I heard you on the TSP podcast…Great info! I’ve been thinking of raising rabbits for some time now and after your interview with Jack I went and picked up a New Zealand White buck and a doe. They are about 8 weeks old. I’m going to pick up a couple of more doe’s in about a week when he gets them weined. Now to start building a hutch!

Thanks for all the great info!!

I heard you on TSP. We have a California Buck and a Giant Flemish female. They just had their first litter of 4, 10 weeks ago. I’m amazed at how big they are. The female isn’t quite a year old yet. My question is, for continuing. . I want to get another female, probably another california. How many years can you breed a doe/buck? And then do you need to buy new ones to replace them, or can you rebreed their offspring with each other? I have no knowledge of how that would affect future offspring.

Thanks.

Can you ship comfrey to Georgia? Please send response to my email address below.

Thank you for taking the time, effort, you’ve put into your blog. My rabbits are also on a mixed diet of first cutting, pellets, and greens from my garden. I’am looking forward to reading more. Happy Holidays.

Wow, looks like lots of helpful info. I wanted to listen to the podcasts but I was unable to retrieve the one about raising rabbits in the heat. We get hot weather where I live so I was interested in that one for sure. Is there a way to get an archive copy of that one? Thanks much. Ken

My wife and I would like to start raising rabbits this year. We live in Maine. Are you open to visitors? Heard you on TSP.

Thank you. I will give it a try. I have just added some pro-biotic to the drinking water to help after the antibiotics but will also add the echinacea when I can get hold of some capsules. I plan to buy at least one echinacea plant when they come into season, so I have a fresh supply to keep their immune system topped up. And you are right. I am sure they would self medicate in the wild. On another subject, can rabbits eat dogwood? :o)

Can you tell me what you do with the “waste” parts when you process the rabbits for meat? We raise rabbits for meat but I would really like some ideas as to what to do with the “rest” of the rabbit as I hate to see it all wasted. Any ideas what to do with the hides (I know they can be tanned, but I don’t tan), feet, tails, ears, innards, heads? What does everyone else do with all that? Thanks!

That sounds like a nice setup. Interesting that they don’t cut through the hardware cloth. But my sense is that, given enough space, they’re less restless. My buck that’s in 4 sq feet is very restless, but given 25 sq ft and a view of other rabbits, my other buck seems more peaceful.

Do they have too many litters when they’re all together? Interbreed too frequently? Do you have any trouble catching them when you need to?

I’d like to see a picture of the cement houses. I put some sections of clay chimney flue in with mine and they enjoy that and can hide in them.

Any problems with ticks?

Thank you, all very helpful. I’m pretty upset about the GMO issues too.

Just read a nice piece on catching them at the rabbitgeek’s site, their article on colonies: “Catching rabbits on the fly may not be for everyone. I like it a lot!…and the rabbits are playful about it if they are never pushed hard as in a chase or a grab. Follow the rabbit’s eye as it runs, if it runs. Move your feet as little as possible and always avoid forward steps if you do move them while the rabbit runs. Shuffle, if you need to make a forward motion. Keep the side of your shoulder even with the rabbit of your focus, instead of showing it a frontal body stance. In some situations, and with certain rabbits that know how to be evasive and have gained experience with freedom and survival from threat, the tactic of staring with one eye open (the near one, of course!), as silly as this sounds to us, can be less threatening to them…making catching easier. To understand why this could make a difference, remember the facial structure of rabbits and other herbivores when compared to us and other ‘hunters’. When stared at steadily, the rabbit will stop and/or turn… it won’t run forever in a circle around you if you stare at it steadily. Have your dominant catching hand still, but ready for a deliberate motion . Reach and step forward, GENTLY place your hand over the rabbit’s eyes (giving it the place to hide it needs) and hook that hand under its chest, at the same time scooping the crook of its diagonal hind leg with your other hand. Lift it up, firmly hugging it with your arms, carefully restricting the shoulder and hips from too much jumpiness. Tuck the head under your arm if the rabbit panicked or won’t calmly settle. I catch rabbits in order to check their identifying tattoo, to learn and record distinctions between them, to pose them, to weigh them periodically, and to check them all over for whatever purpose. After handling them, I always place them down hind end first — with them facing my feet — so they are not running away from me as they leave. I think the final point is quite influential to their perception of the handler. With the sideways body stance and maintained eye contact, catching a rabbit often is as simple as reaching out, placing hand-over-eyes, a scoop up, and a firm hold. 10 minutes/10 rabbits.”

