Armed Polite Society
Main Forums => The Roundtable => Topic started by: zahc on November 07, 2011, 11:11:35 PM
-
Since I moved to the city, I never hunt or even fish anymore, and my bloodlust and carnivorous instinct has been left unsatisfied. There are lots of squirrels to poach, but I'm a law abiding man. Does anyone raise rabbits for meat? I used to hunt rabbits so I know they taste good and have several traditional dishes with them. My grandpa on my mother's side used to raise rabbits for meat. I'm just not sure if its worth the investment or not.
-
I have nothing to add. And I apologize the very first response is OT. :facepalm:
What I do have to say is it's AMAZING how SPOILED I've been by LCD displays. I'm currently on one of our hand-me-down/salvage PC's my daughters use, that actually has a 17" CRT monitor.
I initially read the thread as "Raising babies for food". :laugh:
-
Must be something we're drinking. I thought I read the same thing.
jim
-
As with so much else, Michael Moore has all the answers. Look up the bunny lady of Flint (Rhonda Britton) and watch 'Pets or Meat', a short sequel to 'Roger and Me'.
-
Wild rabbit and domestic rabbit are very different table fare. I like wild rabbit but don't much care for domestic. Sort of like the difference between wild venison and beef.
But, rabbits are a very efficient source of protien to raise on a small scale.
-
I love to eat domesticated rabbit, I use it like chicken in dishes. I wish I could find a local source of Californian rabbits.
-
Just don't give them to your kids for Easter, make them care for them, and then slaughter and serve them up for dinner. My step-mom still hasn't forgotten that parenting FAIL perpetrated by her dad.
-
Well that's pretty F'd up! My 4 year old is still trying to come to grips with death, I can see the wheels turning. She knows beef comes from cows and pre-school has socialized her to know to shoot bucks, and we caught a couple of fish at the hatchery she got to see get cleaned. However, I think she sees death as a temporary thing which on a plane way above her or me it may be, but in the here and now she's conflicted. Wanted to put the fish back, but made me keep them when I started to. Possession outweighs 4 yr old version of compassion for now. I'm trying to take it easy on her and let her figure these things out on her own schedule.
-
My 4 yo grand daughter knows that pigs are made of bacon and ham.
-
Must be something we're drinking. I thought I read the same thing.
Me too, and I thought it sounded like a modest proposal.
-
A book I recently received from a friend, "The Encyclopedia of Country Living" 10th Edition, by Carla Emery, addresses raising rabbits for food on pgs 831 - 844, everything from acquiring stock to breeding to butchering to recipes and anything you can think of in between.
This is an excellent book for MANY things.
I have to say though, it doesn't address raising babies for food.
-
A book I recently received from a friend, "The Encyclopedia of Country Living" 10th Edition, by Carla Emery, addresses raising rabbits for food on pgs 831 - 844, everything from acquiring stock to breeding to butchering to recipes and anything you can think of in between.
This is an excellent book for MANY things.
I have to say though, it doesn't address raising babies for food.
It's in the Scottish edition.
-
It's in the Scottish Republican edition.
FTFY =D
-
It's in the Scottish edition.
Accuracy compels me to point out that Jonathan Swift's Modest Proposal was set in Ireland.
-
I remember reading some sort of survival info that if your protein intake consists mainly of wild rabbit, you might still suffer malnutrition of some sort?
Too little fat or something? ???
Ah. NVM, here it is. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_starvation
Might not apply to domesticated rabbit, they may have a higher fat content. So if you're stuck in the wild, be sure to eat some cattail roots or whatever for those carbs too. =D
-
What started all this is chickens. Although I live in town, my neighbor has several chickens in their back yard. They don't bother me but my wife wants chickens of her own now after watching the neighbor's chickens. The benefit of chickens is that you might get eggs, but I would have to turn over my whole back yard to the chickens and let them roam. By contrast rabbits can be kept in a cage with a relatively small footprint.
