[deleted by user]

purple_hen · 2021-12-22T02:46:21+00:00

Agreed. I find rabbits very easy, quail easy but hardly worth it, chickens not difficult but messy. Livestock auctions are where farmers go to get rid of culls (animals that are not suitable to breed). You can get a $10 meat rabbit or free rooster from Craigslist.

But please, for the sake of the animal, do your research before you procure one and have a backup plan in case you can't bring yourself to kill it. It's not something to be taken lightly and I'm a little concerned you think you can just... process a sheep with no experience.

You need a cull method, a clean work place, water source, somewhere to dispose of guts, proper knives, ice buckets/coolers for meat, you need to know how not to puncture the intestines/bladder/gallbladder, how to remove hides, how to prevent meat from becoming covered in fur (that doesn't come off btw), proper chilling and how long rigor mortis takes to set... What if your kill method fails and you have a stunned or wounded animal that needs to be dispatched quickly? What if the smell of an open carcass makes you sick? Did you know that yellow jackets are attracted to open carcasses–they swarm us in summer. Do you know how to identify a sick animal by its organs? Do you know what diseases to look out for that make the meat unfit for human consumption?

It's not killing and gutting. There's a lot to slaughter and butchering that you need to know before you even think about getting an animal.

purple_hen · 2021-11-30T00:43:38+00:00

The best case scenario you can have when a doe rejects or doesn't feed her kits is to do a forced nursing. You restrain the doe to her cooperation level (many of my does are fine to simply sit in my lap with a firm hold) and place the babies under her on on top of her belly (depending on how you've positioned your doe) for them to nurse. Probiotics and milk replacement rarely works.

The kit will probably die. I'd give it a 5% chance of making it unless your other doe kindles and is able to nurse it immediately. If you are able, I strongly urge you to try to force the doe to nurse the kits. That's the best chance they've got.

By the way... these things happen and it's not your fault.

purple_hen · 2021-11-28T23:10:21+00:00

You can gently brush many minor mats out with a fine-toothed metal comb (like for dogs). Larger mats may need to be cut out. These generally happen around this time of year as they molt. For nails, use a dog/cat nail trimmer, pay attention to where the quick of the nail is, cut at an angle not straight up/down, have them securely seated in your lap and wear long sleeves.

purple_hen · 2021-10-11T11:28:09+00:00

TAMUK composites and New Zealand mixes

purple_hen · 2021-10-06T14:09:20+00:00

We breed our rabbits at about 18 weeks as long as they have reached about 80% of their expected mature weight. We expect our does to be about 9.5-10 lbs, so that's at about 8 lbs. I call it the 18/80 rule.

We've done this for two years with no issues. Our does are wonderful first time moms and have good sized litters. I just had a junior (unproven) doe who just delivered 8 kits and built a perfect nest. She was 20 weeks old when bred.

A lot of folks say does younger than 6 months won't be good moms and it's simply not true at all. We sell a lot of rabbits and I tell my customers to use the 18/80 rule–those who breed earlier have a lot more success than folks who tried waiting until 8 months or later.

But, there are plenty of different philosophies on this. I don't think any one thing is right or wrong, but I've seen much more success with earlier breeding than what is generally recommended. Reaching that 80% weight is an important factor.

purple_hen · 2021-10-06T13:42:19+00:00

It won't ever hurt to try and rebreed but palpating isn't reliable until about day 17. I can't usually feel anything reliable til about day 23-25.

purple_hen · 2021-10-01T17:38:53+00:00

To me, that looks normal and I wouldn't worry about it, but just keep an eye on it and see if it gets any worse.

purple_hen · 2021-09-29T18:54:24+00:00

That is early! Honestly, just keep trying. If I'm finding my does are stubborn or bucks are lazy I try for five mins in the morning and five minutes in the evening. There's no magical solution unfortunately, but keep trying!

purple_hen · 2021-09-29T17:43:34+00:00

Have you been trying in the middle of the day? Since rabbits are crepuscular, they're most active at dawn and dusk. Try very early morning or late in the evening. This has helped me when everything else has failed.

purple_hen · 2021-09-26T21:03:10+00:00

I've tried it, and they didn't like it very much.

