Breeding rabbits for food is a great way to increase your freezer meat without spending a lot of money. The meat is extremely nutritious and easy to prepare. In fact, you can make most of the same dishes with rabbit that you would with chicken, and a few extra special ones like rabbit stew will delight your entire family.
The care and housing of rabbits that you will breed for food is the same as any rabbit care, although slightly larger cages for the females is a good idea since they will also have to be big enough to hold the babies until they are ready to be weaned.
There are only a few rules you should be aware of before you start out to avoid some common pitfalls:
Never—I repeat never—take the buck (male rabbit) to the doe’s (female rabbit) cage! .......
Always take the female to the male. She won’t be aggressive in a strange cage, and he will know exactly what to do.
Do stay and watch when you leave the doe in the buck’s cage. It is not a long term process. ....... Grab her out of the cage as soon as the buck has done his duty.
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One thing you should always watch for as the doe’s due date draws near is whether or not she is building a nest. She should start pulling her belly hair out and using it to line the nesting box. If she doesn’t, or hasn’t pulled enough hair for a deep warm nest, you can add straw to the box to make sure there is plenty of insulation even in the summer months.
One of the most common problems encountered in rabbit breeding is the doe having the kits outside of the nest box. ......
That’s another very important reason to always watch and carefully plan your breeding dates by taking the doe to the buck and taking her out immediately afterwards. If you don’t know when the doe is due, you can’t watch for problems. ......Breeding rabbits is very easy and takes little extra work beyond the normal care and feeding, and with just a few extra precautions you can end up with quite a bit of extra meat in your freezer.