-
I initially read the thread as "Raising babies for food". :laugh:
Go see an optometrist.
-
What started all this is chickens. Although I live in town, my neighbor has several chickens in their back yard. They don't bother me but my wife wants chickens of her own now after watching the neighbor's chickens. The benefit of chickens is that you might get eggs, but I would have to turn over my whole back yard to the chickens and let them roam. By contrast rabbits can be kept in a cage with a relatively small footprint.
What about making a chicken tractor?
-
What started all this is chickens.
Sig line material.
-
What started all this is chickens. Although I live in town, my neighbor has several chickens in their back yard. They don't bother me but my wife wants chickens of her own now after watching the neighbor's chickens. The benefit of chickens is that you might get eggs, but I would have to turn over my whole back yard to the chickens and let them roam. By contrast rabbits can be kept in a cage with a relatively small footprint.
The chickens will pretty much tear up your yard. Ours free range during the day on 40 acres and the area out past the coop is scratched down to the dirt. But they have left the lawn in peace. The good side is lots of eggs and no grasshoppers around the house.
As far as small meat animals, how are you going to slaughter them (in town) ?
I'm fine with shooting something but not very good about chopping off heads and bludgeoning, etc :(
The young roosters that we have butchered were very good though, and I don't even care that much for chicken.
-
I'm fine with shooting something but not very good about chopping off heads and bludgeoning, etc :(
How do you kill your chickens?
-
How do you kill your chickens?
Choke them? :laugh:
-
As far as small meat animals, how are you going to slaughter them (in town) ?
Simple rabbit punch should do it.
-
Choke them? :laugh:
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Spoken like a man who's been deployed too long...
=D
-
:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Spoken like a man who's been deployed too long...
=D
In the sandbox since July.
-
As far as small meat animals, how are you going to slaughter them (in town) ?
My grandpa just broke their necks. I'm pretty sure that would work in town as well as anywhere else.
-
Accuracy compels me to point out that Jonathan Swift's Modest Proposal was set in Ireland.
Yes, yes, and a fine policy it would have been, but not germane to my point.
(https://armedpolitesociety.com/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fupload.wikimedia.org%2Fwikipedia%2Fen%2F7%2F73%2FFat_bastard.jpeg&hash=09a245caa768359199eddee74f9ff484be5e306c)
"The other, other white meat."
"I want my baby back baby back baby back baby back baby back baby back ribs. *Chili's* Baby back ribs."
"I'm bigger than you and higher up the food chain. Get in my belly."
-
In the sandbox since July.
Which brings this thread straight to goats!
-
Gah!! I'll try to get this thread back on the rails...
Rabbits are very efficient at turning money into meat - at least as good as chickens. And, as you said, are better in confinement.
What we found is that the females (surprise!) are a bit cleaner than males. The males tend to urinate everywhere - spraying on walls other cages, etc. Their urine stinks badly after a time.
When it came time to butcher them, I took a large knife - think wide-blade butcher knife - and simply whacked them on the back of the head, at the base of the skull. Hang 'em up by a back leg, skin, eviscerate and you're done.
I also found that cutting them into pieces before freezing took up much less space. One of my wife's brothers goes so far as to debone them, keeping only the meat.
Domestic bunnies are yummy! I don't eat wild cottontails - to mane parasites for my liking.
jb
-
How do you kill your chickens?
Chop off the heads with a sharp axe, while holding both feet with my left hand and the neck lying on a big block of wood.
Mostly they are pretty calm once you have them head down, except we had one mean rooster that would bend up and peck your hand. But after the head comes off they flop around and splatter blood everywhere :(
We tried breaking necks but couldn't get it to work.
The last two mean roosters had gotten pretty old, so I just shot them and threw them on the burn pile.
-
Not a bad idea to raise rabbits. I bought a farm raised one last year at a trendy market here...it was close to $25...my kids wouldn't even look at it, and were disgusted with my eating it. Not as good as a freshly killed wild one to me though.