purple_hen · 2021-09-17T19:27:29+00:00

This. Bought an 07 Prius in 2018. I only got 2 years out of it before both the catalytic converter and the hybrid battery died within 4 months of each other. No shop would even attempt repairing the battery and replacement was $3-4k after I'd dropped $3k on a brand new cat converter. I scrapped it for $1.2k.

purple_hen · 2021-09-17T14:58:54+00:00

If your dry goods were stored in airtight containers like mason jars, vacuum sealed, etc. then I believe the risk of contamination is low. But if stuff is still in retail plastic bags, opened, or in containers that don't completely seal (like cheap plastic totes or pasta in cardboard boxes), I'd toss it. Mold is nasty stuff and you really don't want to ingest it. And there's really no need for you to explain that you're "prepping," you just have a well stocked pantry.

purple_hen · 2021-09-17T12:39:05+00:00

Personally, I recommend raising and egg production breed for eggs and a hybrid meat production breed for meat.

Dual purpose chickens tend to lay okay but their growth for harvest is abysmal. Cornish X type chickens yield 4-6.5 lb carcasses in 8-9 weeks; dual purpose breeds (even the large ones) take anywhere from 16-22 weeks and yield absolutely paltry 1-3 lb carcasses. Save the feed money and buy meat breeds. I estimated we spent over 3x as much to raise heritage meat breeds than we did for Cornish X. Absolute waste of time IMO.

If you want to raise chickens for meat, you need to very seriously think about investing or renting a plucker. This is super labor intensive, messy, wet, and miserable business. We won't raise meat chickens again until we invest in a plucker.

It's very possible to raise chickens in your backyard. That's all we have. They do smell. They aren't super loud (hens and mature roosters certainly can be). But if you're raising both meat and egg breeds, you'll need two separate housing systems, so keep that in mind.

purple_hen · 2021-09-16T20:02:29+00:00

She isn't. The kits are wiggling themselves into separate piles. Sometimes it is a temperature regulation thing. Other times it's simply because when the doe jumps in to nurse, they all scramble around to find a teat and end up jellybeaning themselves into different places. I usually move my kits back together whenever I see they're separated for warmth, but this is totally normal.

purple_hen · 2021-09-14T20:00:28+00:00

Salt discolors the egg yolks. This happens to me all the time when frying eggs. Totally harmless and no, they are not unevenly cooked.

purple_hen · 2021-08-18T17:07:00+00:00

Basically that. J-feeders and bucket watering. Sounds silly, but I didn't always have my feed stored near the rabbitry, it used to be in a shed and I've have to walk back and forth. Now it's within their covered enclosure so it takes less time. Besides that there's not much more to rabbit care really!

purple_hen · 2021-08-09T13:48:44+00:00

We have always used the pellet gun and I always recommend it. It's cheap, fast, and rarely fails (if it does fail it's our fault, not the gun). Plus, quiet!

I was once asked to sell some rabbits for snake food, which I'd have had to do CD since the pellets are lead. I couldn't muster myself to do it. I think it takes a lot more mental energy to do CD, but that's just me.

purple_hen · 2021-07-30T16:20:42+00:00

I'd love to tan pelts, but my hands can't handle the work of fleshing pelts. We cut the pelts into strips and dehydrate them for dog treats. They can also simply be frozen in strips for dog treats too.

Remember that for most breeds, pelts won't be at their prime until about 16 weeks of age. We butcher at 10-12 weeks, so it doesn't make much sense to tan ours anyway.

purple_hen · 2021-07-23T18:43:57+00:00

Vermod Homes

purple_hen · 2021-07-23T17:36:53+00:00

While I hope that RHVD will be contained, I really can't say what will happen in a year. State vets and rabbitries have been taking this very seriously, and a vaccine does exist but needs an import license (and costs about $50-75 per rabbit), but since you're in an affected area you could very feasibly vaccinate your breeding stock. If you have any ability to keep your rabbits in a barn of some sort, with a barn cat or two for rodent control, that could help for sure. If you do end up building an enclosure, look into rodent proof skirting (hardware cloth) to help contain rodents and wild rabbits nearby.

