Why You Should Raise Meat Rabbits Instead Of Chickens

Nope. Look, meat rabbits are fine. Meat rabbits are great. If you have the space and resources for both do both. But if you only can do one, do chicken. Its more popular for a reason. They are cheaper to raise and more hardy. If you have guard animals (usually dogs) you're almost never going to lose a chicken unless you kill it yourself or let it die of old age. Rabbits get sick, they are fragile and they can freeze to death basically anywhere north of the Rio Grande. There's also alot more potential for diseases to spread between humans and rabbits than humans and chickens (obviously as they are much more closely related being mammals). MORE IMPORTANTLY chickens are MUCH more useful. Aside from the obvious benefit of producing eggs on top of meat (and feathers, but we'll call that a wash since rabbits can produce furs) chickens also eat alot of problem insects if you can allow them to roam in your location, and they also can be fed your kitchen scraps and basically act as a turbo composter if you feed them and let them past your kitchen waste in a designated area. I assume anyone looking to raise meat animals is already growing their own crops (if not, do that first) and especially with nutrient hungry but easy to produce crops like cabbage you need a TON of manure to save you from resorting to chemical fertilizer (which costs money and some people dont like as its neither self sustaining nor natural). Rabbit poop, just like human, dog, cat and any other mamal with a single chamber digestive system is not safe for use as fertilizer on anything you plan on eating or selling to be eaten because of the incredibly high likelihood of passing on parasites and viruses. I have 8-10 cattle at any given time and about 2 dozen meat and laying hens and i use EVERY BIT of their manure to keep the soil fertile. Anything you feed a rabbit that doesn't go to building edible meat is just waste product and does you no good. Ive come to realize there's no such thing as a perfectly self sustaining agriculture setup, but you can get close if you consider even you put into the system and where it goes. I can produce beef, chicken, eggs, leather, feathers for fletching arrows, cabbage, spinach, camote, lettuce, pumpkin, okra, plums, various herbs and spices and citrus right now and all i need to put into the system is water, the grasses that grow in the fields and a bit of corn. So as long as the rain keeps falling, the grass keeps growing and I can buy 30kg or so of corn a year im good. But if I swap my chickens for rabbits I need to buy eggs now if I want them and I need to buy some fertilizer from elsewhere to replace what my chickens were making. Its just less efficient. I also have not done a side by side test so I have no proof of this last point, but I would be HIGHLY surprised if the ratio of feed to meat produced in rabbits was even close to chickens, because as small mammals with fast metabolism they are naturally less efficient than the slow, cold blooded chickens.

Don't sleep on Cuy AKA Guniea Pigs. Easy to breed, fun to listen to, and most of all, Tasty!!!

Quail for in town.

I’m considering rabbits, geese and goats. They would be the most economical.

Raised two turkeys for 4h project. 31lb turkey lot of meat. Daughter won’t eat her rabbits.

What's the best breed of egg laying rabbit?

I'll tell you a secret, rabbits don't lay eggs. It's the Easter bunnies that lay eggs.

Raising rabbits is enormously more problematic than raising chickens.
More labour, more equipment, more sanitary problems, and more medicines, vaccinations ... you name it.

No Fat.
Chickens produce more fat than rabbits via their eggs.

The problem with rabbirs is, they won't lay eggs until eastern.

I’ve been thinking this for years. Rabbit meat is great.

Rabbit is fantastic.......... BUT.... it cannot be used for your sole meat critter. There is a situation that arises from rabbit only named Protein Poisoning. Protein poisoning comes from the rabbit having way too little fat. If you have a mix of other means of fat, rabbit is a great food.

Cool. Not only do rabbits have eggs, they have chocolate ones. Just need an Easter bunny breed. 😁

OOF you were born too late son. best of luck to ya tho!

My great-grandparents raised rabbits for meat during the Great Depression.

I have always said if i cant afford meat in retirement ill raise rabbits. People laugh at me

Rabbits stink though

I'm getting ready to move to a more rural location and raising hay and animals is my goal. This is the first time I've listened to a promotional video on raising meat rabbits. I must say the presenter did a great job, was very articulate, and made a great argument for raising rabbits. I have a lot to learn but I'm very curious about learning more on raising rabbits. Thank you, brother.

Grain diet is the cause of most diseases, pretty much a scam funded by the farmer, doctor, and politician.

Now I know why my granddad raised rabbits. Thanks :)

Raise both, rabbit only you can die of rabbit starvation. mixed with chicken you get enough fat to balance your diet.

Well that is it. I am going to have rabbits first. Your video really covers a lot and some that people probably did not even consider before. By the way, I have access to a lot of grass and hey and from what I read that is enough for rabbits with occasional addition of carrots or some other vegetable. Do you think that I can get the same weight per feed with hay same as you get with pallets?

make the pelts into some blankets

I've been considering meat rabbits for a while. We live in city limits and "livestock" aren't allowed unless you have at least 2 acres of land. But since rabbits are considered "pets", it's something I think is totally feasible, and workable on our small property.

Hmm, this was a nice dive into the food system. Thanks for the vid. Subscribed

I personally also prefer rabbit eggs over chicken eggs.

