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🐇 Rabbits: Meat and Fur on Little Feed

How to keep meat rabbits with no feed store, vet or electricity: breeds for meat and fur, hutches and colony pens, predators and fire season, feeding on hay, grain, roots and wild greens (and which local plants poison them), making hay, water, the breeding calendar and records, kindling, nest boxes, fostering and weaning, growing out to butcher weight, health with no vet, humane slaughter, pelts and Angora wool, manure, how many does feed a family, and keeping the line going for years. The books are in Small-Livestock\Rabbits (USDA Farmers Bulletin 1730 and AIB 358, the Oregon State "Raising Rabbits for Meat" sheets, Peace Corps R-41, Value and Use of Rabbit Manure), Animals\Rabbits-Other (USDA Handbook 309, Raising Healthy Rabbits), Animals\Veterinary (Peace Corps Livestock Manual Vol 4, AVMA euthanasia guidelines) and Wild-Plants (toxic plants). Hens and meat birds are in the Chickens guide.

The short version

🐇 Choosing breeds and starting stock

Medium and large breeds suit meat and fur; small breeds weigh 3–4 lb, medium 9–12, large 14–16 (AIB 358, p. 5). White skins sell best and take any dye (FB 1730, pp. 7, 57). Most meat rabbits are butchered by 10 weeks (OSU EC 1651, p. 1).

Breed Used for Weight Notes (AIB 358, pp. 6–7 unless noted)
New Zealand Meat 9–12 lb White, red or black. With the Californian, "by far the leading" meat breeds for steady color and growth (EC 1651, p. 1; meat breeds)
Californian Meat 8–10½ lb White with dark nose, ears, feet and tail
Champagne d'Argent Meat, fur 9–12 lb Silver fur over slate-blue underfur
Flemish Giant Meat 13 lb + First bred at 9–12 months (FB 1730, p. 18); needs a 6-ft hutch (p. 35)
American Chinchilla, Satin, Silver Marten Fur 6½–12 lb Gray, glossy or silver-tipped coats; slower growth (EC 1651, p. 1)
Rex Fur 7 lb + Plush fur, short or no guard hairs; skins need no shearing (FB 1730, p. 5)
Angora Wool, meat 8 lb + 14–15 oz of wool a year; keep as dual-purpose (AIB 358, p. 7; Handbook 309, p. 59)

Crosses of two breeds often show hybrid vigor and make good meat rabbits, but their offspring vary too much to breed from (Handbook 309, p. 10). Keep one pure line.

Starting stock (EC 1651, p. 2):

  1. Keep 2–3 does per buck — 6 does and 2 bucks is typical. Buy from several breeders to avoid inbreeding.
  2. Pick thick-boned rabbits as deep as they are wide (body shape). Kits from smaller litters grow larger and more steadily: favor does from smaller-litter lines.
  3. Refuse runny noses, low weight, cloudy eyes, sores, diarrhea, ear mites or matted fur (EC 1654, p. 1).
  4. Start with young stock to learn their habits (FB 1730, p. 7), ideally rabbits already raised outdoors on hay and greens (rule of thumb).

📚 Go deeper: OSU EC 1651 — picking breeding stock; AIB 358, p. 6 — breed list; Handbook 309, p. 8 — foundation stock and breeding systems.

🏠 Hutches, colony pens and shelter

Hutch sizes

One mature rabbit per hutch, about 2 ft high and no more than 2½ ft deep so you can reach in (FB 1730, p. 35; AIB 358, p. 8):

Breed size Length (inside) Floor at 2½ ft deep (arithmetic)
Small (3–4 lb) 3 ft 7½ sq ft
Medium (9–12 lb) 4 ft (Handbook 309: 3–4 ft) 10 sq ft
Giant (13 lb +) 6 ft (Handbook 309: 4–6 ft) 15 sq ft

A rabbit hutch cut through from the end: about 2 ft high and no more than 2½ ft deep, with a rain-proof roof, a wire front, a solid back, a wire floor with a resting board, a hay manger, a water valve 9 in above the floor, waist high on legs over a worm bin One grown rabbit to a hutch shallow enough to reach across, waist high under a rain-proof roof (a diagram drawn for this guide).

