Just a post to share a little info about my collection of animals (pets + Food) and what im growing ect...

today we found out we have a new addition, A friend asked us to look after his rabbit whilst he went on a trip. I have 2 females and i guess he had a male.

My wife called me out to the cage today all panicked because their was Fur all over and she dident know why (apparently for a few days she just forgot to mention it) . Having bread rabbit before I knew right away, so i look in the next expecting to see a few new born rabbits, Instead i found a single baby about 5-6 days old. Im not sure if she had more and the others ate them or out gunie pig to them but this guys doing well its about 3-4 inchs, and still has its eyes closed. You often here people say dont disturb them, dont touch or move them or anything in the nest, This is a Myth. Just make sure your hands are clean and you can look around. Try not to move them to much as it can stress them out, but taking a beak or cleaning around them is not a problem. This will be a pet, not food (unless times become hard) I really want to try and get some Newzelad whites to try and breed and eat tho.

My Quail eggs are on day 12 and have been rotated every day 3-4 times a day (1/4 turn) they have been living at my daughters school so the kids can see how they hatch. Monday (day 14) we will stop rotating and they should hatch day 16-18 (so some time next week). Once they hatch we will collect them from the school. Take them home and keep them in out brooder (whatever cardboard box i can fins with some heat lamps and wood shavings) for a week to 10 days, before taking them back to the school so the kids can look after them for another week. They will then come back and live with me until full size (around 55 days from hatching) and then a few of them will take a trip back to the school so the kids can see them full grown. 2-3 might stay alive to lay eggs and/or breed, the rest will be harvested (more then likely breasted only) with the remains given to my chickens to eat (no need waste nothing my house).

Rabbits are supposed to be easy to farm. IIRC they don't require as much feed per amount of meat yielded and they are fairly lean meat.

I actually don't know why we don't have them as a more common protein in our diet.


Do quails yield enough eggs to serve as a protein source?

(EDITED FOR STUPID AUTO CORRECT)

Rabies are supposed to be easy to farm. IIRC they don't require as much feed per amount of meat yielded and they are fairly lean meat.

I actually don't know why we don't have them as a more common protein in our diet.


Do quails yield enough eggs to serve as a protein source?

Rabies are forbidden in Hawaii.  Just saying!!!   

That's pretty awesome projects.
I used to have some pet rabbits but they're not very entertaining, eat, sleep and poop a lot.
I tried using the poop as fertilizer but I did not see any great benefit.

Dog is very entertaining and useful.

Rabbits are supposed to be easy to farm. IIRC they don't require as much feed per amount of meat yielded and they are fairly lean meat.

I actually don't know why we don't have them as a more common protein in our diet.


Do quails yield enough eggs to serve as a protein source?

(EDITED FOR STUPID AUTO CORRECT)

The only reason we dont eat more rabbit is because they are widely kept as pets, they are a great source of protein (very little fat tho) grow fast and are efficient eaters (weight in to weight out). I have eaten rabbit a number of times (my grandmother used to bread big meat rabbits back in England)

when looked at on a weight to weight ration they are around the same for all nutritional information, That being said you can keep 5 quails in the same area as one chicken, They are quieter (almost silent) and overall will eat less. They gain weight and mature faster mean faster egg laying and fater harvesting for meat.

That's pretty awesome projects.
I used to have some pet rabbits but they're not very entertaining, eat, sleep and poop a lot.
I tried using the poop as fertilizer but I did not see any great benefit.

Dog is very entertaining and useful.

Rabbit poop needs to be processed for fertilizer, you need to mix it in with compost and let it sit a while before its beneficial.
Rabbit meat is very good because all they do is eat sleep and poop 

Looked again today to see if the baby rabbit was doing ok (I have yet to see one of the females feed it and guess what.......


There's another one, must of missed it yesterday but I have 2 baby rabbits both are moving and look like they are doing well.

Trying to make sundays a family day, Spent this morning with the wife making candles. Made our own wicks as well.

I tried making candles with pure local beeswax.
It's surprisingly difficult.

I can see 2 rabbits in your topic photo, one is buried under the fur. It's pretty normal to have 2 rabbits especially if your rabbit is a first-time mother.

Rabbits have 2 wombs or something, so a "normal" sized litter of 4-6 rabbits is actually the result of double impregnation, which is what your rabbits will do naturally after they get experience.

Rabbit is probably efficient meat-wise especially since they can eat grass for half of their diet. Maybe another reason they are not eaten more often is that cow is also efficient? Cows also eat grass. Just a guess.

Rabbit is good eating.

I can see 2 rabbits in your topic photo, one is buried under the fur. It's pretty normal to have 2 rabbits especially if your rabbit is a first-time mother.

