Raising Rabbits - Our Adventure
Hubby grew up in a family that loved to hunt and fish, so one day he commented on seeing a bunch of rabbit tracks nearby and how he would love to have a rabbit for dinner. That got our brains going - why not raise rabbits for meat?
We started researching, trying to find natural ways of raising them. We decided we wanted a colony set up, hoping to let them live happy lives, but obviously we didn't want them just running loose so the predators could get them.
Everything we read indicated 10 square feet per adult was all that was needed in a colony and we were only going to be getting 2 does and a buck, so we built our first cage to house a small colony.
We got our first rabbits a few days after completing the cage, and played the waiting game. After all, they were rabbits we should have babies within 6 weeks (allowing time for the to settle in) and the normal 31 day gestation period. Three months later we still had no babies, by that point I should have had up to 2 sets of babies from each of the does - what was going on?
A good friend of ours came for a visit and we asked him, as he used to raise rabbits, so he went down to the rabbits and checked the genders - the lady we got them from sold us all males. Not going to get many babies that way.
A few days later our friend got a call, someone had some rabbits they couldn't keep due to bear problems, so he went and picked them up. Just so happened that there were a few does in the group, so he kindly gave us those to replace our extra boys.
Now we have a very active colony, with 8 does and a single buck. We have a fairly steady supply of rabbits available now. Soon they will be moved to a new housing area with a larger outdoor area and lots of fresh greens for them to graze. Check back for more posts on our rabbit adventures.
