The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Other => Topic started by: rbno22 on December 03, 2009, 12:00:53 pm
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does anyone have a good natural and cheap recipe for fattening rabbits? also a good recipe for curing their skins?
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Don't know about breeding them for eating but the ones my cat brings back are skinned and cooked for the dogs and I salt the skin for wrapping round dummies for training.
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breeding rabbits i can do its just the fattening them fast and naturally i would like to know about. but skins for dog training good idea !!
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I don't think there is such a recipe for "fattening" rabbits in short lengths of time. They are naturally lean creatures.
When i am putting weight on my does after breeding form them i use high maintenance pellets. They helpkeep the weight at a steady increase. certain veg also help in weight gain/loss
But i think the most important thing is infact time.
Correct me if i'm wrong anyone ;)
Cameron
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you maybe right but i have read somewhere that at 3 months fattened rabbits (particularly the large breeds) should weigh between 1.5 and 2.7 kilos. my attempts this year feeding a natural diet of carrot, barley and other root vegs produced maybe 1 kilo at 3 months. I dont really want to use pellets as they are very expensive here!
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Yes i agree pellets are expensive, but it depends where you get them.
You could try vegetable based baby food as a supplement, or childrens porridge made with milk.
i use these along with the pellets whilst weight building. My only real problem is they seem to discard it once it becomes cold, so a little wastefull
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porridge with milk now theres a thought..... :dunce:
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As a boy in the late 1940's my father fattened his rabbits with cooked potatoes in a bran mash, fed warm on cold winter days. The basic diet was greens and hay as there were no pellets or commercial mixes at the time. The bunnies loved it. I still have a scar from when one mistook a bran covered middle finger for a piece of potato.