Rabbits have 2 wombs or something, so a "normal" sized litter of 4-6 rabbits is actually the result of double impregnation, which is what your rabbits will do naturally after they get experience.

Rabbit is probably efficient meat-wise especially since they can eat grass for half of their diet. Maybe another reason they are not eaten more often is that cow is also efficient? Cows also eat grass. Just a guess.

Yeah we missed the other rabbit, I was trying not to disturb the nest to much.

Cows are in no way efficient for turning food into meat, Not to mention the amount of water needed for cattle, when you account for water for feed a single hamburger takes about 660 gallons of water to make.

A 1/3-pound burger requires 660 gallons of water. Most of this water is for producing beef
1 pound of beef requires 1,799 gallons of water, which includes irrigation of the grains and grasses in feed, plus water for drinking and processing.

Most of the worlds water problems can be traced back to cattle.

But water is sort of free, right? (I know there is a water bill). Rabbits eat grass which in theory would need to be irrigated just the same, though in our household yards we'd just be using free rainwater. I dunno.

But water is sort of free, right? (I know there is a water bill). Rabbits eat grass which in theory would need to be irrigated just the same, though in our household yards we'd just be using free rainwater. I dunno.

Water is free lol, to feed a cow grass only takes a lot of land usually with additional irrigation, Most cows in america are grain fed especially if done in Hawaii. a 1200lb cow will get you about 600lb of beef.

600lb x 1799 gallons per lb = 1079400 gallons of water. Now in Hawaii the water cost alone of that cow (if the feed was grown here with our ag water costs (mainland is lower but in some places not by much)  would be over $1252. (thats using the lower block cost of $1.16 per 1k gallons.

although i dont have the numbers on hand rabbit weight to weight is way less then that, my 2 rabbits and guinea pig eat less then $10 of food a month. a cow is eating around $80 of water a month.

or to put it another way, If califonrina was really worried about its water, instead of encouraging people to take shorter showers (saving 10 gallons of water) around 380 million gallons of water a year, They would ban cattle and cattle feed production (califonia has about 5.8% of americas cattle @  5,150,000) and save about 9 billion gallons of water a year.

Yeah rabbit food is cheap, under $10 a month for 2 rabbits. But a regular pet (not New Zealand) rabbit is maybe only 1 pound of meat. So the cow is 600 times bigger. So it could cost $6000 per month to raise the cow and be the same right? (though I'm guessing it also probably takes way more months to raise the cow)

Yeah rabbit food is cheap, under $10 a month for 2 rabbits. But a regular pet (not New Zealand) rabbit is maybe only 1 pound of meat. So the cow is 600 times bigger. So it could cost $6000 per month to raise the cow and be the same right? (though I'm guessing it also probably takes way more months to raise the cow)

18 months vs 2 months,  my rabbits get fresh greens and oranges everyday spo that's why it costs so much if oi fed them just rabboit feed (which inwpuld for non pets) it would be 0.40 a lb for feed. My undersatading is that whites get a 4:1 ratio, 4lb of feed is 1lb of meat so at this rate in would be paying around $1.60 a lb for rabbit meat,

This would make store bought chicken cheaper @ 0.99 a lb

But that doesn't factor in the value of the fur and poop and also the guts ect as chicken feed

The only reason we dont eat more rabbit is because they are widely kept as pets, they are a great source of protein (very little fat tho) grow fast and are efficient eaters (weight in to weight out). I have eaten rabbit a number of times (my grandmother used to bread big meat rabbits back in England)

when looked at on a weight to weight ration they are around the same for all nutritional information, That being said you can keep 5 quails in the same area as one chicken, They are quieter (almost silent) and overall will eat less. They gain weight and mature faster mean faster egg laying and fater harvesting for meat.

I had rabbit on the Big Island in Volcano. I don't know the source of the rabbit though.

I doubt regulations would let someone have a rabbit farm (for commercial sale) in their back yard but a rabbit farm might be a gold mine just waiting to be tapped here. Skinning and gutting is supposed to be easy too I think.

18 months vs 2 months,  my rabbits get fresh greens and oranges everyday spo that's why it costs so much if oi fed them just rabboit feed (which inwpuld for non pets) it would be 0.40 a lb for feed. My undersatading is that whites get a 4:1 ratio, 4lb of feed is 1lb of meat so at this rate in would be paying around $1.60 a lb for rabbit meat,

This would make store bought chicken cheaper @ 0.99 a lb

But that doesn't factor in the value of the fur and poop and also the guts ect as chicken feed

What value is the fur? Or do you mean as a whole pelt?