Picking Up Meat Rabbits Tomorrow!

[John Gusmano]

Well fellas, the wife finally caved. Once I explained to her all of the benefits of it, we are getting in to raising rabbits for meat! Tomorrow I am picking up my first breeding pair. Call it divine intervention, but my company is sending me to Ohio in the morning and it just so happened that a few days ago someone from Maumee, OH posted meat rabbits for sale! They are New Zealand/Californian crosses, the EXACT kind I wanted to get! $9 a piece not bad, they are only about 6 weeks old, so I should be able to breed them by September/October. In the meantime their job will be to provide me with the BEST fertilizer for my gardens. My dream is slowly coming to fruition of having a true homestead. Hopefully all goes well and I can show you pics tomorrow evening!

[nytrapper23]

Nice John, hope everything is going well for you.

[tkfurs]

That's great news John! Slow and steady wins the race!

[pipewrench]

I raised rabbits for 4-H when I was a kid; always liked having them around. Best of luck with them

[John Gusmano]

Feb 11, 2015 17:19:02 GMT -5 nytrapper23 said:

Nice John, hope everything is going well for you.

As well as they can be right now. My spirit is up, and my body is following. Things are looking better, it is just going to take time. I am just going to keep going at what it is that I love. Thanks for the concern my friend.

[nytrapper23]

Glad to hear that john. Might have to send you a care package.

[Deleted]

John, thanks for keeping us posted, and a karma for pursuing your homestead dream.
Let us know how things go with this. I've toyed with the idea of doing the same

[mrchicken]

Enjoy the bunnies!

A buddy of mine has rabbits,chickens, quail, ducks.... He said the rabbits Stunk to high heaven until they put a mesh floor in the cages. Then they made the area under the rabbit pens a compost pile using a couple pallets for sides. The chickens LOVE to root around in there looking for bugs and if they ever start to lag behind, they throw a hand full of cracked corn or scratch grains on the pile.

The chickens rooting around somehow keeps the pile from stinking. Great fertilizer too.

HOpe this helps you enjoy the critters.....( I thought you posted a while back about getting some chickens)

[John Gusmano]

Feb 11, 2015 20:39:05 GMT -5 mrchicken said:

Enjoy the bunnies!

A buddy of mine has rabbits,chickens, quail, ducks.... He said the rabbits Stunk to high heaven until they put a mesh floor in the cages. Then they made the area under the rabbit pens a compost pile using a couple pallets for sides. The chickens LOVE to root around in there looking for bugs and if they ever start to lag behind, they throw a hand full of cracked corn or scratch grains on the pile.

The chickens rooting around somehow keeps the pile from stinking. Great fertilizer too.

HOpe this helps you enjoy the critters.....( I thought you posted a while back about getting some chickens)

I do indeed have a couple hens! I have been slowly expanding my “farm” ( I use that term very loosely) to include a number of different elements. The goal is to keep pecking away (pun intended) little by little at different areas of homesteading and gaining lots of experience before taking the big jump into a larger piece of property. This year I’m adding the rabbits, a better chicken coop, a composter, and getting involved with canning.

I may be going at a slower pace, but if there is one thing I learned in my few years I’ve been on this planet, you can’t really get ahead if you don’t take a step forward. Too many people out there are too comfortable in their ways, and that’s fine, but that’s not me. I have had a goal of living on a farm since I was old enough to check out a library book!

Well, fellas hopefully all goes well and this afternoon I’ll have my first pair of rabbits!

[farmertrappe]

Good deal John, best animals for feed to meat conversion. And enjoyable to raise to boot, good luck and have fun my friend.

[mrchicken]

Anybody know how farm raised rabbit tastes compared to wild bunnies?

[John Gusmano]

Feb 12, 2015 16:01:14 GMT -5 mrchicken said:

Anybody know how farm raised rabbit tastes compared to wild bunnies?

Great question! I'm curious too.....

[Deleted]

Feb 12, 2015 19:10:10 GMT -5 John Gusmano said:

Feb 12, 2015 16:01:14 GMT -5 mrchicken said:

Anybody know how farm raised rabbit tastes compared to wild bunnies?

Great question! I'm curious too.....

My personal opinion, farm raised, much better tasting

[histopicker]

Feb 12, 2015 16:01:14 GMT -5 mrchicken said:

Anybody know how farm raised rabbit tastes compared to wild bunnies?

For me domestic rabbit is much milder in flavor lacking any of the sagebrush and other wild edibles in their diet. I enjoy them both but prefer domestic.

[farmertrappe]

Farm raised here too, those Cali-Zeal crosses will make for a nice eatin rabbit.

[SkFarm25]

I bought these rabbit watering nipples last summer very cheap, no wasted water, always clean and fresh and saves you a lot of time filling up watering dishes or bottles. I just plumbed mine into a 5g pail and lasts me a good week. Added some electric heat tape to keep it flowing during the winter.

There's a reason they say "breed like rabbits" You may only have 2 now but won't take you long to put a lot of meat in the freezer!

Let me know if you have any questions, been keeping them for a while and really enjoy it.

[John Gusmano]

Feb 13, 2015 15:29:05 GMT -5 SkFarm25 said:

I bought these rabbit watering nipples last summer very cheap, no wasted water, always clean and fresh and saves you a lot of time filling up watering dishes or bottles. I just plumbed mine into a 5g pail and lasts me a good week. Added some electric heat tape to keep it flowing during the winter.

There's a reason they say "breed like rabbits" You may only have 2 now but won't take you long to put a lot of meat in the freezer!

Let me know if you have any questions, been keeping them for a while and really enjoy it.

Thanks!!! I may have to take you up on that!

[mrchicken]

Great suggestion on the watering nipples.
We use watering nipples for the chickens and it made a world of difference.
The more you can do to automate your critter systems the more fun it is. Hauling water everyday becomes a drag.

[patricimo54]

Sounds like you are well on your way to self reliance and independance. God bless you and yours John

[trapperbud]

good luck with the rabbits john .

[John Gusmano]

Here is our female....


Here is our new and healthy male....


I'm excited to have these guys!

[nytrapper23]

Nice John

[trapperbud]

good looking bunnies .

[Deleted]

Feb 17, 2015 6:52:45 GMT -5 John Gusmano said:

Here is our female....


Here is our new and healthy male....


I'm excited to have these guys!

Awesome! Keep us posted on how things are going with 'em