Raising Meat Rabbits | Weaning Baby Bunnies
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- čas přidán 18. 10. 2019
- Our kits are 7 weeks old now, and that means it's time to get the baby bunnies weaned, and moved into the mobile rabbit tractor.
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About Us:
We are a homeschool and homesteading family of 6 that farms our 1 acre permaculture organic acre in WA State. We are currently building off grid on our new 20 acre homestead in North Idaho. We garden, seed save, raise meat rabbits, raise chickens, process our own meat, save our own seed, can, bake, and do just about everything that we can ourselves to achieve a self sufficient and debt free life for our family.
Never thought about selling one to cover the cost to feed that was a great TIP! Love your videos keep them coming! learning so much!!
Hey, I just wanted to comment on this and say that I see all these horrible comments you guys get, and I just wanted to say that you guys are amazing! I live in Alaska, and you guys have inspired me to get my own rabbits to start providing for my family and helping to grow my garden. Thank you so much for all of the informative and awesome videos! Love it!
They are going to be so much happier in the grass. Treat them well until they hit the dinner plate. Always. Have a great weekend.
We always do, thank you! Have a great weekend.
It is always fun to watch your videos as you are so upbeat. Love how fast the kits are growing. They live a very good life before going to freezer camp. Blessings.
Thank you very much!
Thank you. I will watch the series. Gratitude. Our Rachel Monica and Chandler arrives in beginning of November. NZ White Rabbits. Very excited about this journey. Thank you for igniting our new adventures! NZ
Awesome. Love the names!! If you want to see more on NZ whites tune in Tuesday!!
I love that you are keeping track of the feed cost VS processed pounds. We are closing on our homestead this week! In time, rabbits are a must for us. You have some excellent information for someone who has never raised rabbits before... 👋Yeah, that's me 😉!!
Awesome, so glad!
I agree, these videos are so helpful as I try to get my own program going.
Hubby bought breeder's software to keep track of all the costs, production, pedigrees, etc. But watching the cost/benefit analysis unfold here on yt is super helpful and inspiring. I am eagerly watching the comparison between New Zealand vs. Rex, too. We have Americans and one Champagne D'argent doe.
Thank you so much for all your time and sharing your knowledge.
Of course, and thank you for taking your time to watch our videos.
Awww. I want to play with the babies. They are so cute when they are little. 🌻🌻🌻🌻
They are cute at this stage. Of course this litter is exceptionally cute, which really brings in the haters. Oye, why couldn't this litter be a bunch of red eyed whites like Cindy often has?!
@@GoodSimpleLiving there are always gonna be haters. I'm not a hater I'm a country girl who could play with them when they are little and eat them when they get big. Lol that kinda takes the cute outta my name right.
I hope the haters don't stress you. You have alot of veiwers who love you.
@@bunnyk3602 Oh we know you're not Bunny!
@@GoodSimpleLiving quite an unusual and somewhat seemingly dumb idea(I mean my idea that follows)!Why not to breed..cottontails?🐇They are not requiring any food to buy and will survive on hay and weeds from the lawn but are vastly tastier!And they are not prone to 90% of diseases that domesticated rabbits have!Among those are:all RHDs,myxomatosys,scabies,ear mites and many other stuff!They are even known to be immune to such a dreadful disease as *rabies* !
Yes,it might be easier to just hunt them but I for example in Canada in Ontario had never yet shot even one daily limit in one day!Plus you can actually do both:breed them and hunt them!
@@johnsheppard1476 well around here the cottontails are pretty diseased. They carry bot flies, fleas, ticks, mites, and during the warm months they are almost always full of worms. You could try to breed them I suppose, but they are pretty small and lean.
Very educational videos . . . . I agree this is not for everyone. But having grown up on a farm we learned the harvesting process when it came to animals and to respect them. I think you do a wonderful job explaining everything and are very thoughtful.
I’ve said this before but I’ll say it again... you are so amazing at explaining everything!
😂 Looks like Charlie wanted to make friends
Thank you so much! Haha Charlie wanted to catch dinner. He's been bringing his babies all kinds of things this week! He's trying to teach them to hunt.
*friends* lol
Great information and a great setup. Many thanks for this series!
Thank you so much!
I love the winter/summer tractor idea!
