The Rabbitry at Happy Hills Homestead started in July 2016 with 3 American breed rabbits (two does and one buck). In July 2017 we expanded our rabbitry to include a Rex doe and Rex Buck, Flemish Giant doe, New Zealand/Flemish Giant buck and two New Zealand/Flemish Giant does. We will be using our rabbits for meat, fur, and manure (potentially worm beds under our rabbit hutches). We fabricated our own hutches out of PVC and welded wire. Photos and instructions can be found in the Projects/How-To section of this site. We also use wood cages for our breeders and grow out cages.
Here are the rabbits currently at Happy Hills Homestead.
These are the cages that we use for our bucks. They are built out of PVC and welded wire.
These are the cages that we use for our does and grow out cages. Each cage is a double cage so that when we ween the kits they are still close to their mother. We also keep a tracking sheet on each does cage with stats on each litter. The sheet includes: what number litter this, the date that she was bred, who she was bred with, the date that the nesting box needs to go into the cage, the date that she delivers, how many kits she has. It also has a notes section at the end where we add things such as, average cull weight for the litter, if any of the kits don’t survive, etc.
What is that rabbit worth?
Someone asked us once how much it would cost to replace one of our meat rabbits. It was difficult to give an answer to that question because I value my rabbits in a much different