WARNING: This diary discusses the raising of rabbits for human consumption. If this topic disturbs you, please do not proceed.
Storrey's Guide to Raising RabbitsSo far in our series:
Part 1: the argument for raising rabbits for meat.
Part 2: Shelter
Part 3: Nutrition and climate
Part 4: Breed Selection
Part 5: The breeding process.
Part 6: Methods of dispatching
I butchered my first rabbit this week and I wanted to share what I have learned so far.
First of all, let me set the stage if I may. I have 3 stacks of 3 wire metal cages that are 3 feet wide and 2 feet deep. They fill the back wall of my 9.5 X 9.5 stick frame shed (which I lovingly refer to as the "bun shack" because I can't say that without the B52s singing in my head "Bun shack baby!"). 2 of the cages are separated by a divider into 1.5 X 2 foot sections which I have decided are not ideal for long term since it does not give rabbits much room to run around. These are my "keep separated" cages. I'll either put rabbits that I want to keep temporarily for future breeding or sale, or put rabbits for fasting before butchering (more on that further down).
My buck is August. August is a beautiful grey rabbit and weighs in at about 13lbs which is giant size (he is a big boy!). He's a mutt with a mandolin body shape (which has a long back and a big rump). Now I realize in part 4 of my series I recommended steering clear of giants for meat breeding because their larger size includes a larger bone structure which actually means less meat per pound of rabbit. But honestly, being a giant is his only flaw. August is a real sweetheart. He loves being petted and loves people. He has proven himself INCREDIBLY virile in breeding and is just a pleasure to have around. He was really bony when I got him but he's filled out beautifully. I can't wait until spring. I'm thinking of letting him loose in the fenced back yard occasionally. I think he'd really enjoy that.
My doe is Princess Prissy Pants (Prissy for short) and boy is she ever. She is a purebred Californian from a nationally competing show breeder. She does NOT like people. She will submit to the indignity of being petted, but she does not enjoy it and she has no problems letting you know that. She does not bite at all, which is good, but she just wants to be left the hell alone...unless it's time for her treats then she's all over the cage door. Prissy's greatest quality is that she has been an excellent mother from the start. This first litter was both her first and my first. She gave birth to all her kits in the nest and took care of them very well, even being nervous whenever I tried to remove them and once even tugging on my sleeve which is still the only time she's ever used her teeth on me. When they were old enough to be out of the nest she actually seemed to enjoy being with them, often burying her face into their huddled group. She just had her second litter this week, also without any problems. If anyone wants to know the breeder I got her from, let me know because I'd gladly recommend him. She cost a bit more than a regular meat rabbit but a good quality rabbit is totally worth it.
The first time I put Prissy in with August, neither of them really knew what they were doing. I had to push Prissy into position because she kept her rear in the corner where Big August couldn't get to. August got 2 "fall offs" (which is how you know the mating completed) the first time and Prissy gave birth to 10 kits. 2 of the kits failed to thrive and died about a week and a half later leaving 8 kits: 3 white, 5 black. You can tell a lot about the color genetics of rabbits based on their offspring.
The second time around I'd waited about a week after the kits had been weaned. I could have rebred much sooner but decided to wait until her milk had dried up. Prissy, I learned, gets very finicky when she's pregnant. She won't eat much of her pellets and I had a difficult time keeping weight on her during her first pregnancy. I fed her all the hay she would eat, along with sunflower seeds and oats and whatever else she'd eat and she still lost quite a bit of weight. And after counting the first litter I could see why. 10 kits, each about the size of a fun sized snickers bar inside her body must have REALLY cramped her digestion. The second time around I gave her a BIG handful of sunflower seeds a day and when even that didn't sound good, started giving her a little bit of calf manna (a supplement to help milk production in does) and her condition at the time of birthing was much better. Once she gave birth her appetite came right back.