Have y’all thought about growing fodder? I grow barley for my animals they all love it and it’s really good for them. I have a 5-7 day grow system.
We have thought about it, just not something we decided would be practical right now with our back and forth living between WA and ID.
Such beautiful and well cared for animals. Thanks for another informative and adorable video!
Thank you very much!!
Love your videos . I’ve learned so much from you. Love your response to haters.
Well thank you!
Thanks for bringing back some pleasant memories! When I was a kid we had rabbits and I loooved the babies - I couldn't wait the time I can pet them. Watching this video made me remember their funny quirks, how jumpy they are and all that cuteness. :))
I love that it brought back some happy memories for you!
Cat at 3:00 gorgeous kitty~! Thanks again for all your knowledge on this subject, and sorry you have to deal with the trolls who don't understand, nor want to see what you're doing for yourself by raising your own meat. Keep up the great work, and thank you for the videos!
Thank you, the trolls will always be trolls. Ah yes, Charlie the kitty! He's such a good boy! Just had kittens with his GF so now apparently we are an orange cat farm too.
Thank you, very informative video, I like the idea of selling one to cover feed cost I never thought of that
So cute and yet so tasty looking.
They are getting big!
Are you going live tonight?
They grow very fast!
Yes we are, 5pm pst
Still following and still amused by the nimrod comments. I guess Shay doesn't know they raise baby chickens to eat.
Great video again guys! After processing day, will there be a recipes video?
Thank you! I know, the comments have actually gotten more dumb. I didn't think that was possible, yet here we are. I hope to show a different recipe for each rabbit, stay tuned!
We had apple tree's that were not pruned for several years so i use garden pruners to snip off smaller limbs, or shear off the larger limbs and the rabbits just love them. It helps dullen their teeth to save clipping. They especially love the leaves. Don't leave the apple seeds in apples, and only give them small amounts occasionally. The cyanide in the seeds can kill them. I found a dead mouse laying beside some traps that had carried apple seeds quite a distance into a shed.
They love the branches from fruit trees, pinecones, and cedar limbs too.
Oh god I thought you meant snip off the rabbits limbs and that the rabbits love it at first 😂
Lol no
Thank you for the great playlist full of knowledge and proven concepts. We wish to do something similar once well get out f the city and on a nice piece of land. Keep up the good work. 👏👍
Great video guys! Thankyou!! X
Thank you!
I've learned so much about rabbits 😀 thank u
Entreged by your videos as I have thought about rabbits for food since I was quite young but never had the courage to 'process' the little suckers. Probably not watched all your videos but noticed you bypassed that part rather nicely. More power to you.
I don't bypass it, I have a few older videos, but also just yesterday and today release new processing and dispatching videos.
They're so cute
I didn’t know the terminology of each sex labeled as buck and doe, I keep imagining a deer when you say those words. 😂 I just learned something new.
I know, it's strange it's the same.
Keep up the good work 👌
So cute little bunny in the tractor.... Yes check them all out they are all well done and funny too
Haha love that term gut flora is stressed out lol.... We left the one in that keeps hiding from me I got him yesterday and man the squeel I got lol all was good but you know sometimes they do that when they don't want to be cought lol
Thank you so much!
I don't have very vocal rabbits lol
Ours are pretty quiet lol except the grunter lol she's a grumpy girl sometimes lol
Oh I do have one grunty doe. She's a jerk when pregnant.
Hi there
Good information
Have a good day 👍👍👍
Thank you so much!
I think you can cut down on feed cost if you cultivate alfafa and timothy hay. You can use the rabbits poop as fertilizer for the grass and you can have the rabbits graze or you can mow the lawn and feed them the fresh cut of grass, itll make them more healthier since its fresh and itll make the meat tastier and since you are what you eat. You can also plant a moringa tree, its called camunggay or malunggay or kamunggay in the Philippines and is extremely resilient, has so much leaves, the leaves are healthy but the green twigs are high in fiber and the bark branches make for excellent chew toys for the rabbits since its pretty boring in cages right.
You can also cultivate the grass vertically to reduce space cost and increase yield. Self sufficiency and independence is always the way to go if you want to make more money.
Excellent video, thank you
Thank you Rob!
Great info
Happy bunnies. They don't care that mom isn't there. There's lots of food. Lol
Nope, and she is happy to see them go. She was thumping at them.
