I need to ask all my readers a gigantic favor. There is a regulation that WILL affect rabbit breeders from the USDA that could very well be the end of several types of animal agriculture as we know it. The writers claim it's to eliminate "puppy mills", but rabbits have been thrown in for good measure. If they are ever shipped or sold off-premises, you will be affected.

I can't speak for the average breeder, but I don't sell ON-premises, generally, due to possible personal and biosecurity issues, not to mention the fact that some of my rabbits have been transported over long distances (Washington State to Pennsylvania) and if that's no longer possible, it may signal the end of rare breeds as we know them.

I need people to comment on this, and I need them to comment a LOT. You are allowed to make as comments times as you like. We really need thousands to make them reconsider. AR already has theirs up.

Let's show the USDA and HSUS we will NOT take this lying down. Let's show them we can stand united. For our hobby and our freedoms. We need to battle bills that reduce or eliminate any form of animal ownership and breeding because freedom is worth the fight. If you want your children to be able to get cats, dogs, and yes, rabbits for pets OR livestock when they are grown, stand with me. This regulation needs to be regulated out of existence.

http://www.facebook.com/l/lAQF5UFrX/www.regulations.gov/%23!documentDetail;D=APHIS-2011-0003-0001

I now have seven kits in another nestbox. I did have eight, but one ended up on the wire and didn't make it. I hate it when that happens.

I'm still looking for a processor to butcher for me so I can sell rabbit meat. I very much wish there were a community processing plant nearby where I could merely rent a space for a small fee and process them myself for sale to the public. In any case, wishing is useless. I have to work for my miracles.

My last breeding wasn't very productive. Out of five does bred, I had only five living kits. I am rather disappointed and frustrated. I was really hoping to make this a viable business, but I may have to start over with my breeding stock. Perhaps I will save a daughter from one or two does which I know are excellent mothers and breed them. It could just be the time period between breedings, as we gave them several months of a break. Too long and fat can start to strangle the reproductive system with frightening efficiency. Perhaps I will put the current does into a pastured colony (aka "out to pasture", lol) and start with younger stock. I think I will discuss this with my partner.

I neglected to mention in a previous post, I have my sub-rabbitry sheltered and two cages hung! Now my youngest brood rabbit is in a cage of her own with ample space and her own belongings (watching her "chin" everything was so adorable!) She is a very happy rabbit and has actually become much friendlier. Of course, that might be the fresh greens she's been getting several times daily. ;)

I have a doe here which has come down with a disease dreaded by all rabbit breeders. It's known among breeders as "snuffles' aka pasturella. She is sneezing with white mucus coming out of her nose. I know what I have to do, not just to keep her from suffering but to prevent the other rabbits from becoming infected, but she's been a sort of rabbitry pet for some time so it will be difficult. It's breaking my heart. She's not really my doe, technically, but my partner's, so I really hope she has the sense to actually put the doe down before she kills the others. I know that sounds harsh, but it isn't intended that way. I just don't want to lose the rabbitry and I DON'T want any of the rabbits to suffer, this doe included. I really hope we can get a vet to euthanize her, because I don't think I could do it myself. She's a Flemish Giant so she's just too big, among other things.

I've finally discovered, quite by accident, the defining characteristic I want for the new breed that I'm developing. I considered having a certain mark or a certain feature that no other breed has, but wasn't sure what I wanted to do that wasn't already a part of another breed. Then I saw it on one of my brood does. Something a had never before seen with such distinctiveness.

I fully intend to have very quick growth rates (5 pounds in 8 weeks seems very doable) and small bones, white fur and wonderful mothering skills, the ability to thrive on forage and the ability to tolerate others in a colony setting, but this characteristic will define my breed as unique in itself. I haven't yet found another breed that has it, but there are occasionally mixed-breed individuals that do, albeit longhaired ones. "My" breed will actually be shorthaired.

In any case, the breed is still in development and I believe it will be for a number of years, yet. I will gladly let you know when it will be available for distribution as soon as it is. It'll easily make the Altex a thing of the past. Stay tuned. :)

I finally got the tools, supplies and equipment I need to create my new sub-rabbitry -- only to discover I need to alter the building I was planning to put the rabbits in in order to use it. To say the least, I'm a bit disappointed. I knew the building was in poor shape, but I was hoping to be able to use it with no further time and expense.

