Many backyard farms raise rabbits for their meat and the warm fur they produce. Whether you intend to harvest the meat and spin the hair (or simply enjoy as a pet!) the fertilizer these animals produce is fabulous for your garden!
Rabbits love to eat vegetable scraps so they’re not very expensive to keep, they live in small hutches and they’re quiet so even those of us who live in town can have them!
Rabbits also make very good pets so those of you who don’t plan to spin the fur or eat the meat can enjoy the fluffy creatures while they build the soil for your garden!
Rabbits just need fresh food and clean water, good ventilation with a place to stay warm and dry and some love. They’ll repay you in rich droppings you can add to your compost pile to build your garden soil!
Do you think your backyard farm is ready for a rabbit?
If you have questions about raising rabbits, Angela England’s book, Backyard Farming on an Acre (More or Less) is a fabulous resource!
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I totally agree rabbits are much more awesome than many people realize! However I think that there’s a general lack of information on their care. I just visited a farm that didn’t realize that rabbits teeth grow continuously so if you don’t give them access to hay and wood to chew to wear them down they will grow to long and cause infections. We need more people sharing information about rabbits! They’re great animals but vastly more complex than people think.
Rabbits should never have chicken wire floors in their hutches. It can damage their feet. Rabbits need a solid floor wood or plastic
Had a rabbit I think 10 years with a chicken wire floor. Not a big deal. It was always kept with many inches of hay on top. A solid floor will get disgusting pretty fast I think. If your rabbit is peeing over it for years and years, that’s going to be disgusting.
Chicken wire floor, on the other hand, doesn’t hold liquids. Will never need much cleaning let alone replacing it. Just keep a lot of hay in there and their feet will never have any issues.
Chicken wire floor is not safe for the rabbits. I know of people who used that and coyotes pulled the rabbits feet through and chewed them. Not pretty.