I hope rabbit can lay eggs😊

I prefer chicken but mainly I like the variety. I get the eggs regularly, the roosters give me young meat for frying and grilling, the old hens when they finally stop laying provide tougher meat that works great in soups, stews, and dumplings. Rabbits are a great, reliable meat source so long as you make sure you get fat elsewhere. Quail are also easy and fast to turnover. Though since I'm a hobby farmer I find myself only keeping chickens and only taking eggs since my grandmother likes to make pets out of the old retired hens to keep her busy in her old age.

Unless you're Jewish.

Thank you for the advice, I actually DON'T LIKE RABBITS AT ALL so if I'll be able to keep any animal for their meat and be able to slaughter and process them it's rabbits. DON'T LIKE doesn't mean cruel, I want to make that very clear. It's just that I don't see them as pets but more as pests—VERY useful ones apparently!

About what people have been saying about rabbit starvation I'll have this to say:
1) Those would be the lean, skinny wild hares or rabbits caught in snares back in the olden days, to supplement a tough winter diet. (Not going to say any more about that topic.)
2) ORGANS!!!! (& boiling bones, joints, tendons & cartilage.)
A heart is one big muscle who's meat has different properties than normal meat—no matter chicken or rabbit, beef, pork, goat, sheep, etc..
Liver is also highly edible, fatty (compared to the rest of an animal, if fed well), kidneys and pancreas "sweet bread" as far as I know as well.
Btw, I forgot the brain in that list, though that is is so high in fat it's usually used for curing skins–though I don't know if it's enough with rabbits for curing, but since I'm ALL FOR SUSTAINABLE LEATHER I'd rather trade meat or anything else I can trade with for a skin if I could(!). The FUR doesn't have to be visible, just use it on the inside and the treated nubuck (of whatever one calls the other side of leather of a WHOLE SKIN—Not peeled off layers) to insulate clothing, use it as bedding, shock absorber, for wrapping babies in etc. And most ppl assume all fur is fake nowadays anyways.
Not to forget you SHOULD USE (boil, broil etc.) ALL bones, joints, cartilage and any leftover parts–like tendons and even feet with nails/ claws–(EVERYTHING except intestines as far as I know...) so you get the nutrients like collagen and amino acids from the INGREDIENTS EVERYONE MISSES NOWADAYS AND ARE GETTING IN TROUBLE FOR IT. Because we only eat the muscle "meat" and not the whole animal anymore!

TLDR:
If you can, don't be wasteful. USE EVERY LITTLE BIT Even if you don't like it. Like the taste of an organ meat: doesn't mean one cannot eat it! Just need to prepare it right like using herbs & spices that conceal the flavor, make spicy sausages with it, or even feed it to another animal (beware to keep their diet balanced though) or trade it to name some examples from the top of my head.

West Meadow Rabbits; I'm really intrigued what you'll do in an urban, inside setting with something like their pee, since rodent piss stinks, ESPECIALLY that of (non-neutered) males.
Since I know/ have known (of) people who keep a "ton" of rodents in their apartments as pets and/or breeding hobbyists, often in a spare room I know it could be done–for pets (aka a LOT of hassle that should be able to go more smoothly but those ppl refuse).
So, if they can do that for pets, why not someone like for meat?
I just don't know how to go about it without having a big mess on my hands because I'm not willing to invest so, so much time and money into non-pets, while still keeping it animal friendly(!).

Tips, links, info wherever? Thanks, good luck and a happy and better new year than last one.
Cearon.

Not getting eggs is the only real downside to rabbits, but ducks really are a lot easier than chickens as long as you don't raise them together.

Really great content. I live in a suburban area and found this really informative and eye opening.

Both have advantages.... Raise BOTH

I think beef cattle became the poster child of the climate issue due to methane emissions.

Very interesting

Yeah but bunnies are really cute and dont provide eggs

1) don't let me stop you doing what you know is right, even if I disagree with you about a detail. 2) you can eat hundreds of pounds of egg from one chicken without having to kill it and MOSTLY without having to feed it. 3) rabbits are so well documented as not supporting life that there is literally "rabbit wasting illness" or the condition of starvation faced by humans getting enough calories and protein, but not enough fat, to survive off of.

Your a sick bastard for that but go ahead and eat up rabbits and rodents, leave the good meat for the rest of us 😂😂

Thank you, I love rabbi meat

Good breakdown

Excellent video. Well thought out and presented.

Less than 10perce t fat. Lean. Dead in the water for food.

For some, the rabbit is considered an unclean animal. This is a religous belief which comes from Scripture. While not everyone would consider this an issue for themselves today, I find that there are always reasons for those prohibitions which included health benefits or cautions. Just something others might want to give thought to.

Seems like a good prepper food. You’d want to have pemmican or a dairy cow on the side as well, otherwise you’ll get rabbit starvation (dietary fat deficiency) if that’s your only protein.

You missed the other advantage, chickens after butchering what do you got? Feathers, you can only stuff so many pillows. Rabbits you get skins, warm insulating skins. And when tanned they are good for coats blankets, or coat lining if you want to hide from PETA, which I prefer as 'people eating taisty animals', alas not all people do.

Yeah, I mostly like rabbit's eggs.
They are very tasty, made of chocolate.

I plan on having meat sources for variety. Pigs, chickens, goats, rabbits, and fish for my 1 acre property, we are using every inch. The cool thing about pigs and rabbits is they can eat comfrey which is something we plan on growing en-masse. We will have a plot dedicated to growing feed for my animals.

Rabbits are extremely weak and can die all in one night.

My huge nz male makes bird sounds when he orgasms....is that normal?