Interactive lesson

Your rabbitry plan, step by step

Interactive lesson: why rabbits, how many does, which breeds, the buck, checks when buying, quarantine and the right spot for the hutches.

Free sample Chapters 1 and 2 (8 steps) are free. The full lesson comes with the Rabbits: breeds and planning module. Already bought? Unlock

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The whole lesson as text

1. Why rabbits

Rabbits are the quietest and most economical livestock you can keep next to the house.

Meat in little space — One doe with her litters gives roughly 20 kg (44 lb) of clean, lean meat a year. She needs less room than a single garden bed.
Feed from your land — Verge grass, hay, weeds, leaves and vegetable trimmings. The more hay and greens you have from your own land, the cheaper the meat.
Fast meat — A doe is pregnant for only 31 days, and the growers are harvested at 10–14 weeks. You get meat four months after the first mating.
Manure for the garden — Rabbit manure is the best garden manure, with no long composting. Weeds and garden leftovers go back to the rabbits.

Why: Rabbits turn what people don't eat into meat and manure. But they don't forgive mistakes the way hens do: they can't take heat, draughts or a sudden change of feed.

If you have never killed an animal, decide before you buy who will do it. Meat rabbits mean a harvest every month or two.
Any sudden change of feed brings diarrhoea. Bring in new feed gradually.

2. Goal and number of does

You work out the number of does from how much rabbit your family eats, not from the size of the yard.

Goal: meat plus manure — The goal decides the breed, the number of does and how you keep them. The manure under the hutches goes to the compost or the wormery every day.
How many meals — A meal is roughly 250 g (9 oz) of carcass per adult. On a small homestead a doe has 3–4 litters a year, with 5–7 kits raised in each.
Divide by 20 kg — Divide the kilograms of meat a year by 20 and round up. At least 2 does: when one misses, the other still gives meat.
Space and feed — Allow 4 m² (43 sq ft) and 180 kg (400 lb) of feed per doe, greens included. The work is roughly half an hour a week per doe.

Why: For most homesteads the goal is meat plus manure: 2–3 does, one buck and growers from spring to autumn. Add fur, wool and shows once you have the basics down.

Don't add does just to fill the freezer. It is better to harvest steadily every month or two than to have 40 growers at once in September.
Example: a family of four that eats rabbit twice a month needs roughly 25 kg (55 lb) a year, which means 2 does.