Rabbits, the ultimate self-sustaining food source

Originally posted by Snibbz
Ive had rabbits my whole life as Pets, as do my children. There absolutely no reason for you to be eating them unless your a slackjawed hick and cant afford a loaf of bread and peanut butter because you'll get more protein and nutrients out of them than you will do with rabbits. The fact that you wouldn't even read up on if there are any nutritional benefits to eating rabbits means your just a complete moron. I hope something terrible happens to you

I've kept peanut plants alive for years, they have names, and you want them crushed and put in a jar? You monster!

Don't get me started on my prized wheat field (Vinny)

Good thread OP, glad to see most appreciate it. One question, instead of hiding from neighbors, why not sell and move somewhere that you can use your talents?

Most of my rabbit intake is wild, those things are everywhere. A simple snare line produces enough to augment my moose, caribou, fowl, and salmon diet. Along with the occasional chicken when I feel like it. But, hey, raising them is certainly better than standing in the bread and peanut butter line.

As to value, rabbit hides generally don't sell well, but they have their place. Once tanned, they won't tear as easy, and make good liners for gloves, hoods, etc...

Instead of taking them to a professional, use them to learn how to sew fur. Since you have a pile of them already. My better half learned on them, now uses my beaver pelts to make everything from gloves, to coats, to Teddy bears. It's an art, but not terribly difficult.

it's impossibale to survive on rabbits alone, they lack many nutrients required for us to survive so it's not going to cure world hunger anytime soon.

reply to post by salchanra


I cant really move. there are about 30 homes in my neighborhood that are in foreclosure and not selling already. Most have been for sale for yrs

the fur depends on the breed (if theyre worth anything). I breed chinchilla rabbits, theyre very tasty and have something no other breed of rabbit has.... dark meat. They have white meat also but the dark meat is very tasty.

The fur from a satin rabbit is ideal for hats, fur wraps, and trim for coats. Their meat is ranked excellent, equal to chinchilla. But theyre exceedingly rare to find.

Its difficult to find purebreds, more difficult to find a breeder like myself who wont let inbreeding happen, and near impossible to get the less common breed of rabbits. Ive actually driven (from Idaho) to Washington State and Wyoming to trade rabbits with other breeders to ensure a clean genetic line.

If anyone is considering a breed strictly for meat there are two types that I recommend. New Zealand and chinchilla. These two breeds have the best ratio of cost per meat output. You will spend very little fattening these bunnies up. I give my bunnies variety but many just feed them straight pellets and maybe some grass clippings for digestion. A 50 pound bag of pellets sells for $15 and last forever. each bunny will eat 1 cup of pellets a day so that bag will last forever.

They fatten quickly, you can get whats called a Fryer rabbit after only 6-7 weeks with about 5 pounds of meat per. Other breeds take longer to get to an ideal weight. The older a rabbit gets, the tougher the meat is. So you dont want a breed that takes a yr to reach 5 pounds because the meat will be tough by then and not to mention it will have eaten a yrs worth of pellets.

I make a lot of jerky with the meat. It keeps very well for camping trips. I soak strips of the meat in a mixture of soy sauce, teriyaki sauce, and cayenne pepper. then put it in my dehydrator for 12 hrs. the meat will keep fresh for about a yr.

Originally posted by listerofsmeg
it's impossibale to survive on rabbits alone, they lack many nutrients required for us to survive so it's not going to cure world hunger anytime soon.

but who ever eats only one source of food ?

its very easy to make a meal fatty. personally my favorite way to cook rabbit is in a pot pie. but there are cheap ways to fatten up the meat. Ive also cooked rabbit in just olive oil with bread crumbs to make it crunchy

most americans cant fathom eating anything other than a cow for their meat. but we americans dont understand that most other nations simply dont have the sheer land volume to raise cattle. for poorer countries it seems like a great solution to farm rabbits for protein.

finally, most americans are very overweight. that beef we eat is very fatty. not that I dont get break down and eat a quarter pounder with cheese every so often, but since I started raising rabbits 3 yrs ago my weight has dropped a lot. Im down from 232 to 197 now.

