6 Reasons to Have Rabbits on the Homestead

Rabbits are such a great asset to any sized homestead or backyard. We love raising our backyard meat rabbits here on our small suburban lot, but know they would be equally appreciated in a bigger homestead we hope to have someday. Read on to find out the 6 reasons to have rabbits on the homestead.

My first thought for raising rabbits on the homestead was the garden. I have a large garden that needed to be fertilized. When I came across the information that rabbit poo is the best fertilizer for gardens, that was the first reason for wanting rabbits. I miss our chickens (read here why you should consider laying hens) and the fertilizer the chickens provided, but they aren’t a good fit at the current house. So rabbits seemed like a good solution. And now I am hooked. Read on for 6 reasons you should also have rabbits on the homestead.

So to the internet I went and found a neighbor who was giving away free used rabbit bedding with poo and straw. Perfect! I went and picked it up in buckets (man I wish that one hadn’t dumped over in the van!) Anyway, what I found was amazing. My late summer vegetables that I didn’t even get planted until we moved into the house in August, took a huge growth spurt and showed me great love for the bunny poo I added. I was hooked and knew I needed to get some rabbits pronto.

Reason Number One – Garden Fertilizer

So yes, reason number one for having a few backyard bunnies is the love they will show your garden from their poo. It’s magic, I tell you.

Their manure is a cold fertilizer so you can throw it right into the garden without having to age it like you would with chicken or cow manure. That has been so handy. I can shovel out from under the outdoor hutches and add the manure and bits of straw right to the garden.

I have also taken the poo and made compost tea out of it. It is a simple process. First I put a small bucket’s worth of pellets into a five gallon bucket. I then add in water from the hose to fill the bucket. Cover it and let it sit for a few days to a week. Then drain off the liquid to water the garden. It can be a bit smelly at first, but the smell dissipates quickly. “Bunny Brew”

Reason Number Two – Meat

Not long after having our rabbits, I started researching more into meat rabbits. I also met another family at church that raises rabbits for meat and was able to talk to someone with a successful rabbitry. I had never really considered raising rabbits for meat. But since we can’t raise meat chickens and have no other way to raise our own meat, my husband and I decided to jump in.

There are so many benefits to having rabbits as a meat source. They are the only animal that you can raise in a small space in a neighborhood. They will not make noise like chickens and don’t need room to roam like goats, cows, and pigs.

If it is important for you to raise your own meat, rabbits are a great protein source when you can’t raise anything else in the space you have. And like I said, I would raise them even if I did have more room for other types of animals because I like having them around.

Their meat is a healthy protein. And with just the one buck (male) and two does (females), you have the potential to harvest up to 600 pounds of meat in one year. They only have a 30 day gestation and on average 6-10 kits (babies) per litter. I have felt comfortable breeding a doe about 4 times a year. Some people do more, but I want them to have some time between litters and summer heat can be hard on them so I try to avoid breeding in the intense heat. Actually males become temporarily sterile if the heat raises too high.

Reason Number Three – Small Space to Raise

We started out with three rabbits – a buck and two does. That is called a breeding trio. So when we brought them home, we only needed a 3 stall hutch. My husband found plans online and built one. We put it on the side of the house and have since moved it to the back where there are trees for shade. We had a really hot summer last year and they needed all the help they could get to stay cool. As we have increased in numbers of rabbits, we have kept the males outside and brought the females and babies into the garage in a stacked cage setup.

I would love to have a small barn for them, but even without one, we are able to house the one to two dozen we have at a time. This makes it very easy to have them in a neighborhood or small acreage.

Reason Number Four – Low Maintenance

I tend to find myself at my rabbit hutches multiple times a day, but they really only need a quick check in the morning and again at night. If you have an automated watering system, it could be less. They tend to eat more in the winter and need more feed checks and in the summer more water checks.

Depending on what you decide for their cage situation, the care can be really simple for their manure also. With the outdoor hutch all the waste falls on the ground. Since the cages are plenty high off the ground, I don’t need to clean up too often. Rabbits tend to pee in one spot in the cage and poo on the other so the poo dries up quick and doesn’t stink.

The indoor cages require a bit more care of weekly dumping of the trays. I would choose something different than I did for them now that I know how often I have to clean them out. There are cages where the urine can drain out separately and I think that would help with the management time.

Sometimes it is a bit of learning of what works best for you, but overall the management of rabbits is pretty low maintenance.

Reason Number Five – They “Breed Like Rabbits”

Funny enough, our first set of rabbits did not breed like rabbits and I have heard this from a few others also. It took quite a few months before we had a successful litter, and I have since learned a few things that might have helped us avoid this early issue.

We got our first trio of rabbits from some friends who didn’t really know what they were doing with the rabbits. I didn’t know this then, but realize it now. They were not breeding the rabbits as they should have been and so I believe we missed our timing. The ovaries of a female can shrink up if not breed in a responsible way or often enough. They can also get too fat and not be able to breed.

I realized that we should have done one of two things when looking at the females specifically. We should have made sure they were in a regular breeding schedule or a young female not yet bred or over her ideal breeding age.

Once we got some new breeding stock from a fantastic lady who loved her rabbits and knew a lot about them, we have had great success. Males new to breeding may need a bit of help, but now I know how to do that thanks to watching some helpful YouTube videos such as this one from Teal Stone Homestead.

Reason Number Six – Income Opportunity

If you end up with too many rabbits or would like to make back a little money to cover the feed costs, you can do several things.

I made a goal to cover the cost of most or all of the feed we bought for the rabbits with the sale of baby rabbits. Depending on the types of rabbits you are raising, you might be able to sell them for pets. Some of my litters have been a good breed for this and I have sold several babies as pets. But mostly, I have sold rabbits to people wanting to breed for meat or add to their existing meat program.

If you have a couple different lines genetically, selling a breeding trio of rabbits about to hit breeding age is a great way to make more money. Some people even want to buy for 4-H projects. Most of my sales have been through Craigs List.

Other ways you can make money is by selling their droppings as fertilizer. I have done this in gallon size bags when I was selling plant starts. You can collect dry droppings and put it in a bag (using an empty feed bag works well) until you have enough to sell. I’ve found that in person sales with my plant start sales was best, but I have also sold some through Craigs Lis and Facebook.

Last, something I haven’t done yet, is selling pelts. I’ve seen people online asking if people have pelts to buy so they can make blankets or mittens. I’m not sure if there is much income potential here, but it is something.

Are You Ready to Get Rabbits Yet?

I hope you are considering getting rabbits for your backyard or homestead. We sure love having them around ours. There are so many great reasons to have rabbits on a homestead.

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