Lessons Learned with Rabbits

We received 4 Rex rabbits in mid-October, 2 females and 2 males (although the guy we got them from thought they were all females).  Here are some lessons that we have learned about raising rabbits.

1) They poop a lot.  I mean way more than you can imagine.  Our 4 rabbits come close to filling a 5 gallon bucket with manure ever 2 weeks.  This, to me, is a benefit of rabbits.  They are little manure factories and will provide me with tons of nutrients for my garden and/or garlic fields.  However, you need a way to gather the manure.  If you don't stack your cages, you can let it fall to the ground and use a shovel to gather it up.  If you do stack your pens, then you can use dropping trays under each pen.  I didn't want to mess with the trays, so I used some plastic, corrugated roofing set at an angle toward the back under each pen.  The urine and droppings drain to the back and fall into a piece of plastic rain gutter, which is set at an angle and empties into a 5 gallon bucket.  My manure maintenance is as easy as emptying the bucket when it's full and hosing off the plastic roofing & gutter to keep a clean rabbitry.

2) They do not like to breed in the middle of winter.  I've tried breeding my rabbits right after Christmas and the females were not receptive at all.  This has led us to the conclusion that it might be better to buy 4 rabbits in the spring, breed them throughout the spring, summer, and fall, then butcher the breeders.  Otherwise, we end up feeding 4 rabbits all winter with nothing to show for the cost of the feed, kind of a cost/benefit analysis.  If you do the last breeding late September, you can butcher the bucks and stop feeding them.  Then once the young are weekend, around Halloween, you can butcher the mature does.  Then you'll butcher the rest of your rabbits around Thanksgiving, before it gets really cold.  You can save the feed costs from Dec - Feb, and get new breeding pairs in March.  You should end up breaking even in the spring with the savings from feed and the time savings.

3) They require more maintenance during the winter.  This is due to us not having a heated water supply for them or any type of constant flow water system.  I'm guessing that most people WON'T have these things when they start.  So we end up going out every morning before work and every evening before bed to fill their crocks.  We also have an extra set of crocks that we thaw, so added supplies for keeping rabbits during the winter months.  Again, if you don't keep rabbits during the coldest months, Dec - Feb, you don't need the cost of crocks or the time spent filling the water 2-3 times a day.  That money can be used to buy your new breeders in the spring.

My next post will walk through the details of setting up my rabbitry, building the pens, the rack that holds the pens, and the manure collection system I have.