Hey, new to rural life and am looking to raise an animal for meat right now I have 4 chickens for eggs and am debating between adding a male chicken and also raise chickens for meat, raising quails or raising rabbits.
If I add a rooster and assuming my chickens are for egg production (2 of them seem quite meaty maybe they are apt for meat too) would their descendents be fine for meat?
I live off-grid, in the winter I wouldn't be able to spare electricity for incubators so I'd have to let the chickens (or quails) raise them naturally, maybe get one of those chickens that are always broody. But that's the main reason I'm more inclined to rabbits, which brings me to further questions:
I've read that they can't handle the heat, summers here are quite hot (Portugal), often above 30°c and every couple of years heat waves that reach 40°c, local rabbits are likely more adapted to heat that elsewhere but even then it's too hot, how could I cool them in the summer other than shadow? Would one frozen bottle be enough for a rabbit for a whole day? Should I create a controlled earth environment so they can dig to cool themselves?
Which brings me to my second question that should've been my first: what kind of setup is better? I've read about cages and colonies but I'm inclined to something mixed like I have with my chickens but I don't know how viable it is. My chickens have 25m2 space to roam + 4m2 protected, of those 4, half is shelter from rain and perch and the other half is earth and access to sunshine, so they spend the night or days I'm away in those 4m2 while giving them access to the larger space during the day. I was wondering if I could do something similar for rabbits, but a smaller space for the male, and larger one for does or doe, I think I only need a couple considering I live alone and their babies (but then the rabbits grow and need further spaces for them which is an issue).
I heard chicken wire is bad for rabbits but I wonder if they chew because they are bored and they have no space or they chew everything anyway even if they have other things to chew, I was considering making hutches with strong welded wire but use leftover chicken wire for the perimeter of the larger land area during the day, but will they chew through it even if they have enough space?
What about digging, is it inevitable that they dig? If I had to cover all the area with something so they don't dig it would cost some money and for now I can't think of a solution.
While googling I landed on a vegan page that claimed most rabbits were killed at 3 weeks right after weaning but from what I've read that's rare and most people process them between 8 and 12 weeks but it did make me think, can I process them after weaning as they claim? Has anyone here done that? We do eat suckling pig at 2 months which affects meat texture and flavor (most consider it for the best). What size is a 4 week rabbit? Maybe the right size for a single meal? It'd be some work to prepare one rabbit for just one meal but I could see myself spending a couple of hours dispatching and preparing many rabbits every once in a while and freezing the excess for later consumption. That would also save on feed because you'd only need to feed the couple, not to mention not needing to sex the rabbits and having further hatches (unless when replacing the reproduction couple).
If I do want to dispatch between 8 and 12 weeks how much do they eat between when they start eating feed until slaughter?
If I choose to leave for a week will rabbits be ok by themselves if I put enough water and feed? Can they control what they eat and save it or would they overeat and then have no food for later? In the summer if I need frozen bottles it'd be an issue...
Post ended up being quite long, sorry about that.
If I add a rooster and assuming my chickens are for egg production (2 of them seem quite meaty maybe they are apt for meat too) would their descendents be fine for meat?
I live off-grid, in the winter I wouldn't be able to spare electricity for incubators so I'd have to let the chickens (or quails) raise them naturally, maybe get one of those chickens that are always broody. But that's the main reason I'm more inclined to rabbits, which brings me to further questions:
I've read that they can't handle the heat, summers here are quite hot (Portugal), often above 30°c and every couple of years heat waves that reach 40°c, local rabbits are likely more adapted to heat that elsewhere but even then it's too hot, how could I cool them in the summer other than shadow? Would one frozen bottle be enough for a rabbit for a whole day? Should I create a controlled earth environment so they can dig to cool themselves?
Which brings me to my second question that should've been my first: what kind of setup is better? I've read about cages and colonies but I'm inclined to something mixed like I have with my chickens but I don't know how viable it is. My chickens have 25m2 space to roam + 4m2 protected, of those 4, half is shelter from rain and perch and the other half is earth and access to sunshine, so they spend the night or days I'm away in those 4m2 while giving them access to the larger space during the day. I was wondering if I could do something similar for rabbits, but a smaller space for the male, and larger one for does or doe, I think I only need a couple considering I live alone and their babies (but then the rabbits grow and need further spaces for them which is an issue).
I heard chicken wire is bad for rabbits but I wonder if they chew because they are bored and they have no space or they chew everything anyway even if they have other things to chew, I was considering making hutches with strong welded wire but use leftover chicken wire for the perimeter of the larger land area during the day, but will they chew through it even if they have enough space?
What about digging, is it inevitable that they dig? If I had to cover all the area with something so they don't dig it would cost some money and for now I can't think of a solution.
While googling I landed on a vegan page that claimed most rabbits were killed at 3 weeks right after weaning but from what I've read that's rare and most people process them between 8 and 12 weeks but it did make me think, can I process them after weaning as they claim? Has anyone here done that? We do eat suckling pig at 2 months which affects meat texture and flavor (most consider it for the best). What size is a 4 week rabbit? Maybe the right size for a single meal? It'd be some work to prepare one rabbit for just one meal but I could see myself spending a couple of hours dispatching and preparing many rabbits every once in a while and freezing the excess for later consumption. That would also save on feed because you'd only need to feed the couple, not to mention not needing to sex the rabbits and having further hatches (unless when replacing the reproduction couple).
If I do want to dispatch between 8 and 12 weeks how much do they eat between when they start eating feed until slaughter?
If I choose to leave for a week will rabbits be ok by themselves if I put enough water and feed? Can they control what they eat and save it or would they overeat and then have no food for later? In the summer if I need frozen bottles it'd be an issue...
Post ended up being quite long, sorry about that.