Guess I’ll go practice on my young ‘uns!

Just a question x I have a london pane tree in my back yard that has been chopped for the summer so I have loads of logs that id like to put into the rabbit hutch for nibbles and play! Do you know if these are safe, http://www.british-trees.com/treeguide/planes/nhmsys0000461779

When I ask my haymen if they are using GMO seed, they act ignorant and say they don’t know. We need to ask if their feed is “Round Up Ready”. This will make more sense to them. I also have been having infertility.
Here are some articles;
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/dr_hubers_warning/
http://www.naturalnews.com/039387_usda_gm_alfalfa_pathogens.html
“…Lab tests indicate that the pathogen is also present in a “wide variety” of livestock that is suffering from infertility and spontaneous abortions. Huber warned that the pathogen may be responsible for reports of increased fertility rates in dairy cows and spontaneous abortions in cattle that reach as high a 45 percent….”

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/10/06/dr-huber-gmo-foods.aspx
“…It’s important to realize that glyphosate is not “just” an herbicide. As explained by Dr. Huber, it was first patented as a mineral chelator. It immobilizes nutrients, so they’re not physiologically available for your body.

“You may have the mineral [in the plant], but if it’s chelated with glyphosate, it’s not going to be available physiologically for you to use, so you’re just eating a piece of gravel,” Dr. Huber says….Naturally, health effects are bound to occur if you’re consistently eating foods from which your body cannot extract critical nutrients and minerals. Mineral deficiencies can lead to developmental and mental health issues, for example. Glyphosate is also patented as an antibiotic—and a very effective one at that— against a large number of beneficial organisms. Unfortunately, like all antibiotics, it also kills vitally important beneficial soil bacteria and human gut bacteria.

“Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, Enterococcus faecalis—these are organisms that keep you healthy either by providing accessibility to the minerals in your food or producing many of the vitamins that you need for life. They’re also the natural biological defenses to keep Clostridium, Salmonella, and E.coli from developing in your system,” Dr. Huber explains.

“When you take the good bacteria out, then the bad bacteria fill that void, because there aren’t any voids in nature. We have all of these gut-related problems, whether it’s autism, leaky gut, C. difficile diarrhea, gluten intolerance, or any of the other problems. All of these diseases are an expression of disruption of that intestinal microflora that keeps you healthy.”
…..On May 1, the EPA went ahead and doubled the amount of glyphosate allowed in food… Soybean oil may now contain as much as 40 parts per million (ppm) of glyphosate. Meanwhile, research by Dr. Monika Krueger at Leipzig University shows that a tenth of a part per million is all that it takes to kill your Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium, and Enterococcus faecalis! So soybean oil is now allowed to contain a whopping 400 times the known limit at which it can impact your health…Contrary to popular belief, we’re still only in the initial stages of understanding what we’re doing in that whole process: …We found out that a gene actually functions in relation to the environment and its relationship to other genes or other genetic components in that code. When you disrupt those relationships and the integrity of the genetic code, you end up with mutations and epigenetic effects that we’ve yet to explore.

“We know they occur because for every one of those successful expressions that you get from genetic engineering, you have over a million other things that take place that are negative,” he says. “We also have potentially negative [effects] with the one that succeeded in expressing a particular protein that you want for genetic engineering. But nobody even looks for all of those other epigenetic effects that occur…..One of the things that we do know, since we don’t have the regulatory genes that would normally be part of those components from a regular breeding program, is that the genes that are being inserted are extremely promiscuous. They’re not stable. They may stay in and be transferred through a regular breeding program after they’re introduced. But we know that they can be transferred to soil microorganisms when the stubble or the grain is digested and decomposed in the soil—or in your gut……In the latter case, your gut flora can then pick up those same genes, and can start producing those foreign proteins, which are extremely allergenic. A perfect example of this was the StarLink corn, which produced a protein that turned out to be very toxic to humans. StarLink was grown 10 years ago for a pharmaceutical process. It was pulled off the market when they realized it had escaped from its confines and had the ability to contaminate corn destined for food production…….As discussed by Dr. Huber, research clearly shows that the novel proteins created in genetically engineered plants are highly allergenic, with the capability to promote diseases like cancer and liver or kidney failure….. Not only do GMOs alter your intestinal microflora, but research shows that human cells are also able to transfer those novel genes, thereby affecting the human genome.

