...recipes for Bunny Berry Compost Tea, etc...but you may not.

Why not get him a pair of Dutch rabbits and he can show them, then sell the show marked prospects to others for show, and sell the mis-marked bunnies to others for meat or pets? Dutch are a really nice multi-purpose breed. Small, attractive, but also very meaty!

Even if I didn't breed my rabbits for meat and fur, I would consider them paying for themselves just by producing soil for my own garden. Plus, especially when not breeding or showing, they subsist quite well on veggie and garden scraps, hay, and weeds!

Chickens love to scratch around in bunny poo, too. They pick out all the waste feed and dry the manure out so there is no smell. My favorite place to keep my hutches is in the chicken yard.

 

[mom2jedi]

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Ok, I gotta ask, have your chickens ever gotten peed on? Mine are in another area of the yard away from the chickens but that sounds like such a good idea as there is always a mess under the cage from spilled food and hay.

 

[Barred Rocks forever]

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mine do that to

 

[HaikuHeritageFarm]

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Nope, never once!

 

[lceh]

Hmm, I see the point about finding sources of free bunny poo once people find out how great it is -- I'm a great free-bunny-poo-seeker myself.

Great ideas for packaging and harvesting, though! I love the "Bunny Berry Compost Tea", that's great. I'll have to keep thinking about it.

 

[MsRiderUp]

Hi,

Have thought of keeping a few rabbits for their manure in the garden. Am in North Georgia (climate zone 7b), and it does freeze here in the winter. I don't want to keep rabbits indoors, but am fine with making a comfortable and secure hutch. We have shaded area in our back yard beside the chicken run, and I could put them there to prevent them from getting over-heated; or I could put the hutch on wheels and keep them in the nearby woods in the summer so they should be cooler. Are all of these feasible, or will the rabbits freeze in winter or get over-heated in summer?

Thanks!

 

[Copper Creek]

If you want to raise rabbits for manure, consider a large breed like Flemish or New Zealand. I have small rabbits and big rabbits and can notice a larger amount of manure from the large ones. I know that is pretty obvious, but just wanted to point that out.

 

[Vlad Boci]

On the other hand, a smaller framed animal does better on hay and a small amount of grains, compared to a bigger animal that requires a more complex feed recipe.