Any who, the second time I bred Prissy she was quite reluctant. She REALLY did not like me going in and trying to pick her up and taking her out of her cage after spending the last 3 months being left the hell alone. She scratched me up pretty good with her hind legs. August only managed to get one "fall off" before she completely clamped down and wouldn't have anymore. Still, she gave birth to 9 kits (7 white, 2 black) which is pretty impressive. Many rabbit breeders will do multiple sessions of multiple fall-offs to make sure their doe is good and bred and August can get it done in just one. That's my boy.
So we have the kits: 3 white, 5 black. They have all been good rabbits in that they don't fight or bite or scratch, but I haven't been handling them enough for them to be used to it. I have one white male (who I've named "Pinkie" from Animaniacs because he is sweet, but not very smart) set aside that I will grow out and breed back to Prissy to get a bit more Californian into my mix (this is known as line breeding), and then sell off. I'll reserve a doe out of that breeding to breed back to August so I can have a second producing doe. That is probably as many breeders as I can comfortably have at any given time with 9 cages.
The kits grew up, and I started weaning out the largest at 4 weeks because having Prissy and 8 kits in that one cage was getting pretty crowded and I was afraid she would get annoyed and start sniping at them. Considering what a wonderful mother she was I'm thinking of waiting longer for this next batch, at least 5 weeks. She really does seem to like having babies around.
One of the best parts of weaning was finding toys for the little ones. I got one of those long cardboard boxes that 12packs of soda come in and put that in a cage with 2 newly weaned kits and they LOVED IT! They hopped in an out of it like a tunnel. Eventually they would jump on top of it and squashed it but they really had a lot of fun. Pretty much any cardboard box you put in with them is doomed to be demolished in an orgy of excitement. I also have these cat toys (bell balls) that they love to play with. Each cage except August's has one (because he doesn't play with them). But they're shaped in such a way that the rabbits can work them through the wire at the front of the cage so every morning when I go check on them I have to take toy inventory. "Where's your ball?" I'll ask them if it's missing. Maybe I find it on the floor or maybe I find it weeks later rolled under the A/C unit. Either way, it's important to give the little ones enrichment.
So, now to the least enjoyable part: butchering. I set aside 2 of the largest kits, each in their own half-cage with a bowl of water for 24 hours of fasting before butchering. This is done to reduce the amount of fecal matter in the intestines. I SHOULD have also taken the water away 12hours prior so I wouldn't have to contend with a full bladder, but I decided against it. For dispatching, I bought and mounted a "rabbit wringer" device. The guy who makes them runs about a 6 week back-order, if you're interested in getting one make sure to give him plenty of time to produce and ship. From the same person I also bought a "butchering station" which is a stainless steel bracket that is mounted to the wall and holds the back legs so you can butcher while the carcass is hanging (which is easier). My first rabbit was rather nervous, having not been handled enough to be easy about it and having never really been out of the Bun shack. I carried him to the garage and after a bit of soothing to get him settled down, I placed his head through the device, and yanked as hard as I could to dislocate head (which is what the device is intended to do). I didn't feel any dislocation and I was afraid it wasn't working because the rabbit was kicking so I put all my weight behind a second yank. After a few seconds I realized the rabbit was not screaming (as a rabbit in pain would) and I tapped his open eye to test the occipital reflex. There was no response. The bun was dead just as quickly and painlessly as I could have hoped for.
He was not, however, still. His back legs continued to kick for a good 30 seconds after. Now, I had resigned myself to the fact that I would have a freak out my first time. I did not freak out per se, but I did need a moment to compose myself or I was going to start hyperventilating. After my little one finally went still, I hung him up by his hind legs and started processing. I was surprised to observe that a dead rabbit is MUCH heavier than a live one. I used a small paring knife, a large butcher knife, and a set of kitchen shears. Cutting the head off was difficult (because it hadn't dislocated and I suspect the knife was dull. I'll use one of my sharper knives next time) but I got the head and front feet cut off and let its blood drain and proceeded to skin. Halfway through pulling the hide off the carcass, my mounting bracket fell off the wall and I had to finish the processing one handed (with the other hand holding the back legs). Not fun, but not too difficult all things considering. I saved the liver to feed to my cats that, surprisingly, turned their noses up at it.