“Especially with generation two genetic engineering, called gene silencing—that section of the nucleic acid can actually be picked up or attached to your own genes, and then start shutting down your own physiology in that process… It’s well-documented in the scientific literature.”…..Glyphosate may also play a role in bee colony collapse disorder. As stated by Dr. Huber, there are three established characteristics of colony collapse disorder that suggests glyphosate may be (at least in part) responsible:

The bees are mineral-deficient, especially in micronutrients
There’s plenty of food present but they’re not able to utilize it or to digest it
Dead bees are devoid of the Lactobacillus and the Bifidobacterium, which are components of their digestive system

The bees also become disoriented, suggesting endocrine hormone disruption. Neonicotinoid insecticides, which are endocrine hormone disruptors, have been demonstrated to make a bee disoriented and unable to find its way back to the hive. Glyphosate is also a very strong endocrine hormone disruptor. …..lyphosate is probably the most harmful chronic toxin we’ve ever encountered, both in our environment and on our dinner plates. Their findings show that two of the key problems caused by glyphosate in the diet are nutritional deficiencies, and systemic toxicity.

“It’s just that you don’t get killed or die today from it; you have to suffer through the process of gluten intolerance, leaky gut, Crohn’s, Alzheimer’s, autism, or any of those diseases that are related to the health of your gut, which we’re seeing now on an epidemic scale in our society,” he says……It’s also found in a large variety of livestock given GE feed who experience both spontaneous abortions and infertility. This includes cattle, horses, sheep, pigs, and poultry. Might it affect humans in the same way? Dr. Huber urged the USDA to investigate the matter and suspend approval of GE alfalfa until proper studies have been completed.

“We know that all herbicides are chelators, mineral chelators. That’s how they compromise the plant’s physiology: they tie up a particular nutrient and shut down a physiologic pathway,” he says. “This wasn’t new from that standpoint. But the thing that was different [with glyphosate] was its biocidal effect. It’s not only a chelator, but it’s also a strong antibiotic to beneficial microorganisms. How do you compensate for that? How do you restore biological activities?

Much of my research, which was focused on glyphosate, was focused on the biology and restoration of those mineral nutrients. I served on the National Plant Disease Recovery Program. I was chairman at that time and also for the USDA. I’ve also served for 40 years on our various threat pathogens committees and recognized what the potential problems were with Roundup Ready alfalfa.”

The American Stock Growers’ Association also testified before Congress, saying that infertility was threatening the animal industry. Dr. Huber saw how all of these issues were connected—via genetically engineered crops and the application of glyphosate. He felt an obligation to alert the USDA secretary and to ask for his help in getting the research done before further jeopardizing not only our fourth most important crop, but also our entire animal production because of the prevalence of this new abortogenic entity, found in high concentrations in GE or high-glyphosate intense growth conditions…..And the USDA scientists, who have a tremendous amount of knowledge on the impact of glyphosate, have all been muzzled. They’re not permitted to say anything about it. I got a phone call from one a few weeks ago. He said, ‘I’ll be retiring fairly soon. I plan on moving off and sharing that stage with you because I have a lot that I want to say. I just can’t say it right now.’” …..In a nutshell, the foundation of health – whether we’re talking about plants, soils, animals, or people – it really boils down to two things:

Having adequate mineral nutrition, and
Having that nutrition, in the case of plants, be supplied by an active soil microbial community, or having a strong soil biology

Genetically engineered crops decimate both. How could it possibly be the answer to rising food demands? “

Love your site! So much great learning done here 🙂 I have one question or thought discussion: I have fed my dogs on raw diets and one of the things that I learned early on is that a balanced diet can happen over the course of 3 to 7 days. Even though every commercial kibble is a complete balanced diet, when doing it the natural way, nutrition balance is not achieved in every bite they take, as is normal of their eating habits in the wild. Not every day do they find all their nutritional needs, sometimes they have to scavange for whatever they can find. I know rabbits are herbivores versus carnivores but in feeding a natural diet of hays and forage, can it be similar for their needs? Maybe only feeding alfalfa every other day, especially if using the higher calcium greens achieving balance over the course of the week instead of every bite?