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  • From: Bill Jones <billj AT harborside.com>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Rabbit
  • Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 08:52:53 -0800

Thanks James, that was very educational.

I finally ate guinea pig. They're a poor substitute. The females could be compared to a turkey neck in size and flavor, only with many smaller bones, and the males to a gamey 3-day-old version of said.

But if you're only interested in the manure, as we are, they're much easier. There are no finicky eaters here. Disease is unknown among them, if they're kept warm and dry. For the first time I have a whole bed of nice winter parsley to feed them as an important vitamin C source.

I read that excrement is a source of vitamin B-12 for rabbits and guinea pigs alike.

In the Middle Ages, European peasants are said to have consumed so many turnips that goiters became common. Apparently brassicas deplete iodine from the body, and vegetables don't reliably provide it, except for seaweed. But I've never known an animal to eat too much of a harmful plant unless there was no other choice. I was thinking yesterday of how much the new lambs love buttercups, and that it's probably harmless as long as there's plenty of grass too.

Now that we have the new solarium in the new shed, guinea pigs run together on the floor. We have only females now. The cages whose water bottles I used to serve twice daily now stand idle, ready for some new project. Since order finally reigns, maybe I'll get a bunny or two, although I'll take lamb any day.

Bill
S. Oregon coast

Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:



You should be able to make a 36" x 36" x 18" cage for $20 worth of materials buying everything new. After a rabbit or group of rabbits is through with the cage, you can go over it with a propane torch and sterilize it.

As with a lot of animals the pure breds are prone to weaknesses and disease.


For instance, conventional wisdom says not to feed much, or any at all, of turnips, cabbage and the like to rabbits. I haven't found it does them a bit of harm.




Rabbits, more than any other animal I've raised, may have very strict presonal eating preferences.



Denying them all access to their droppings thwarts this natural process.


If I didn't like eating them, I'd still keep rabbits just to get the manure for the garden.






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