Meanwhile, my does are waiting to give birth in the next week and two of them are in one slightly overcrowded hutch. They've always gotten along as they are mother and daughter, but I worry for the kits. The hutch didn't seem crowded until they started to expand with pregnancy. I may have to make emergency accomodations for the daughter. Obviously, this is frustrating, although it's just a slight setback really. Someday this will seem silly, but right now, I am a bit stressed.

My New Zealand doe is lossing weight nicely. I thought it was all in her dewlap, but a lot of it is in her stomach as well, and that's where I need it to be. I will try to get her a tiny bit on the lean side so that when I breed her, not only will she be more fertile, but her life will be out of danger due to difficulties that often happen when a severely overweight rabbit gives birth. Her next breeding will be her next chance. I cannot support a doe which cannot or will not produce offspring. I will try her with my American Chinchilla buck next time, to see if she simply does not like my New Zealand buck. Right now, it's unimportant that the kits are purebreds as they will just be meat animals.

The "Now It's Your Turn" Contest!

What a harvest!

I just harvested what is probably about ten pounds of Garlic Mustard from my yard! My only problem is that I haven't a clue what to do with them!

I've been posting rabbit recipes for quite some time on my Facebook page and a few on my blog, so now it's your turn. The person who posts the "best" recipe involving both Garlic Mustard and rabbit meat, as selected by readers, will have their recipe listed, along with their name, in my new cookbook Rabbit on My Plate. All you have to do is go to my "Rabbit on my Plate" Facebook page, "Like" the page, and post your recipes. The person who's recipe receives the most "Likes" wins.

Rules:

Recipes may not be posted in the form of "links" and you must have all rights to any recipe you post. Please post each recipe in "doc" form.

All parts of Garlic Mustard are edible, so you can use the root in your recipe if you like, or the seed. Any part is usable.

I am planning to have several contests. The person with the most overall "Likes" on their recipe will receive a copy of the Rabbit on my Plate cookbook before it's published! I am only sending out one advance copy (grand prize) for all the contests together so you'll want to post your best of the best!

You may enter (post recipes) as many times as you like. Each recipe will be counted as a seperate entry.

You may vote (click "Like") as many times as you like.

All recipes must be intended for human consumption.

The deadline for this contest is May 31st. All entries to this contest after that date will be null and void.

This is not a popularity contest. If I discover that somebody has been pressuring or insisting that their friends "Like" their recipe, they will be disqualified. No exceptions.

All of my meat-breed does are either bred off nursing a litter, so I will soon have a lot of rabbits to eat and sell. I hope to soon have a new setup for my special meat rabbit "sub-rabbitry", for which I ordered the supplies some time ago, but the shipment has yet to arrive. I'm getting a bit frustrated with this distributer. I've been waiting more than a week and I did mention the supplies were needed in a hurry. Sigh.

I bred my Californian doe to my New Zealand buck, so I'm hoping to have some excellent meat-to-bone ratio from the combination (I also don't have a Californian buck and needed to get her bred as she was getting to the point where if I didn't, there would be no point keeping her because she would become more difficult to breed as time went on), and my crosses to my American Chinchilla buck, hoping to increase the size of the offspring. I'm hoping NOT to see any REW (Ruby-eyed white) in the litter, even though that would save me time breeding out the chinchilla coloring from my meat rabbits later, because that would mean my buck carries it. I would really rather my American Chinchilla line had no chance of producing white later. I would rather purchase one from someone else. I'm also considering crossing my partner's Flemish Giant doe, since she's not being bred, to get a larger bone for other uses.

I hope to soon sell my litters as dogfood to raw feeders. It would, at least, bring some sorely needed money into my little rabbitry and, I hope, get me a bit on an income as well. I have been investigating processing them myself as opposed to spending an outrageous amount to have it done professionally and spending more for the care during those three months than I would earn. As it stands at the moment, I may be able to "gift" the processing to the buyers after the sale, but I'm not really sure how to advertise that fact. The rabbits would need to me purchased live and then processed for free.

By my calculations, I should have a very small income if I can do this, but nothing spectacular. If I were in it for the money alone, I would have quit some time ago.

