SO, this weekend we moved forward with our preparations to start raising meat rabbits. We have been collecting supplies for the last few months, waiting for the weather to cool enough for the local rabbitries to start breeding again so we can pick up a trio of rabbits to get our own rabbitry going.
This weekend we put together the first of the hutches. this hutch will probably end up being out 'grow out' hutch. It has 3 sections with 2 'larger', and one 'large' hutch. Overall it is 10 feet long, 30 inches wide, and 16 inches tall. the large hutch is 30"x36" and the larger hutches are 30"x42"...
We started by laying out all the materials: a 10 foot roll of 1/2"x1" welded wire for the floor, and a 50 foot roll of 1"x2" welded wire for the sides and top. a large piece of OSB on a couple of saw horses and a folding table will make up our work surface today... Oh, and a large glass of ice water. It might be mid November, but this is So Cal, and its sunny and 78f today!
Next is gathering all the tools. lineman pliers (not shown), angle grinder with cut off disks, extension cord, tool belt, and J-Clips with J-clip pliers for joining all the pieces together.
First we cut all the pieces. The floor will be used as-is, but we need to cut a section of the larger wire to length to make the sides, then cut it lengthwise. I purchased 36" wide mesh, but only want the cages 18" tall. I forgot to account for the wire spacing being 2" in this direction, so the cages ended up only being 16" tall... I'm just going to order 18 or 24" wire for the sides next time...
Cutting the wire leaves sharp barbs along the edge, so I use the angle grinder to clean them up. eventually we switch to just using the grinder to make all the cuts. It ends up being faster and the clean up is easier...
With all the edges free from sharp pokes and burrs, its time to start assembling the cages. All the pices will be joined using 'J-Clips'. you can see blow how the J shaped metal clip wraps around the cage wire and firmly fixed the two pieces together.
WE started by joining the short sides and middle dividers to the floor; then added the long sides.
Looking down one of the long sides; we placed the J-Clips about every 3" along the bottom.
Then it was just a simple matter of folding up the sides and securing them with J-Clips and adding the top.
Almost complete, just need to secure the last corner of the top:
The 36" wide top hangs a bit off the back side. I'm not sure what i am going to do with this quite yet. The original idea was just to cut it off, but it might end up being useful so I'm leaving it for now.
The last step for today was to cut the holes for the doors, and cut the doors from the 1"x2" material. They are simply attached at the bottom to the sides of the cage with J-Clips as hinges. They will be secured at the top with a couple cage clips to hold the doors closed.
Overall I am very pleased with how the project turned out. The cages look good and are nice and rigid. the 'waste' from cutting out the door holes will be used to make hay hoppers on the front of the cages next to the doors, so there will be almost zero waste of the cage material. The 50 foot roll of 1"x2" wire has plenty left on it to make a couple of rabbit 'tractors' so the bunnies will spend most of the daylight hours outside these hutches, browsing on the pasture (the pasture is the old lawn in out back yard that we will be fortifying with some winter grasses and clover).
And, just for some gratuitous cuteness, here are the bunnies from the rabbitry. One of these will probably be our buck's parent (we are hoping to get a broken red buck like these):
They are only 12 weeks old in this picture, which is why we have been waiting months f or them to have babies :)
Yeah! Love the last photo.
These cages will be on the ground when in use? My first impression was how strange it looked o see this cage lattice up on top of the saw horses. That is just for the building process, right?
A bunny tractor is a great idea. Never seen that concept put into practice before.
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Yes, the saw horses are just there for the building process. The cages will hang off the ground from a shade structure. We are also planning a gravity feed watering system (as opposed to the small bottles that usually hang from the cages). The rabbits will also have a pad of some sort to sit on if they want to get off the wire.
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Wood enclosures and rabbits are a match made for entropy! So after much research, we decided wire is cleaner and safer in the long haul. Waste, especially corrosive urine, falls free to the ground away from the animals leaving them clean. Also, we can provide enriching chewing options rather than allowing rabbits the opportunity to develop bad home-gnawing habits. Thanks so much for commenting on my hubby's post! Cheers and thanks
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Meat rabbit? Is that a type of rabbits or you mean the rabbits will be butchered for consumption? Am I sounding weird? 😃
The cage is very spacious for just two rabbits. It looks like you really plan to have them reproduce. Won't you be putting wooden frame on the sides and every corner? I just thought the wires may deform in the long run if there are no frames to hold them.
To expound my questions above, aside from having them as pets, are there any other purpose for them? The rabbits are so cute. Got names for them?
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Yes, we will be breeding rabbits for consumption. Not a weird question at all.0
The cage will be suspended from a metal frame. The frame will hold shade cloth over them in the summer to keep them cool, and a tarp over them in the winter to keep them dry (for the couple of days it rains here in Southern California).
The 'Parent' rabbits will be more like pets and will be named... the photo above is from the breeder we will be getting some of our rabbits from, but are not our rabbits; so no names have been decided yet :)
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Ohhh... I never knew rabbit meat is being consumed. How does it taste? Any particular dish that their meat is used for?
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Hi @macoolette :) Rabbit has a delicate, lean flavor often compared to chicken. However rabbit has its own distinctive taste of the wild called "gamey". In my experience, it is delicious stewed in wine or seared and braised with vegetables. Rabbits are 6 times more efficient in turning fodder into meat compared to beef. And they are very prolific and gentle creatures. I just love them. Having grown up with pet rabbits as well as having rabbit stewed in white wine for infrequent special occasions:) cheers and much love!
