Hello, welcome to our channel! We are homesteaders! And we are loving every minute of it. We wanted to have a simpler lifestyle and get our hands working in the dirt, along with becoming more self sufficient and less reliant on grocery stores. We will be bringing you lots of videos about gardening and how to raise rabbits and chickens. We also live in the great state of New Hampshire and we will be sharing what life is like here in the granite state! Live free or Die!
Your support means a lot to us and thank you for watching!
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What did people feed rabbits before pellets and corporations existed? Surely it’s simple.
The giant breeds grow bone first, are you not adding more bone to your kits using Bucky???
Outstanding video! Thank you!
Great video! I keep NZ rabbits and a trio of egg chickens in suburbia. My chickens are on deep litter and my rabbits in hutches. I breed three times a year and my does typically have between 10-14 kits. A loss of one is usual, typically the runt. When my chickens pass, I will keep quail for eggs and meat. A lot quieter. You can dress out a quail for the table in 5 minutes and a bag of feed, if the quail are on grass will last a flock of 10 a year. Rabbits and quail will mean good variety. I’ve kept meat chickens with basic equipment, scalding in a bucket of water and hand plucking. I think they are expensive to raise and a bit gross. I’min South Eastern Australia, so heat is a real issue and I can only breed throughout the colour months. I have tried in the Summer, but I loose a third of the kits and it’s really tough on the kits and Does. Rabbits mean I keep a closed loop for my garden in fertiliser.
My Rabbit gave birth 30 hours ago. One kit was alive. The second was stuck so I went to the vets who had to pull it out not a nice experience. This morning I found the one that was alive completely disappeared, so I'm assuming she's ate it! Tonight after I've cleaned all her cage out, she's starting to make a nest again gathered all the hay and pulling her hair again. What does this mean?
We too build our own nesting boxes amd the best designs we could find had 1/4" mesh bottoms and a lip on the front as a kit squeegee lip on the top of the front to help keep them inside the nesting box. Awesome job!
❤ great video
Thank you 💜
I became a sub a few weeks ago, and I really like your channel! I've been watching many videos since I am setting up a simple homestead in the province of Quebec (zone 3 . Because of medical reasons, I mostly eat meat since sugar and oxalates are my enemy. I see plants as medicine. I am trying to figure out the difference in weather (zone rusticity) to see how to adapt your valuable information to my conditions. I believe that you are in New Hampshire. I understand that you need to keep your location private. But could you confirm in what zone you are ? New Hampshire is zoned 3B to 6A. This would help me greatly. Thanks again for your great videos!
As a veteran and a local range safety officer, please wear eye and ear pro at all times. You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone, and quality noise-cancellation headphones are only 25 bucks on Amazon, while no amount of surgery will give you your eardrums back.
I'm sorry about the blur in the video. Trying to fix it!
God bless you and your family Ashley! thank you for being brave and sharing the gospel!
Without watching - Rabbits are easy to sustain and breed like, well, rabbits. The downside is, if you hit hard times, you can give yourself protein poisoning if you relied solely on rabbits for food. It's too lean. You don't have that problem with chickens. If you're a prepper and doing this for a food source, be aware. If you're just supplementing your diet, great.
The protein poisoning from rabbits is such a misrepresentation that it’s almost a myth. Arctic explorers, lost trappers , ship wrecked whalers who relied on eating arctic hares because they ran out of food in the dead of winter starved because they ate starving rabbits. If you are concerned about getting enough fat from rabbits, just eat some of the fat in the rabbits. Most meat rabbits will get fatty once they hit 10+ weeks. Watch a video on rabbit processing, you’ll see a ton of fat around their kidneys and on the backs of their shoulders.
@@joearceneaux9854 Never had much on the ones I've been around. Obviously this applies more to the type, not all breeds of meat rabbits are identical. And it's hardly apples to apples using arctic hares as a comparison to a meat rabbit down south, nor were they likely doing so for years. It may or may not be a myth, but it would still be a terrible idea to rely on that as your only food source instead of having options.
The starving explorers ate only starving rabbits and snow.And.Nothing.Else. Well fed / non-starving rabbits, any type meat or wild, will put on fat as they mature.
@@joearceneaux9854 "Starving rabbits"? Were they brought along and caged the entire time? Because wild snow hares aren't starving or they wouldn't survive as a species. And are you seriously denying that different species have different levels of fat? We raised rabbits for years here in Florida and the fat was very minimal. Sorry sport, siting a half assed historical piece doesn't entirely prove your point.
I am convinced, time to learn how to raise rabbits!
Awesome information thank you. Now I just need to learn how to raise rabbits in a cold environment.
Rabbits do so much better when it's cold rather when it's hot. They weren't fazed a bit when it was 5 degrees -- but were very uncomfortable when it hit 95!
Agreed!
Ive watched some of your videos for a bit over a year now. Your really getting to be a pro. One thing you didnt mention was marketing the hides from your rabbits. I expect they would sell pretty good if processed properly. Of course you could use them in craft projects as well
Thanks, I appreciate your support! That's a great point, I didn't even think of that and I tan hides all the time. I haven't tried to sell them tho. Mostly just save them for craft projects.