My, how difficult it is to write when you are out "doing"! I've been fixing cages (and I have the sliced-up hands to prove it) and rearranging everything for my portion of the rabbitry so that I can focus on growing meat rabbits to sell, as a processed product! It has been nice, getting out in our sometimes more than 80 degree, sunny weather, to make room for my lovely meat buns. I can't wait to see what I get! Four of my does have been almost certainly bred and two more may have been, so I will be expecting up to six litters in a month. One of the does I'm not sure about, however, won't breed, perhaps because she is obese and the other doesn't seem to understand what is happening to her despite giving every indication of wanting to be bred. I blame youth. She's still young.

I'm planning to implement a hanging cage system and have ordered the hanging hooks to do so. I will also have sliding trays and possibly a vermiculture bin to deal with the feces. Right now, I have drop pans, which are difficult to clean and heavy at times. If I'm going to increase my rabbitry's scale eventually, I will need to reduce the workload as much as possible.

The remaining American Chinchillas are very cute and active. Now that they are close to three weeks old, I need to watch for weaning enteritis/enteropithy, which is caused by a sterile gut in the kits as they begin their transition to solid food. We're not out of the woods yet in regards to health.

All of my rabbits are currently taking probiotics as I am planning to take several to shows this season. The last thing I want is for them to become ill. I also hope this prevents the enteropithy in the kits as they will be nibbling their mom's food soon. Fiber is also instrumantal in preventing this dreaded disease, so large quantities of hay are being provided daily. Enteropithy is often fatal in rabbits.

At eight weeks, I will need to worry about stress because that is when I separate them from their mother. This also taxes their immune system, so it is also a danger. I'm not as concerned about enteropithy as I am stress or faders, though, since I've never had a litter with it, probably because of the abundance of fiber and probiotics in their diet.

As a side note, our feed consumption seems to have been cut in half since we started giving more hay. We get our hay for $2/bale at a friend's house, so that's not bad at all. The cost has gone from more than $80/week to about $30/week. If I can sell some rabbits, it will be reduced even further.

Tha Am Chin kit didn't make it. It must have been too late when we started treating it. Poor thing, I feel a bit sad today because of it, but I know there was really nothing that could have been done.

We tried, even though we knew the odds. Faders just fade that quickly and by the time we knew that's what it was and I was done doing research, it was just too late.

I hope its death isn't in vain, however, and that other faders may benefit from what I've learned or, better, that I have no more faders that need to.

After nearly six years, I do know better than to believe that, but that doesn't keep me from hoping.

Goodbye, Miracle.

I've decided to try to save the fader, which has been named Miracle because that's what it'll need to survive, against all common sense. Even if it ends up being only a meat animal, at least it will have had a bit more chance to live and perhaps less to suffer.

Most breeders, myself included, agree for the most part that faders are terminal and there's little to nothing that can be done about it. So why did I suddenly find myself researching ways to save faders online? Somehow, the idea that nothing could be done never really did sit right with me, but this kit was the final straw, I suppose.

The first few sites I came across told me what I already knew: there's no way to save a fader. Asking on Facebook yielded the same results. I was told to kill it to prevent future suffering, that it would die anyway.

Then I came across a site in which the owner claimed to have positive results with faders. Finally, some hope! I mixed honey and water along with some probiotics (L. Acidopholis, in this case, a culture found in yogurt although this was a non-dairy formula) and isolated the kit to feed it and give it back to its mother afterword. Normally, I don't advocate feeding animal byproducts to rabbits, but this is an unusual situation with an unusual solution.

To my surprise, the tiny kit sucked and chewed my hand when it had tried the solution! It was trying to nurse! It was hungry, but was just having trouble suckling. I assume the sugar gave it some energy and the water rehydrated it, but I can't be too positive. It even walked more steadily (I had to catch it to keep it from falling off the table when it was first brought inside. It walked across the table later, although it was still rather crouched into itself, poor thing) and opened its eyes on its own for the first time since birth. I will still have to keep feeding it along with its mother three times daily for two more weeks until it is fully able to be weaned, but that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. Unless it starts to show signs of suffering, of course. Then I'll have no choice. It will need to be put down as soon as possible, unfortunately.