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Oh my! That sounds luke worth a try... But I can't imagine eating meat from such cute creature. Or maybe I am just not used to it and it is not something common here. I wonder if anyone of those who had rabbit pet here have tried eating them...
Thanks for the clarifications. Maybe when I meet someone with rabbit, I'll convince him or her that we try cooking it. 😂
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Haha, I doubt a pet owner would love the suggestion of eating their cute, little bunny rabbit.
As a matter of fact, there turn out to be countless breeds of domesticated rabbits of every description. Only a dozen or so are recommended for raising as meat. I am learning a lot in preparation, and we plan to attend a rabbit show in just a couple of weeks! I am crossing my fingers that we can bring home a lovely breeding pair or trio!
Thank you so much for your wonderful conversations both on this post and on mine!
Much love
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Yes, I myself would not want my cute bunnies to be butchered if I have even just one! Waahhh, how could you eat something so cute and sweet like that? 😔
Are you and mattlovell together? Go and bring those rabbits home. 😊
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Hehe, yes, @mattlovell is my dear hubby <3
I completely understand your feelings about rabbit cuteness. The thing is, we like to eat meat in my household, and the meat available in grocery stores is not raised humanely, and sometimes comes from the worst sort of factory farms that poison our environment. We researched extensively and learned that rabbits bred for meat production are the best at turning fodder into meat, fur, and high quality manure. They are domesticated from nature's prey animal. Rabbits are at the bottom of the food chain, and evolved to produce many litters per year to compensate. Our goal is to treat them with the utmost of love, organic homeraised food, and good exercise, and they will in turn give us ethical meat and enrich our garden soil. We are also thinking ahead in case of a major disaster, we will be able to eat the vegs, eggs, and rabbits we grow ourselves.
It is hard to think of slaughter day. Luckily, @mattlovell has experience from going hunting with his father and dressing wild rabbits they shot. All animals are cute and adorable sentient beings...cows, pigs, chickens, lambs, etc. I think bunnies may seem like kitty cats or puppies in a place where they are absent as wild food for everything from hawks and snakes to coyotes and big cats. The mother and father rabbits will be kept as pets and loved until they die of old age. The meat litters will be dispatched at just 10 weeks old, 10 weeks of kindness and fun times playing on the grass. We will be in partnership with them. Ecosystems have plants, herbivores, carnivores, and decomposers.
Much love and thanks for helping me organize my thoughts with your insightful comments!
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Aaawww... the bunnies are so cute @mattlovell. And I am amazed how you built the cage from scratch with the welded wire pieces. It looks like a pretty fun project to do, wasn't it? And the cage is quite big. How many rabbits are you planning to keep in there? And usually how long do you grow them before they are fit to be consumed? Awww... they are so adorable! They are looking at me while I am typing this!
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Thanks for the comment. the cage is rather large, but each compartment will either hold an adult rabbit (and her kits), or 6-7 rabbits as they grow out. 10 weeks old is optimal for 'harvest', and they will weigh around 5 lb each at that point.
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Ah thank you. 10 weeks old is pretty fast and rabbits breed quite easily and fast too right? I wish you a prosperous and continuous good "harvest" with the new cage :) Happy Sunday there @mattlovell :)
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Wow, what a cool project. That is one huge enclosure. I like it :)
Is there any legal issue with opening a rabbitry? Or can you just go at it?
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technically we should only have 4 rabbits... If our property was a little larger, we would be limited to 12. So, from time to time we will be over our legal limit. We will have to deal with that if it becomes an issue. But, our neighbor is not supposed to have a rooster at all and they have had one (more than one at times) for YEARS without issue. The rabbits will be far stealthier :)
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That's true. Good Luck to you :) I hope for a nice update once the rabbits are all settled.
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I am so excited to begin raising our bunnies for adorable and ethical self sufficiency! Congratulations on your curie curation!!!!
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Hi mattlovell,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
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Thank you so much! I really appreciate what you do for the community :)
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The little rabbits are really very cute, it is a pity to put them in such cages, I would probably to keep them inside just till they are a big grown up. That is a great idea to build up cages yourself especially you can make whatever size you like so that they are not so restricted, but seeing your garden you have plenty room for such cuties to run about. Thank you for your tutorial very practical and can save some money too :)
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Well, gardens and rabbits are kind of mutually exclusive ;)
The rabbits will spend most of their time out of their cages, on the pasture. They will be confined for their own protection, but will have plenty of space to hop around and eat grasses, clover, and various herbs.
Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check back later to see how its going :)
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I feel the same way about cages! Yet, having grown up with pet bunnies, I know their habits and needs. For example rabbits pee and poop a LOT, and all that waste must be kept away from their living space. So, when they are not actively grazing on the pasture, they will spend the hours wild rabbits chill in burrows, inside these hanging cages that allow their waste to fall to the ground for sanitary conditions and healthy living. They will have comfortable sitting areas as well for respite from the wires. Also, domestic rabbits fight each other and require separate yet adjacent quarters. Especially breeders ! Each dawn and dusk we will place our bunnies in pasture grazing enclosures large enough to run and hop with all the natural glee that bunnies display. I am so happy that you care qnd speak up! Thanks for commenting on my hubby's post xoxo
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