What can I raise in my rabbit hutch? (sufficiency and/or profit)

[KatGold]

Hi folks,

I've been a lurker until today.

I keep backyard chickens in a inter-city neighborhood and I also have some Muscovies 150 miles away in a friend's ranch. As I continue to move towards: 1) self-sufficiency and 2) never being an office slave again, I am trying to figure out how to best make use of two rabbit hutches and an incubator that a kind fellow bird keeper has offered me.

I am considering raising quail or bantam ducks (my daughters would never allow me to kill a rabbit

. I also wonder if there is something else I should consider with this set up.

Quail sound easy enough. I guess my market would be hunters mostly? And we could eat them ourselves (once I am able to dress them). And I guess the eggs are useful, though it seems like a lot of work to peel a million hard boiled quail eggs.

Bantam ducks are adorable and if I go this route I would choose an endangered breed. I suppose the market for that is people who want pet ducks? 4-H kids? Not sure who else.

My concern is that I have a dog, and now he takes shifts with the chickens. Could ducks live with chickens and be expected to take shifts with the dog too? I suspect quail are better for this since they'd just stay in the cage 24/7.

I'm looking for any info you can share, any ideas or advice. I live in Central Texas (Vegetation Zone 8), so we have hot summers and mild winters with the occasional February blast of Siberia.

Thanks so much in advance for sharing your knowledge.

Kathie

 

[glenolam]

Are you intending on keeping them in the hutches for the duration of their lifetime? From what you said I think you allow your chickens to free range under the dog's supervision so if you intend on keeping that method you could always raise babies in the hutches as you suggested. You have the incubator and the hutches to use as brooders....why not hatch out and sell chicks or ducklings? You could raise different types including meat birds to have dual purpose birds.

On a side note - if you go on over to Sufficient Self (a sister site of BYC) you'll find tons of people striving to be self sufficient.

 

[mom2jedi]

Ok, first of all

!

As for your questions, I'll get things started and hopefully other BYCers will chime in. I only have chickens but have considered the benefits of ducks and/or quail. I do know while you can keep ducks with chickens, in general they do better with separate areas. Ducks are messy and chickens don't like water all that much. That being said, a lot of people keep them together with no problems.

Raising meat rabbits is a good next step towards self sufficiency. How old are your daughters? Could they possibly do 4-H that would get them used to the idea of raising them for food? Right now we only have chickens but are starting the journey towards saving money for getting rabbits for meat (mostly for the housing as that is the expensive part). While I have two pet rabbits, we have slowly been working on the idea of raising rabbits for meat with our kids (our daughters are 10 and 8). We've had chickens for a year and they are seeing the benefits of home raised eggs, plus DH has a vegetable garden that isn't enough to completely supply us with fresh produce yet but further impresses upon them that home raised anything is better than store bought. (Our zucchini were huge! We had one larger than his forearm and he's not a small man.)

If you are wanting to use the hutches you have (and rabbits aren't an option) quail seems like it might be the more valuable animal to go with. You can eat the quail as well as the eggs and there aren't water issues to deal with. I'm not sure how popular pet ducks are in Texas but here, selling babies wouldn't make up for the price to feed them.

Not sure what you meant by your dog takes shifts with the chickens?

 

[Duck Keeper]

I'm thinking the chickens are kept separate from the dog at all times, right?

I keep ducks, chickens, geese, and goats all together without problems, but I have to feed the goats and the birds while the goats are leashed so they don't suck up the chicken feed.
If you go with call ducks, get a really nice pair. Some ducks around here go for in excess of $50 each (even for the junky ones!), so if I didn't have the huge Silver Appleyards that I do now, I'd save up for calls and be breeding a few of them!

Many of them spend their entire lives in raised hutches/enclosure type things because they can fly for one, and they are so small... Easier for them to be protected from predators if they aren't in their line of sight.
They can be noisy though, so if you're really close to your neighbors that might not work (though I imagine they're pretty much as quiet as chickens most of the time, so it might not be a problem).

You can just give them like a plastic tote thingy as a pool and they'll splash around in that.

 

[Wifezilla]

I have quail. They are totally low maintenance. And the eggs are delicious. I use them just like chicken eggs...of course you need a lot more! LOL

It takes 6-8 WEEKS to get them to maturity. That's IT!