My hypothesis is that some kits lose their ability to suckle early, not because they're inferior, but for the same reasons some other animals lose that ability. Perhaps nature is trying to keep only the fittest alive or perhaps it's an evolutionary throwback of a sort, early weaning so the offspring could run from danger as well, but if that's the case, it's not too successful as the kit is weaned before it can cope with eating solid foods.

In any case, there are no guarantees the kit will still be alive in the morning, but now it has a fighting chance. I really believe it wants to live, and I intend to do everything in my power to help it to do so.

I will probably end up having to cull (kill) one of my American Chinchilla kits. I looked at them today to check their eyes and one is much thinner than the rest, although I wouldn't consider it underweight just yet. While its siblings have bulging little bellies, this one almost looks like a miniature adult in proportion, which is not how it should look at two weeks. It should be quite round yet. It has an angular face and isn't very attractive, while the rest are round and bunny-like. Its body isn't so thin I think it's suffering quite yet, but I don't think it's eating much either. I asked some other rabbit breeders for advice and they told me to do just what I would have suggested anybody else would do. I cannot allow the poor thing to suffer. I just don't know how to explain this to my partner, who hates having animals put down for any reason.

I was hoping the entire litter would do well, but it must have been too much to hope for.

I haven't written in a while so I thought I would give a rundown of my very busy month!

Feb 12: My Am Chin doe had babies! I found out the next day that there were seven and they were all very healthy and a beautiful as their mother. There were no REWs(ruby-eyed whites)

Feb 22, they're opening their eyes and starting to walk. It's a tiny bit slower than I was expecting, but I'm sure they'll catch up. Two are rather small. I really hope they hurry and grow!

A couple of days ago, I found my favorite meat cross, Leanne, laying dead outside. I think it may have been a heart attack as it seemed sudden. Her body was too stiff for an autopsy. She will be missed. I very nearly cried, but held back because I needed to do other things first. I loved that doe. Sometimes raising rabbits is not all it's cracked up to be. :(

I need to check my babies' eyes today to make sure they're all open. I should have made sure on day ten to avoid nest box eye. They'll also need their bedding changed. The winter weather has made these things difficult to get done. It's always something!

A few days ago, an animal rights extremist wrote this seemingly scathing piece about how "cruel" it is to kill and eat rabbits.

http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-01-18/news/30641248_1_dead-rabbits-american-rabbit-breeders-association-bunnies

It included the text:

"Somehow, rabbit killing has crept into mainstream America. National news stories have labeled rabbits as the “new chickens”; one even described a “rabbit-killing seminar” held in a parking lot behind a Brooklyn restaurant. Along the campaign trail, Mitt Romney has bragged about killing rabbits, presumably as a way to scare up votes among grizzly moms and dads.

Rabbits are so undervalued that the Royal Shakespeare Company planned to behead them on stage for entertainment last summer. As part of the Lincoln Center Festival in New York, the company planned a production of “As You Like It” that would feature an actor skinning and beheading dead rabbits."

While I agree the idea of beheading a rabbit onstage is revolting on every level, what these fanatics don't seem to realize is WHY that is so, thinking that an animal that could be a "pet" is being killed for entertainment. That isn't the reason it's wrong.

An animal has every right to die peacefully and surrounded by the person or persons who've cared for it their entire lives or at least have their life taken in a manner that's as humane and stress-free as possible. Killing rabbits isn't cruel. Killing animals for meat in general isn't unless they're being tortured somehow first, which goes well against the grain for most animal raisers. We are healers, life-givers, caretakers and, yes, we are also sometimes death-bringers. I can't help but wonder how long these "vegans" could live without their suppliments or if they know exactly what is in the products they use each day. I can almost guarantee the majority will have some sort of animal byproduct, even if it isn't listed on the ingredients list.

This person says it in a different way, but it is essentially the same idea:

"Rabbits are a multi-purpose animal that can be raised with minimal impact on the environment and can be the most economical option for small farmers. There are plenty of species of livestock that can be treated as pets. This does not change that fact that they are able to be used for meat production. Small farmers and breeders don’t contribute to overpopulation of rabbits —there is no need to re-home livestock raised for meat. No one knows more about rabbit care and husbandry than the actual breeder. Good living conditions are always our top priority, for the sake of health and production. No one respects the life and purpose of an animal raised for meat more than the farmers who raise them."