I was disappointed as how much I had to waste because my cats refuse to eat anything but dried cat food. So, I need to find someone with dogs or cats to give the organ meat to. I also did not save the hide. With the hanging bracket out of commission, I was not going to be able to process another rabbit (the second rabbit got a reprieve and was put back in with his brethren where he ate heartily and took a nap.)
After processing the rabbit, I put it in a container of ice and water to cool it down and to clear out any remaining blood. I then quartered the rabbit, cutting off the legs and separating the loin/back meat. (One of the things I like about the mandolin body shape is the long loin and back. That's the best part of the rabbit). I marinated and cooked it and ate rabbit for the first time in my life.
My assessment of rabbit meat (for anyone interested in raising rabbits but never had any). It has a very mild flavor like chicken, but the meat is much denser than chicken. It's closer to beef or pork in the density of the meat.
So...I have 6 more to process sometime next week. I know what I need to do to remount the bracket. Instead of screwing it directly into the wall (with only one screw in a stud), I'm going to secure a 1inch thick board into the stud with multiple screws, and then screw the bracket into the board. I am HOPING this gives it greater grip so it can handle the force of pulling down the hide.
I learned a lot over these last few months. I tried different things and decided what worked best.
Food bowl vs. mounted steel feeder: Many rabbits are messy eaters. I ran into a problem where multiple rabbits would dump entire bowls of pellets into their litter tray. While I have no room to mount a feeder on the half-sized cages, they are essential on the full sized ones.
Same for water dishes vs. water bottles. Get a water bottle that allows you to fill from the top, with a lever action nib (ball nibs only as "training" bottles for rabbits to learn how to use the lever nibs). Here is an example of the bottles I have (in 32oz). They are very easy to clean (and you do need to clean them regularly, especially if you add apple cider vinegar to their water).
Newspaper vs. wood shavings as litter: In researching different litters I came across someone who mentioned using newspapers in their litter pans instead of wood shavings. So I tried it. Newspapers are just as absorbent, take much less room, and are much easier to remove when you clean the rabbit cages. They are also easier to separate out the pellets if you decide to use that as garden fertilizer or sell it as same. So...newspapers for the win! Now I just have to find a good way to get free newspapers because they go through a LOT and I've never seen a group recycling bin I could raid.
Wood shavings vs. shredded paper litter for nest boxes: Both. At first I tried the shredded paper litter, but soon discovered that Prissy would tamp it down rendering it unsuitable for nesting. But, paper is very absorbent so I now pack the corners of the next box (which is where the babies are most likely to pee) with the paper litter and put 3-4 inches of wood shavings for the rest. Prissy supplements with her own fur and a little hay and makes a very good nest from it.
When to take out the nest box? The babies pretty much tell you when they're ready to come out of the box. One morning, at about 2 weeks old, I came out to the barn to see ALL of the babies out of the nest and snuggled with mom. That's when I knew it was time.
All and all it's been a really positive experience. I haven't had any problems with breeding or birthing that often plague first timers. The only downside so far has been the discovery a possible skin allergy causing my first ever raging case of excema, which I have decided to tolerate (but if anyone has any advise for any good anti-itch remedies I would LOVE to hear it).
And also, if anyone in the Denver Metro area (or nearby) is interested in raising rabbits for meat, I will offer any Kossak a free doe to help get them started.
Thank you for your patience with my very long diaries on the subject. I hope I have been able to help anyone who is intersted in rabbits in general, or who is interested in food independance. For further resources, I would recommend youtube videos by KainanRa. He has an excellent series about his backyard buns which includes a very good one on butchering, processing and quartering rabbits. He genuinely cares about his rabbits and it really comes across in his vlogs. I would also recommend Storrey's Guide to Raising Rabbits. It's has a wealth of information valuable for any beginner.