 

[KatGold]

Thanks for the responses.

As far as keeping them in a hutch for their life's duration, that would be easiest. It seems like that could be okay with quail, but I'm not completely sure about that even. Allowing animals to live a natural healthy life is very important to me.

Raising meat rabbits may possibly be in our future, but it probably just isn't. My 7 and 4 yo are so tender hearted. So, really am I. I don't know if I could do the deed with a rabbit. I have considered raising a couple of angoras for fur and fertilizer. But I don't think the fur of a couple of rabbits is really worth selling, so I'm not sure it's the best use of my limited space.

However, another thought (yet another one that I don't know how to test) is raising rabbits for snake owners. I wonder if there's any money in that. Then I'd get the fertilizer too.

I am planning on getting the girls into 4-H. I think I will join to. I believe it is open to adults and I could sure learn a thing or two.

I'm not sure how popular ducks are either. I have no idea how to gage this or who even buys ducks. That's why I thought I'd start this post here. I know a lot of people on this forum have ducks. And they're do darned cute. And I'd love to see some little bantams quacking in my yard and eating the garden slugs. But those aren't the best reasons to move forward on the ducks.

I've heard there is an animal auction about 60 miles away. I've heard doves can sell for hundreds of dollar, but I can't even imagine such a thing (though I am going to a cattle auction tomorrow where I am told some prize cows will go for up to $100k...I cannot begin to wrap my brain around that). That said, I don't even know who will buy quail, but I guess people do. If not, I would seriously need to learn to process quail and maybe start working on a cookbook :-D

"Not sure what you meant by your dog takes shifts with the chickens?" When the chickens are in the yard, the dog is locked in the house. Vice versa. It's not ideal, but it works. No more terriers for me after this.

Thanks for the ideas. Keep 'em coming!

 

[KatGold]

Duck Keeper--I ADORE Call Ducks. They are so flipping cute. But I do have near neighbors and am concerned about their sound level. I was considering Australian Spotted. They are endangered and I read they are quiet. But who buys them? Where/how do you sell them?

Wifezilla--to whom do you sell your quail? Or do you just use them for your own use? Do you sell them live or processed?

Sorry to everyone if my questions are basic, I'm new to all this. But I am completely committed!

 

[Duck Keeper]

You could sell quail and quail eggs to gourmet restaurants, could sell them to people with snakes also. Not sure if it's a good long-term diet for them though - let the snake owner determine that!
If you can find a poultry association that has a show/swap meet/auction a couple of times a year, that would be your best bet on finding calls and buyers for them. I would expect people there to be mostly selling culls though, like they do here. You'd possibly have to order from a breeder that ships live birds to get any of real quality. Quality animals may coat more to start with, but in the long run they cost the same to house/keep/raise as the lesser quality ones, and you can sell them at a higher price.

As for who buys calls and where to sell them, people that like calls buy them.

Sell them at poultry auctions, and the gathering of people outside of a show would look at them I'm sure.

If I had the space and money, I'd get calls, Sebastopol geese, and some Blue Laced Red Wyandottes.
All of those are on my wanted list.

 

[WIChookchick]

Kat Gold,
I would take your idea one step further... AND I am not sure how you deal with this.. chicken and dog poop...
Rabbits have a lot too, and ducks of quail would have some as well.
IF you can keep your rabbit/duck/quail/chicken poop separate, it could be composted and sell for a good bit of money for urban gardens.
Now with Quail, you might need to have a drop curtain in front of the door of the hutch so they don't spook and go flying out the hutch door.
I think quail would be a good choice for incubating and raising.
You might however have to look at your cities ordinances for birds.
IF your local pet stores sell button quail as pets. (we knew of many that sold them in Sacramento) where I used to live...
So ensure you aren't breaking any laws by having more than your alloted "livestock".
Good luck and let us know what you decide!

 

[ericsplls]

Sounds like quail may be your easiest route. They are easy to raise and can be profitable. You don't have a market for hunters. The quail they hunt are flight trained and kept wild by minimum contact with humans or dogs. Usually in 100-300 foot flight pens with six foot of silk fence around them to keep them from seeing people. You can market them for food both eggs and meat but you won't have many buyers unless you dress them out. Button quail may be better if you can find a market to sell them as pets.