Ive never advocated eating rabbits solely as thats suicide. My point is if you can grow a few things like an almond tree, some asparagus (great perennial veggie that requires no effort) you can really save money and make surviving a little more comfortable

Answer to Who eats one type of food...the hundreds of trappers and miners that died doing just that

en.wikipedia.org...

www.raising-rabbits.com...

However I do think that miners and trappers of the 17/18 hundreds would have been at the mercy of all sorts of ailments as well and indeed at least in the west people do eat morethan one food , however the case of fast food etc and its massive consumption brings its own problems i think.

I believe fish is the ultimate food.

Originally posted by Mythic Chris
I believe fish is the ultimate food.

fish is a great food source. However raising them can be costly. You would need a pond or pool of some sort. machines to pump oxygen in them. chemicals to keep water clean. fish food. and space to keep everything.

i considered raising fish briefly but learned its not ideal for my situation. for me rabbits were just easier. I didnt need to know anything about water ph lvls and equipment to put oxygen in the water, etc.

rabbits raise themselves. they take care of their young. and they dont require much space. you can know nothing about animals and raise rabbits. the learning curve is very small. if you can raise a cat you can handle a rabbit.

thats mainly why i choose rabbits. with other animals you have to become an expert to breed them and it can be costly. chickens for example I avoided because I didnt want to get into the whole incubator thing, ideal temps which apparently change as the chicks get older stuff. bleh no thanks. my rabbits tend to their babies. all i do is provide some hay for them to nest in, thats it.

not that other animals are wrong for survival. If I had the patience and space I would be doing ducks in addition to my rabbits. duck eggs are delicious and loaded with calories. I just went for the cheapest and easiest animal to breed. for me that was rabbits.

another thing I considered was what were to happen if say the grid went down and we had no electricity. or if martial law were declared. Electricity goes out and you cant provide heat to chicks or oxygen to fish tanks. plus if soldiers come knocking theyre going to see chickens as food immediately.

rabbits arent viewed as food by many people. a soldier might just think okay just people and pets here move on. and my rabbits dont need electricity to live. even if the stores emptied and I ran out of pellets my rabbits can live off my land. if the stores empty, you wont have chemicals to treat a pool or food to feed the fish.

[edit on 3-8-2010 by admriker444]

reply to post by admriker444


Agreed rabbits are easy to raise but I think fish wouldn’t be so bad especially catfish.
A pool pump and some oats I would imagine, although I have never tried.
I also think that a pond would be overlooked as a food source even more than a rabbit cage.
If the pond is in the slightest “Yucky” a lot of people will not go near it, as we are a sissy lala breed.
Where as if the rabbits were in a cage just waiting to be eaten I dunno.

reply to post by admriker444


Rabbit pot pie is great, but try a rabbit shepherds pie. Ground rabbit on the bottom of a baking dish, then corn, then mashed whites, then cheese on top. Bake 1/2 hour or so at 350, or until cheese browns. True shepherds pie has lamb, but this just as good. All items can be easily raised in a small garden, provided you have a cow or access to milk to produce cheese.

I have to disagree with the OP on this one, we used to see lots of rabbits on the way home down this particular road, but these days ( for at least a month or 2) we haven't seen any.
Maybe they all got mixamatosis ( or however it's spelt) , drowned in teh heavy rains we had recently , eaten by other wildlife, or simply moved on, which is a shame , coz the wife always looked out for them on the way home

My greatgrandmother was a single mother of 4 kids. She made her living raising rabbits. It is true you cant eat it all the time, but she would sell the pelts as well as the meat. Granted it was a long time ago, and there are a lot of people against real fur that has destroied the pelt trade, govt restrictions and all that.....BUT if SHTF one day like many of us assume it will, and we dont have the ability to purchase fake fur or made in china coats, etc.. for what ever reason, those pelts WILL be worth something.

IMO it is good to always remember how to/and prepare to live without, because inevitably we will or our children will.

Edit to add, the poop makes awesome fertilizer. As soon as people find that out, they will be banging on your door. Good thing they provide plenty of it.

[edit on 6-8-2010 by mrsdudara]