I completely agree. We used to raise chickens for meat, but we didn't enjoy the process very much. While the meat was good, dealing with the chickens was quite a headache. We've found that raising rabbits has been much better for us. Specifically, we raise American Chinchillas for meat and also make a good income from selling them. Additionally, we have excellent growouts. We do raise Muscovys for meat but they obviously take longer to get up to size to process but the meat is worth it.
Thank you for sharing! I am glad you agree and it sounds like you have a good system going with your rabbits!
Rabbits are better than chickens in an Apocalyptic future, because they can eat grass, basically, but you will need to source the materials to build their enclosures, otherwise they will escape. On the other hand, chickens are better than rabbits, because they can provide you with a daily source of rich and healthy protein in the form of eggs, and depending on the breed, they can pretty much feed themselves if given enough land to forage, of course care must be taken to protect them from predators, and water and housing must also be provided, just as in the case of rabbits. The great advantage of chickens over rabbits is that because they can lay eggs, if you have a great laying breed (White Leghorn), you can get 5 eggs per week or more out of every hen, and if you have say 5 hens only, that would be at least 25 eggs per week, every week, while rabbits only lay eggs on Easter (just kidding). If you ever wanted to hatch chicks, you can easily hatch 10 or more chicks per week from those 5 hens, and still have eggs to eat every single day, and even with a 50% hatching-mortality rate, you will still get 5 new chickens every week, to eat or lay eggs when they mature, that will be up to you. So, as far as numbers is concerned, chickens will beat rabbits when it comes to multiplication, and that's without them ever stepping inside a math class.
I keep hearing people say it over and over without even trying, "Cornish Cross chickens cannot be bred", and that is a complete false statement based on the propaganda that big farms have indoctrinated the homesteaders with so they would not even make an attempt to try and reproduce the Cornish Cross. The Cornish Cross chicken can reproduce, and its offspring grows just as fast and just as big as the parents, however, to get a Cornish Cross chicken to reach maturity, takes special feeding care, in which the chicken has to be kept on a constant diet and its weight checked regularly to keep it underweight so it will reach maturity in a healthy state and be able to reproduce and lay eggs, which they do better than some dual purpose chickens. Cornish Cross chickens are not as easy to raise as say a heritage breed, but, what others have done is, raised a Cornish Cross to adulthood, and cross it with a medium to large heritage breed, thereby creating a hybrid chicken which grows very fast and large, not as large as the Cornish Cross, but certainly much faster and larger than a regular heritage, and with some of the feed efficiency of the Cornish Cross. Look up Leonturf4891 on KZread, and see what he did with a heritage breed and Cornish Cross. I myself have some Cornish Cross hens and Rooster, and they are approaching the two year mark, and I am going to cross the females with a Pear White Leghorn rooster, to create a hybrid that will grow slower and smaller than the Cornish Cross, and that might retain some of the high efficient feed conversion ratios and lay more eggs also, basically a dual purpose chicken, but much improved. It will take several crosses and several generations to reach uniformity in the breed, but I don't mind putting in the work, because I know the end result will be a great chicken, one that will produce lots of eggs (5 or more a week), and will produce a lot of meat in a relative short time when compared to a heritage chicken.
If you want to increase the size of your newborn rabbits, all you need to do is get a buck or a doe, a New Zealand or a Californian, and cross it with one of your Silver Foxes, that will produce a hybrid (F1), which will grow faster and bigger than any Silver Fox rabbit you have ever raised, and if it is strictly of meat, then you don't have to worry about it being a hybrid.
So much good info. Thanks for sharing.
Chickens taste better and (for us) grow faster ... but ... can't ignore that processing time. We don't have a plucker so it takes 30-40 minutes to process one. I can do 6 Rabbit in that same amount of time. Better than Chicken are Muscovy and Geese. We dont even have to feed those guys. They hang with the native Canada & Mallard and forage/free-range 100٪.
You could try quail instead of chickens. The Coturnix quailcan lay up to 300 egged a year. You can hatch them out or just eat the eggs. Just a thought
Yes, I am currently raising coturnix quail.
Just at the point of choosing between rabbits and meat chickens, so your video caught my attention.
Do you ever sell your rabbits to help someone else get established? If I was close to you I would want to buy yours. But I live in Oklahoma. Also can you tell me about that machine you use to suck the air out of the package to freeze your meat?
Thank you, I take that as a compliment! I rarely sell them. In my opinion selling them is more of a headache than its worth, but that's just me. It's a food saver. I added the machine to my amazon link in the description so you can check it out!
I love your videos!!!!! I love to see you talking about your rabbits. I can hear how you love your rabbits and taking care of them. I’ve already watched this video to the end and started it over.
Thank you so much!
I have better luck keeping chickens alive than I do rabbits. My grow-outs get poopy butt and die. Lost all but 2 of the last 12. However, I am attempting to produce my own chicks, and the hatch rate has been appalling!!