@@GoodSimpleLiving they were happy to have all that grass to eat and play in. Lol.
Thank you very much with informative and educational guide
You bet!!
Long life Good Simple Living ... keep updating your rabbit story
Thank you
This is a wonderful educational video:)!
Thank you, so glad!
We have lots of wild rabbits around here and its an urban area. They eat the lawn grass and other plants. These rabbits dig under fences and make holes in some wood sheds.
They can be naughty.
I've always thought of rabbits as pets. And I thought I'd be horrified watching these videos, but to see the care you take with these rabbits and the way you treat them, I am so impressed and happy that these rabbits are so well taken care of even though they are livestock. Great video!
Thank you for saying so
I have a bunny as a pet and I love her with my whole heart but I completely understand livestock and I respect yall!
Thank you
Charlie was about to change your feed to meat ratio lol..
I've subscribed..
Watching this first video I've already pinpointed a few mistakes I've made on our does first litter..
It's sad having a kit die especially when you realize it was your fault..
That’s how I raised mine. Had 14 but never for meat.
Thank You
It's a shame that most people don't have the same mindset about rabbits as you. They can be both loved and eaten. It's better to respect the creatures we eat, instead of mindlessly consuming mass produced sick abused animals.
All the vegans who complain on your videos should realize you're doing more for their cause than they are. It is unrealistic to expect everyone in the world to stop eating meat. Educating people about how to raise livestock humanely is the best way to go. Love your videos!
I'm new to your channel. Greetings from New Hampshire! We are a 4th generation farm family. Grass fed beef. Commercial haying and logging. I take the time to watch videos that will benefit me in some fashion. Your rabbit videos are helpful. I raised Californians and White New Zealands years ago and appreciate your input. Rabbit meat is leaner than chicken and just the best all round homestead animal. We just built our house, so no out buildings as yet. Our winters are so cold, plus predators, so I would like to have a screened small bunny barn someday. Easier on me and the bunnies. I will follow your channel with interest. It is a good point that rabbits can be sold as pets. I especially like the sable brown Dwarf French Lops.
I completely agree, rabbits are a great all around homestead addition. They have multiple purposes (meat, sales, hides, and compost) and are affordable and easy. I wish you the best of luck with your new rabbit adventure!
Them baby rabbits are so cute ❤❤
That they are.
Just got a question how many times a year does rabbits breed PS love your videos ❤❤
Thank you! We breed does when litters are 6 weeks old, so with the 31 day gestational period we breed about every 3 months.
To bad there gonna eat those cute bunnies☺
Thank you so much ❤❤
So cute
They are at this age.
Nice video 👍
Thank you!
I am hoping to get into rabbits next year. Thanks for the info
Oh course, good luck!
What type do you want? A show bunny or a meat rabbit?
@@kierstensabolsky3349 Not sure yet. i need to check in it and see next year.
They are so cute I love you're baby bunnies PS: this is the first time I'm ever watching you're videos I'm going to subscribe to you right now!
Thank you, appreciate that! Welcome to our channel!
Good video 😊👍👍👍
Thank you
I haven't watched previous videos but saw you use timothy hay for the buns which is awesome. But a really good source of nutrients for a nursing mumma and bubs is lucerne hay if you don't include it already :) Only while the adult female is nursing and only when they're under 6mo old.
Source: Talked to a specialist vet who only works with rabbits ^^
I'm not against farming rabbits if done humanely and with as much quality of life as possible. That's why I admire homesteaders :)
Interesting, not sure where I would get that from. I don't know anyone who grows it. I know a few add calf mana as well.
Wow your videos are awesome. Seen your videos and how mutch benefits I can get from a mini rabbit farm I will start raising meat rabbits, soon. THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS. From Europe
Thank you so much!!
I just want to hug the rabbits, they are so cute. I breed mice and know that sometimes you have to do things that you might not want to but it's part of life. I sometime have to cull down my numbers because it's for the health of the doe and the pups, the doe can only feed so many and have them be healthy. I get people who get mad at me for this, but they don't understand (some refuse) that this is just what must be done. We don't do this to be cruel, we just do what needs to be. Also I see a lot that is the same in raising them, but much that isn't, it's so interesting learning about the breeding of other animals.
