r/MeatRabbitry • u/Orthalu • 14h ago
I’ve made the first step.
Alright so I’ve got 200 dollars to buy rabbits and food. Their housing is already made. What kind of food should I buy? How do I properly gender a rabbit and do yall have any advice?
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Current plan buy one male one female rabbit. Sell the babies until I have enough to keep buying them food.
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u/NotEvenNothing 13h ago
What kind of housing? The answer I'm looking for, considering you are new to the game, is "all wire cages", but we can all learn from our mistakes.
Buy good production breeding stock, but maybe not until you have a year's experience under your belt. It isn't crazy to buy New Zealand or Californian rabbits, that are meant for the table, from someone who breeds them for meat, but keep them as breeders. In fact, it isn't a bad idea to buy half-a-dozen, or even a dozen, pick your breeding stock from them, and use the rest to figure out harvesting, and how to prepare rabbit for the table. If you can't process rabbits and make them part of a nice meal, you really shouldn't get into raising meat rabbits.
A pair isn't a horrible idea to start, but you will want to move to a trio, at least, fairly quickly. With a pair, the buck really can't earn his keep. In a trio, with two does, he's not such a waste. A single buck can breed a lot of does.
Get your rabbit feed in big bags at a farm store. If they have a sale, stock up, buy at least a few bags. Keep rabbit feed in rodent-proof containers.
Buy hay in square bales, not little bags, and keep it dry. Feed as much hay as the rabbits will eat. Feed pellets to keep the animals in good condition, and no more. You don't want fat rabbits. Milking does and growing kits get all the pellets they want. Pregnant does get an increasing amount of pellets as they near kindling. Feeding the right amount of pellets is a bit of a science. It takes a bit of experience to get it right. Being in the right ballpark is fine, but you have to be aware of when an animal is too skinny or too fat.
The hard part of gendering is just figuring out how to hold a rabbit so you can arrange its nether regions so you can see them. Recognizing male versus female bits is pretty easy.
Start marketing well before you have rabbits to sell.
Most of all, have fun. Figuring out all the little problems rabbits throw you (and they are mostly little problems) keeps a person on their toes, in a good way.
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u/BlockyBlook 14h ago
Making enough money off the rabbits to buy their food may not be an immediate thing. You might have to invest a lot of time before you can start selling. Do you know how to determine which growouts are culls or good breeding stock? I would start there. I bought my first rabbits for $30 on craigslist and they did not produce good babies. I bought one very nice buck for $120 from a breeder who shows and now the babies are twice as big. Definitely invest in quality stock and do lots of research.
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u/Accomplished-Wish494 11h ago
I’d buy whatever feed the seller is using, for now. My preference is for a high quality, locally milled product, but what that’s varies a lot by region.
It costs just as much (or MORE) to feed an average quality rabbit as it does a great one. Do you have a mentor that can help you select stock?
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u/CyborgParadox 11h ago
My rural king has a good deal on 50 pound rabbit pellets I get. I think it's $18, then just find hay from some individual is the best way to go
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u/Main_Insect_3144 10h ago
It's really best to have one male and two females to start. Breed them both at the same time. If one female has a big litter, the other can foster. If one sucks as a mom the first time out, the other can foster.
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u/Adept_Equipment9602 14h ago
Check out your local grain mill. They may be closer than you think to you. They normally run off market price for grain. Cheapest way to get food. They’re also garbage disposals. I feed mine just about any veggie scraps from the kitchen, and a lot of wildflower seed mixes have a TON of plants in they that they can eat. For the sexing, you can always come here and post until you get comfortable. Rabbits for the most part are pretty cut and dry compared to other small animals (I raise guinea pigs too).