Cut out greens and “wet” feed. Grow out rabbits do well on pellets & DRY hay.
@@joearceneaux9854 Which completely negates the feed them for free, scenario. $5lb for meat raised on pellets is ridiculous.
Hallo beautiful👋👋👋 I love your video sharing, thank you... sending support❤
Do the rabbits get bumble foot? I’m trying to figure out how we want to raise our meat rabbits. My concern with a colony style is we have a lot of coyotes in my area. So I would think a hutch may be better
I have never had an issue with that. My rabbits always have some type of resting mat. I use squares of plywood. Plus the does get nest boxes too which is another way they are not on wire all the time.
@@rabbitathomestead Thankyou for the reply. That is great to know
Question 🙋♂️ couldn’t you make a maggot bucket for the chickens with the parts your throwing away? Or give the parts to your dog?
Question 🙋♂️… how many times do you breed your doe’s before you process them?
I do not process my breeding stock. I wait for them to stop being productive breeders and then I re-home them as pets. I hope that answers your question
@@rabbitathomestead ah yes, I understand now. You’re breeding for pets not meat, Understandable.
@@iiinsaiii no, I breed for meat. I have my breeders that I keep to breed. And I process their offspring once they hit 12 weeks old.
@@rabbitathomestead oh sorry, I understand now. 👍
Unfortunate about the rest of the litter, but I'm glad that you were able to foster the baby with Lucky, she really is an amazing mom 😊
So Sweet -- The LORD rejoices over you with singing -- and your response to Him is beautiful -- singing back to Him, living for Him.... So grateful for your sharing of your love and your gifts
I love this idea. I want to keep rabbits as a food source and was wondering if a ramp could be built to allow the rabbits to "free range" during the day in my backyard? This would be similar to the way many chicken coops are designed.
I like that water bowl holder. I was conceptualizing something similar to that but was thinking of adding a way to hold it down so they don't throw it around.
Thanks! That is a good idea!
I am watching almost all of your vedeos from northern Pakistan
Is the a materials list an plans for it
I have a doe R3, second litter. None of the first survived and she had this litter all over the cage. But I had covered the bottom of the cage in hay, so was able to save all but 1 of them and put them into a nest. I stuffed it full of fur I had saved from another mama who had lost her litter. (My fault entirely) R3 has raised those babies, beautifully. At 10 days old, they are all fat an sassy, so even with a terrible start, she has 7 healthy kits. My growouts, however, half got poopy butt and bloat and I have lost them. Very frustrating. There are 4 out of 12 raised kits, still alive from that breeding. Kinda expensive meat. I had introduced them to greens while they were still nursing, so they should have been fine going into the tractors. What do you think I should do to prevent this happening again?
Love the updates. Wish I could have met you in person when I was in NH last month.
That would have been nice! Hope you had a great time!
I’m sure you made the right decision! I’m just wondering if Darling has some form of mastitis?
Thank you! No i looked her over and she good :)
Really enjoy your videos. I use water bowls for my rabbits, I’ve had the bottles fail and nearly lost my buck to dehydration. My Doe Aloe usually has around 12-14 kits, so I use a large water bowl. Although kits may dip in occasionally, I’ve never lost one to cold. 🐰💜
Where cam i find a good Christian woman like here, I mean I wanna go colony but she is still doing great work and is super cute
Hey, I know this is an old video. But I just love to hear you talk about your rabbits. I don’t have any yet. I hope I will have some soon. I live in the city limits and the city told me I won’t be able to process my rabbits outdoors . I don’t have a clean place like that to do this inside the house. What do you suggest I do about this?
Do you have a garage? Or a basement?
If Arlo is blue then he does have the black gene because a blue rabbit is just a black rabbit who also has the dilution gene (which takes black and washes it out to gray). All your blacks and grays are genetically black rabbits, it's just a matter of whether they have the dilution gene or not. Just an fyi. Sorry, I'm a genetics nerd and raise black, blue and chocolate Silver Fox. Love your channel btw. I'm learning a lot about methods and process from you. You're helping me improve my operation, so thank you.
Thank you! I don't know much about genes and genetics so I appreciate the comment!
💦 Promo>SM
Super helpful
Glad to hear! Thank you!
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I’m planning to buy mealworms, crickets for my chickens and quails too. I wanted to ask when you cut your grass is it ok to the clippings to the birds and rabbits? I’m asking because I’m not allowed to let the chickens run free in the city limits.
Yes! that is just fine. Rabbits will like it
I have been watching your videos this morning. I like how you both worked together to build the new rabbit hutch. You are so gentle with your animals. So I don’t have any right now. It takes time to build things with very little money and because I don’t really know how to build things. So I’ve been watching videos to try to build these things from pallets. For a while I felt bad because I know my hutch and coops won’t be fancy. Today I am fine with sturdy, safe, secure, and functional. I learned yesterday because I live in the city limits I can have only 12 animals. The city where I used to live did not count the baby chicks and baby rabbits as animals until they were 6 months old. I’m so excited about raising chickens, rabbits again and planting my own food.
sorry i cant watch as u breed 4 meat ,