Thank you for the info. My kits are 3 wks old. I'd better make that tractor.
Fyi, I was dizzy from the camera-on-a-pendulum effect.
I really like your video's. I hope that one day i will be able to have my own farm and can produce my own natural food, that's my dream
Forget the dream, make it a goal! You got this!
Just a thought but have you noticed all the wasted pellets on the floor right underneath the food tray. Mine do that sometimes if I give them too much that they will spill it out.
Well done
Thank you!
@@GoodSimpleLiving You're providing your children with a great life. Reminds me of visiting my grandfather. All hard work, nothing wasted.
@@Holden-C. That's awesome, yeah, nothing wasted. Keep your head down, work hard, and live your best life.
Many tks
Thank you for watching!
I need to know the best way to grow them out here in the upper South. I live in NE Oklahoma. We have no green grass and snow on the ground right now. I keep my bunny cages in the barn. I have a bunch of kitts to grow up right now though. I'll have to save the rabbit tractor for Spring.
Is that a special feed your feeding the dough and the kits? also I would like to know how much per day and how often do you feed the buck versus the dough versus the dough with the kits thank you so much y'all are doing a great job so much information you all appear to be a very loving family and it is obvious that y'all care about others I love the fact that y'all are keeping it real no sugar coat.
No we feed them all the same pellets, unlimited timothy, and fresh greens. They get fed once in the morning, and since they are grazers they just snack on it slowly all day.
Simple good living should just be our default mode of life🏞
Agreed
This is cool I want to do something similar one day.
Wonderful, rabbits have been a huge blessing to our homestead.
Thanks so much for your videos-- we've learned so much. We just got our first breeding trio last week. Just wondering if you've had to deal with fleas? We'd love to tractor our rabbits, but it seems like every spring/summer we are battling them with our dog and cat, and I'd hate for the bunnies to be an all-you-can-eat buffet. We live in Central, Texas.
No we don't seem to have them in our yard. I check our dog and cats regularly, and haven't seen any. If fleas are alive and well where you are then they will end up being an issue on your buns. I would treat the yard naturally first.
Love your videos. Can you recommend a book on rabbits? Thanks for posting.
Wow!! Im really enjoying these videos!!! I never thought of raising rabbits for meat but your videos make a lot sense!!! Cant wait to see the next video!! Question? Ive only eaten wild rabbits, do you know how they compare to farm raised?
The wild are more tough and lean. Domestic is almost identical to chicken.
Question? Once the kits are in the tractor do they stay overnight. And secondly when would you need to start watching for them to try and dig their way out. Thank you
Really good, instructive video. I just wish you'd point out that you've been getting the kits used to grass while they were still in the cage before putting them out in the tractor. Otherwise viewers who don't know any better might move their kits directly from pellets to pasture and lose whole litters as a consequence.
I do in the week update before that, and the one before that. It's really difficult to repeat everything so I really hope folks go and watch them all to get the full picture.
Thank you for posting these vids, glad the hate doesn’t seem to bother you. You guys are doing things right😋
were in the St Louis area
if you plan on harvesting the kits on week 8 do you even really need to even remove them from moms cage until harvest day?
Rabbits and comfrey
Nice
Thanks!
Do the rabbits dig when left in the lawn tractor? Im not sure whether or not to make a wire bottom on mine or leave it open
How do you find people to sell the pet rabbits to? great videos keep up the good work!
I see people that start the doe with grass so kits get the cecotropes, and then grass for kits.Do you go straight to grass?
I don't know why people got away from eating rabbit. Many years ago (actually decades) many supermarkets sold fresh rabbit that was locally grown. Butcher shops in bigger cities sold rabbits along with other meats locally grown. People in the suburbs grew their own rabbits, chickens, ducks, geese and maybe milk cows. What they are doing here is actually a throwback to what our parents, grandparents and further back always did.
Yeah, it's a great meat. Not sure why it isn't sold in stores now.
💜
I have a bunny just like yours except the little runt. His name is dynamite he's too and he runs free in the house he hates his cage . My name is Bella this is my mom's CZcams account , I enjoy watching your videos .. I am also 7 years old
Wow, you type extremely well for your age! Thank you for watching Bella!