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/readers-sound-rabbits-city-homeless-policy-michelle-rhee-article-1.1009534?localLinksEnabled=false

So the bottom line for the AR fanatic, I suppose, is that it's okay to kill rabbits at the pound because they're "unwanted" but killing them for consumption is cruel and heartless. Breeders are evil, but "oops" litters are fine. I'm glad someone has enough sense to refute that (il)logic.

AR says whatever brings in the most money this week, I suppose. Next week it will be chickens, which make "excellent pets." And, of course, egg eating is an exceedingly cruel "recent event" as well.

Eating rabbit is, for some people, necessary for survival. For others, the act of eating rabbit is one of celebration. For this family, it was a once in a lifetime experience this young man was to never forget:

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/salloum61.html

There's a recipe included at the bottom, as well. :)

It's cold in Pennsylvania. It's very, very cold in Pennsylvania. The temperature dipped to 16 degrees last night, although I heard it was supposed to rise into the 20s today. When I checked the rabbits this morning, the bowls were frozen solid. I was glad we started using bowls, because the bottles were always a nightmare. I would keep them on the furnace register vent all day and they still wouldn't be thawed by that night. Since we only had two bottles/rabbit, that meant I had to thaw them under hot running water several times a day. With the bowls, we can simply dump the ice (or thaw the dishes until the ice falls out on its own with very hot water upside down) and refill with fresh.

My Karma may be expecting. I am so excited about my (I hope) very first litter of American Chinchillas! Somehow, I have the feeling the breeding took, so I'm already antsy, lol, even though I won't get to see them for nearly a month. Of course, Merlin is going to get a carrot instead of a cigar. I'll be very unhappy if I don't get some babies. Especially since I agreed to trade the young does from the litter with another breeder. I would love to have another Karma!

This is a terrible time of year to breed rabbits, but I'm really hoping to increase the numbers of these beautiful, sweet and completely lovable rare-breed rabbits. The only bad thing is that I'll have to eat some of them to keep the best genetics alive.

Actually, the eating part isn't so bad, just the killing. I hate killing my standoffish and sometimes mean meat rabbits, if these babies are anything like their parents, I may have to pet them out to cull them.

Although, more rabbit dinners are never a bad thing. :)

I'm considering getting cavys (also known as guinea pigs).  My partner has far different ideas about raising and breeding animals. Cavys can be raised indoors so they would be strictly raised by me in my home. No, I don't plan to quit raising rabbits, I just want a project all to myself, I suppose you could say.

Cavys are somewhat similar to rabbits: they both practice cecotrophy (the ingestion of cecotropes), eat similar foods (cavys need additional Vitamin C in the form of fruit and vegetables, but that shouldn't be too difficult), and have similar issues with birthing, etc. I do plan to do more research before jumping into them, however. A lot more.

On the other hand, cavys have longer gestational periods, shorter times the males can stay with their mothers, sanitation can be an even greater issue if the containers aren't cleaned daily, they cannot be placed in cages because the cages are too hard on their feet, and I'm not sure what to look for in regards to the different breeds and their standards. There is a lot to learn before I can even consider starting any new projects. If I ever get into them at all.

I don't know if I would like to eat cavys, however, so the culls may just end up going to my dog and cat. I'm not sure whether I actually intend to sell them for pets or not.

Either way, I will always be able to eat rabbit.

I don't have any meat rabbits right now. I had to sell them off (very inexpensively, I might add) because I never got around to processing them. We never really had two nice days together and one of the reasaons I'm raising my own meat is to ensure their comfort from birth to death. The only way to do that is to have total control of the entire process and to process (aka: butcher) them in perfect weather when the processing is done outside, which is what I'm forced to do at the moment. Next year I plan to have a facility designated for that process which will be indoors, but I wasn't able to this year for various reasons.

What setup do you have for processing your meat rabbits? Please leave a comment! :)

It seems that Animal Rights trolls have decided to flood my Facebook page. Oh well. I apologize for not writing sooner, but I'm sure you all understand.

In any case, I've decided to start including some of the things that are on my page here, as well as sharing things here that aren't on my page. I hope you really enjoy the change and I will certainly try to post more often from now on. :)

http://americanfood.about.com/od/gameandothermeats/r/Braised_Rabbit.htm