Hands on experience keeping rabbits?

[londonercsecse]

Hi!

I`m thinking of keeping some (small back garden.). Anyone tried this? Where do You get them from? What kind? Any other ideas/advice/link?

[24942895]

I've only kept them as pets myself but they were commonly kept for food in this country during the second world war so there ought to be some good information around.
I understand that rabbits are very efficient at turning their food into your food, more so than animals we more usually rear for meat.
Post-SHTF I'd net a male and some females from the wild to cage and raise on grass and scraps. I'm not sure about the legal or ethical status of that as things are...

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[cebbern]

meat breeds r new zealand whites and californians start with 1 buck to 2 does until you become more experienced.

[jansman]

I've only kept them as pets myself but they were commonly kept for food in this country during the second world war so there ought to be some good information around.
I understand that rabbits are very efficient at turning their food into your food, more so than animals we more usually rear for meat.
Post-SHTF I'd net a male and some females from the wild to cage and raise on grass and scraps. I'm not sure about the legal or ethical status of that as things are...

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2

It ain't legal. But it is a bad idea too. Wild rabbits will fret and do no good. If you know how to net them, then just do that when you need 'em.
I keep rabbits for meat. I have 24 Does and a couple of Bucks. I keep a NZ cross, and a Dutch cross at the moment. The Dutch dresses out to the same size as a wildie. Which is what my customers think they are!

[badgersden]

just be careful if your thinking about wild rabbits there is Myxomatosis still out there saw one Friday with it not nice,

[northern bloke]

I come from a rural area/mining village and I don't know anyone that does this now but when I was younger I remember many that did and I would say most kept dutch rabbits for eating in particular my mates dad that had an allotment that I would say he farmed them on an almost mini industrial scale selling them to the locals as well as keeping the family on them.

[junmist]

You can keep any rabbit for meat normal meat rabbits are N/Z and California but as you will be looking at them old English is a good one to keep or if you want a really large carcase Flemish Giants were kept in europe but the bigger the rabbit the more food it will need. You could just go down to a pet shop and get some fairly large rabbits and start breeding them up. As all ways the internet and you tube is a good place to start, just type in meat rabbits and loads of info will come up.

[tanstaafl]

But watch out for "Rabbit Starvation" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation

[londonercsecse]

hi!

Thx for all answers! I know about rabbit starvation. I`m cooking a wild rabbit stew at the moment of writing this. I know about to check the liver for white spots, if found then discard the whole carcass. Not sure about Myxomatosis...
Would like to start with some meat rabbit kind, small scale, just to test it.

[tanstaafl]

hi!

Thx for all answers! I know about rabbit starvation. I`m cooking a wild rabbit stew at the moment of writing this. I know about to check the liver for white spots, if found then discard the whole carcass. Not sure about Myxomatosis...
Would like to start with some meat rabbit kind, small scale, just to test it.

I know nothing about this (except having a pet duck as a lad which gave me an egg for breakfast most days) but would not chickens be better ie meat and eggs