How much do you feed them daily?! I have 4 adult rex, 1 junior doe, a pair of Holland lops, and 6 grow outs (just dispatched at 18 wks) and I was going through a 50lb bag of feed almost weekly... maybe a week and a half.
Oh wow, I suppose we go through about 40 pounds a week with 7 breeders. With litters we go through more. How much are you feeding them? Do you feed timothy also?
Wow
How do you guys not have issues with predators at night? Also, do the kits ever try to dig out?
So do you just leave them in the tractor 24/7 at this point? What about predators at night or them digging out with not having wire on the bottom?
We only do closely monitored outside time cause they always want to dig their way out and escape.
We do. The young kits have not dug. Around 12 weeks we have had a few does dig, but never bucks. They only dig however if they run out of grass. We have been able to prevent escape by moving the tractor 2 or 3 times a day. Predators are not an issue here, because we are fully fenced with the dog, but we will have to add wire in Idaho.
The weaning of the rabbits you are doing is NOT wrong. Only different.You can wean the rabbits as early as 3 weeks (which I do NOT recommend). 4 weeks you are fine for meaning as they are eating fine by then. I prefer to breed the doe 3 wees after kindling and wean the kits at 5 weeks. This gives me the maximum growth rate and litter production. It keeps a good doe producing longer and the bunnies grow really well. This is the procedure I have used for many years with great success.This equals maximum growth of the bunnies and maximum longevity for the doe. My personal study and experience over the years. Again I am NOT criticizing your procedure. Just offering personal experience.Rabbit meat is a great and economical food source.
What breed do you raise. I hear that Californians and New Zelands can be weaned much earlier. The rex grow a bit slower so we give them at least 6 weeks. I tried pulling a few earlier, and did not have good results.
Perhaps you touched on this in another video and I missed it, but what do you do with the kits on pasture if you have a natural disaster? Thanks for the videos. Very informative.
What do you mean? You mean like tornados or floods?
@@GoodSimpleLiving Yes, exactly.
We are in the PNW so not many threats like that where we are, not like East coast or down South.
Do you process the skins too? I love Rex rabbits, such a good all around animal. They make the best pets too.
I do, have 2 videos on it.
I’m glad you eat rabbits, they are very sustainable. How much do you sell them for at 4-6 weeks?
We charge $30-$40
Hey, I know it's been forever, sorry. Did you ever get a good estimate of the cheapest price per pound you ended up at? I'm trying to gauge the realism of farming meat rabbits.
Thanks
Do you have problems with the kits digging and escaping from the tractor? And if so how do you what do you do?
How do you move the tractor without loosing the rabbits?
Just move it carefully, and they don't tend to dig when they are young, and have fresh grazing. They will dig if they are on uneven ground or run out of grass.
Hey!!! You probably remember me from the 50+ comments I made to all the haters on your breeding video. I am your biggest fan😂💖
Yes, my little 4H bunny and goat girl! Appreciate your support!
Good Simple Living And Homesteading yup, that would be me!😁
They will stay in there day and night? Is no hardware in flor necessary?
They seem really happy to be on the grass. Yum yum they say. 😉
I’m wondering about flavor of the meat depending on food source. I assume they’re like other animals and have varying flavor profiles based on diet. True?
The tractoring doesn't effect them as long as you also keep them on pellet.
Do you combine your rabbit litters at the 7 week mark?
Did I hear you right? The runt, slowest grower, cull is probably the one that you would sell?
Yup, I sell to pet homes.
How is kit growth when in tractor? Is it a matter of nutrition, or cost to grow out in tractor?
They grow a bit quicker in the tractor, because they have constant grass to feed on in addition to their timothy, and pellets. It cuts feed costs down, and it's good for them. Win win.
Is the intro a recorded song or did y’all sing it? It sounds familiar. Trying to figure out if I’ve heard it before, or just because I’ve seen a ton of y’all’s videos.
Our 12 year old daughter wrote, played, and sang it :)
Beautiful music. She did a great job!
Thank you
what is the breed you have? I havent raised any in a few years and want to get back to it.
Hi house, I love the short song at the beginning, please anyone that can tell the lyrics
Could I buy a buck n a does from a pet shop n then breed them for meat or do u have to find specific meat ra bbits
What is the color phase in the thumbnail? It's awesome!
Black fawn