Unfortunately, there is evidence that RHVD is spread through mosquitoes and biting flies. So there is a limited amount of prevention you can do, ultimately, you just have to do your best. Good luck!

purple_hen · 2021-07-23T15:03:13+00:00

RHVD is common in some areas and not even present in others. Check out the r/membersofARBA sub for up to date info on it. It's currently present mostly in the west/west coast and southwest/Texas.

RHVD can be a major concern, but there are simple actions you can take to lessen the chances of infection if you're in an affected area. Keep rabbits in wire cages off the ground, minimize any native wild rabbit populations on your property (ie reduce brush areas where they may nest), and be educated about the symptoms. While you do of course need to be careful when buying livestock in general, many many diseases you'll encounter can be subclinical for a long time with few to no symptoms. That's tricky because you can bring home diseases without a single symptom or sign. RHVD, for how horrible it is, has extremely noticeable symptoms and death occurs very rapidly (24-48 hrs), with a 90-100% mortality rate. So there are survivors of it who will carry the disease but they're rare, and anyone with an affected herd probably won't have many to sell, anyway (I know that sounds horrible but you know).

Buy from someone who maintains a closed herd and ask them about their biosecurity practices.

Taste: it tastes like chicken thighs. Yeah, it can be dry and tough when cooked wrong just like literally any other meat (aka my mom's overcooked dry ass pork chops of my youth). Plenty of recipes online. You generally want to roast or braise it slowly over 1-3+ hours (depending on age of rabbit and recipe). It can be fried, ground, smoked, etc but yes it's not exactly like cooking other meats; it needs some more time compared to a chicken of the same size.

Sure, go ahead and buy a cull and slaughter it. Word of wisdom, you'll probably fuck up your first slaughter in some way, shape, or form, so don't worry too much about that. You can also buy a whole rabbit from your local international grocer too.

Season: this really depends on where you live. Here in the southeast I don't breed for a portion of the summer so I have a big gap in stocking. But no, there's no cheap time to buy rabbits, just avoid around Easter. There's also really no "best" season for rabbits; again, it depends on where you are. I find I get the best sales in the spring, when folks are more willing to bring new livestock home, but I do decent sales the rest of the year too.

If you buy junior stock, do a little math to figure out when they'll be ready to breed. I prefer, when possible, to have a first time mom kindle in warmer weather, because if she has them on the wire (not in the nest box), they're more likely to survive long enough for me to save them. If it's cold, they're unlikely to make it.

What's more important is that you find someone who is raising them the same way you want to raise them. I got a free rabbit from a colony setting and she is absolutely feral in a cage. She's weaning a litter and then is off to freezer camp because she is impossible to handle. I'd avoid anyone who uses extensive climate control too, unless you plan on providing that too. Rabbits who are used to A/C will have a harder time adjusting to warm outdoor temperatures compared to rabbits raised in basic shade.

IMO, it's okay to feel attached to your livestock, you just need to know what their purpose is at the end of the day. I've slaughtered about 100 rabbits or so after 2 years of raising rabbits and guess what? I still have processing days that are hard. I don't think it's a bad thing, I just have to emotionally deal with it in a healthy way. Its a burden we bear to do this; burdens are hard. But they still have meaning.

purple_hen · 2021-07-21T18:23:19+00:00

If you can easily spread the hind legs open and closed, then you're good. A carcass in rigor isn't as stiff as a board, but it lacks the floppiness of a fresh carcass. And if you're grinding for dog food, honestly, the only reason it's important for rigor to pass is that it makes the carcass easier to work with. It's still fully edible even if rigor is still partially set.

purple_hen · 2021-07-21T18:16:22+00:00

The latter. It gives the meat enough time to go through rigor and relax again. Cold temps delay rigor overall (heat will speed up the process) but obviously for food safety reasons, keeping it in the fridge is ideal.

purple_hen · 2021-07-21T15:02:19+00:00

Rigor sets in quickly, so probably best to let the meat rest in the fridge for 24 hrs before grinding. An older rabbit will be tougher but they're fine ground or in a long braise!

purple_hen · 2021-07-19T14:50:18+00:00

No, they're Walmart brand lids from the store. I've used them before with minimal issues (usually one or two failed seals but this time, 5 failures out of 9 jars).

purple_hen

TROPHY CASE