-
We tried breaking necks but couldn't get it to work.
:laugh:
There is a whole other story in there somewhere.
-
But after the head comes off they flop around and splatter blood everywhere :(
So, it is true what they say about a chicken with its head cut off....
-
So, it is true what they say about a chicken with its head cut off....
be careful, if a headless chicken bites you - you become one!
-
Chickens seem so much harder because of the feather factor. I have heard so many different ways to deal with the feathers (mechanical pluckers, scalding water, dipping them in wax...) that I assume it must be an inherently annoying job.
-
Chickens seem so much harder because of the feather factor. I have heard so many different ways to deal with the feathers (mechanical pluckers, scalding water, dipping them in wax...) that I assume it must be an inherently annoying job.
Used to be part of the great chicken round up at my grandfathers, his chickens for the most part were free range on his acreage. So we would just grab chickens, twist their heads off and skin them. The chickens were washed, quartered and frozen. Eventually the last 2-3 chickens got smart to what had happened to the other 75-80 of their brethren so it was my job to go hunt the rest with a shotgun. My grandfather owned a lot of firearms but my shotgun of choice was a 97 Winchester.
-
Chickens seem so much harder because of the feather factor. I have heard so many different ways to deal with the feathers (mechanical pluckers, scalding water, dipping them in wax...) that I assume it must be an inherently annoying job.
We just skin them, which is a task which I have yet to figure out how to do efficiently =|
-
you should try offing a gobbler with an axe
the blood fountain and wing powered hurricane are entertaining
Many State farming co-ops have rabbit raising guides
water lick valving from a 5 gallon bucket is a good way to keep them healthy
http://bunnyrabbit.com/price/information/EdstromWaterSystemInstall.htm
-
http://msucares.com/livestock/small_animal/rab-6360a.pdf
-
I also have nothing to ad to this except to say that the other people in this restaurant, whose Wi-fi I'm stealing, are all looking at me funny as I try to muffle my laughter.
-
I raised show rabbits when I was a kid, some fifty years ago. I was successful at it too, winning Grand Champion at both the County Fair and the State Fair in my second year. I still have my own ideas about brooding pens, buck pens, nest boxes, and meat pens. Lots of room, with wooden floors to walk on and chicken wire in the back where they defecate, so it drops through.
I raised Silver Martens and White New Zealands. I would sell my non-show-worthy New Zealands to a local slaughterhouse to pay for rabbit pellets and hay.
Most of my secret to success, other than the hutches, was in the diet. Rabbits need a supply of pellets at all times, plenty of fresh water, and a handful of leafy alfalfa hay every day. Fourth cutting works great.
somebody above mentioned Californians. Back then the large breeds like Californians and Checkered Giants were considered to lanky and bony to be good meat rabbits. More compact and plump breeds like my New Zealands were preferred, plus I got an extra dollar from the slaughterhouse because the white skins were saleable.
I did this in the early sixties, and I got $3 each for meat rabbits, plus the above mentioned dollar for the white ones. Hay was about $1.50 a bale and I think pellets were about $3/fifty pounds.
-
somebody above mentioned Californians.
That was me, the Californians I used to buy were about six pounds dressed out and barely fit in a 1 gallon freezer bag. The last one I bought was in 2002 and they went for $4 each and for an extra $1 they would dress them for me. I always paid the extra $1. The was a local farmer and his teenage son raised the rabbits for spending $. These rabbits were as plump as a frying chicken.
-
The males tend to urinate everywhere - spraying on walls other cages, etc. Their urine stinks badly after a time.
It's a guy thing
-
Does anyone remember that show where they fed the rabbit bacon and it grew to around fifty pounds?
Guinea pigs do well for space to meat also. The bacon slabs are pretty small. Even smaller then ground hog. ???
I just don't get it sometimes. If you're going to call it pig or hog, it should taste like bacon. =D
jim