So... My wife wants meat rabbits. (We already have egg & meat chickens, and small meat goats)

[U_Stormcrow]

I always thought those big beady eyes were too cute for me to butcher...how do you do it?

You've heard the expression "takes all kinds"? Hundreds of years ago, I'd ave been the butcher, the tanner, the undertaker, or the shaman/wizard/priest. Or burned. probably burned.

Read my member bio, its in my Signature. I lack in what Society makes noises about being a "proper" amount of Empathy. So its likely easier for me than most, because I don't make strong emotional connections. I also don't spend a lot of time "playing" with my food. Eat or be eaten - everything has a purpose, and I abhore waste.

Which is not to suggest I mistreat my animals, either. Chances are, they live better lives than the very vast majority. Each bunny has a dirt floor pen (that's changing) measuring 5' by 8' where they can dig to their little heart's content Their new cages will be 30x60x24 (typical is 24x24x18 or 30x30x18) and I'm trying to figure out how to give them dirt access periodically. My roughly 50 fowl share 5 acres with (currently) 5 goats. and if you follow the feed forums, I am a huge adherent of both good quality food and variety in their forage.

and their ending? I take it deadly seriously and put considerable effort into doing it perfectly right - swift and sure - every time. Holding the head as I do so. If they are nervous, or I'm not at 100% with that connection between us, the deed gets rescheduled.

The important thing is that farm math - addition and subtraction - is part of the lifestyle. If you can't find a way to do it, and do it very well without stress to the animal being sacrificed - you should find another lifestyle.

"When the need arises - and it does - you must be able to shoot your own dog. Don't farm it out - that doesn't make it nicer, it makes it worse." - Robert A. Heinlein

 

[Kiki]

@U_Stormcrow The escape artists...are jumping over the walls to get out. They can clear 3 foot walls like nothing.
Rabbits need roofs to keep them in.

I see you are switching to cages but if it's not too late or you want to try a chicken wire roof I bet they don't escape it.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

@U_Stormcrow The escape artists...are jumping over the walls to get out. They can clear 3 foot walls like nothing.
Rabbits need roofs to keep them in.

I see you are switching to cages but if it's not too late or you want to try a chicken wire roof I bet they don't escape it.

I have the chicken wire roof now, and had to weave chicken wire (or stitch, I suppose) to the livestock fencing at the lower sections to keep the rodents (the rabbits, not the tree rats) from pushing out between the two layers of fencing. So they've been contained for a while.
But now I have (effectively) 5x8x3 pens with tunnels dug into the clays soil where I have to step over the wall, crouch down, and crawl around to have hopes of catching a bunny - who of course runs straight to their tunnel(s) - if I want to grab one to sex it, move it to another pen, or move it to the spreader bar for dispatch.

Oh yeah, and my clay soils are eating the chicken wire alive. I had to back it with most of 30 linear feet of broken concrete chunks to try and allow some gap with the soil - it was that, or watch it rust away in months.

 

[Kiki]

I have the chicken wire roof now, and had to weave chicken wire (or stitch, I suppose) to the livestock fencing at the lower sections to keep the rodents (the rabbits, not the tree rats) from pushing out between the two layers of fencing. So they've been contained for a while.
But now I have (effectively) 5x8x3 pens with tunnels dug into the clays soil where I have to step over the wall, crouch down, and crawl around to have hopes of catching a bunny - who of course runs straight to their tunnel(s) - if I want to grab one to sex it, move it to another pen, or move it to the spreader bar for dispatch.

Oh yeah, and my clay soils are eating the chicken wire alive. I had to back it with most of 30 linear feet of broken concrete chunks to try and allow some gap with the soil - it was that, or watch it rust away in months.

Damn floofers. Bring ONE inside to live. Make a rabbit room for the wife for Christmas. She'll be so excited.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Damn floofers. Bring ONE inside to live. Make a rabbit room for the wife for Christmas. She'll be so excited.

Its an RV. as you well know. Not enough room for myself, my wife, two dogs, and a cat...

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Its an RV. as you well know. Not enough room for myself, my wife, two dogs, and a cat...

I'm afraid it's the rabbit's rv now

 

[Kiki]

I'm afraid it's the rabbit's rv now

 

[NanaK]

Its an RV. as you well know. Not enough room for myself, my wife, two dogs, and a cat...

I lived in an RV after a bad hurricane in our area years ago. I was thankfully parked on our own land behind our flooded home. We had 3 dogs and a cat but also had a 16 yr old daughter. Taking care of the animals were no big deal. The teen was not impressed with only a small area for her belongings for about a year while we rebuilt.

We have always camped and loved being outside. I enjoy RV living and was usually to one to work on things when needed, DH has no patience with such things but will help me with heavy stuff. We only in the last 10 years sold the travel trailer. That's when HE talked me into chickens! LOL

Now he's talking goats. He doesn't know it but I've been reading about bunnies!