Shelter for wet winters and hot summers

Colony or ground pens

Colonies save wire and work, but the books keep breeding does and bucks in single hutches:

📚 Go deeper: AIB 358, p. 10 — scrap-lumber hutch; FB 1730, p. 41 — materials list for a two-unit hutch; OSU EC 1654, p. 1 — cages, drafts and bedding.

🦝 Predators, smoke and fire season

Wildfire smoke (PNW 783, p. 10): watch for coughing, open-mouth breathing, watery eyes and weakness. Keep water fresh, cool them, mist down dust, and put off weaning and moving. Fire plan: store hay and bedding in a separate building (PNW 783, p. 8). For evacuation, one rabbit per crate compartment, straw (not sawdust), feed and water (FB 1730, p. 51); keep the crates stacked by the rabbitry June–October (rule of thumb). Routes: Illinois Valley page; fire-proofing: Wildfire guide.

🌾 Feeding with no feed store

A ration from home-grown feed

The old bulletins were written before pellets (USDA AIB 358, p. 12; FB 1730, pp. 8–11):

How much:

Greens and forage: what's safe

Feeding greens (FB 1730, p. 12; R-41, pp. 37–38):

  1. Fresh, once a day, only what they eat in 4–5 minutes, in a manger, never on the floor.
  2. Dew-wet greens are fine. Greens that sat in a pile and heated are dangerous.
  3. Never gather where dogs or cats defecate (tapeworm, coccidiosis), on swampy ground, or anything sprayed — nor where pigs or cattle graze (Peace Corps Vol 4, p. 299).
  4. Change the diet slowly. A big feed of lush greens can kill rabbits used to dry feed.
Safe forage Notes
Young grass, clover, vetch, alfalfa The best; cut grass before it blooms (FB 1730, p. 9)
"Palatable weeds," cereal grain plants, leafy garden vegetables FB 1730, p. 10; free of insecticides (AIB 358, p. 13)
Dock, wild mustard, violets, bean vines, corn leaves and stalks, sunflower plants, sweet-potato vines, lettuce R-41's forage list (p. 39)
Carrot and beet tops, cabbage leaves Garden trimmings (Peace Corps Vol 4, p. 300); cabbage only a little (R-41, p. 36)
Dandelion, plantain, blackberry leaves, willow and apple twigs Common here and widely fed (rule of thumb)

Poisonous plants

📷 Not sure what's growing in the pasture? Photograph it with the plant identifier (🔧 Tools tab): it suggests a name and flags poisonous groups. Then check that name against this list.

Feed nothing you can't name. The toxic-plant books were written for grazing stock and poultry; treat their lists as poison for rabbits too (rule of thumb).

Plant Why to worry Source
Poison hemlock, water hemlock "Toxic to all"; poison hemlock stays toxic in hay up to 3 years WSNWCB, p. 34
Tansy ragwort As toxic dried as green — and tastier dried WSNWCB, p. 24
Bracken fern Toxic in hay too WSNWCB, p. 36
Foxglove, Scotch broom, rhododendron, nightshades, poison oak, tansy, black locust, false hellebore, snowberry, clematis On the list for penned poultry WSNWCB, p. 55
Milkweed Neck paralysis: the head droops between the front legs R-41, p. 58
Potatoes and peelings; meat "Do not feed" R-41, p. 36
Untreated cottonseed meal Gossypol poisons rabbits Handbook 309, p. 29
Moldy or dirty hay Makes rabbits prone to disease Peace Corps Vol 4, p. 299
Yew, oleander, azalea, lily-of-the-valley, wilted cherry or plum leaves, avocado, raw dried beans, green potatoes, rhubarb leaves Common garden and kitchen poisons (rule of thumb)

Conflict: the poultry list also names alfalfa and mustards, which every rabbit book recommends — for rabbits, follow the rabbit books. Dry season: grass browns from about July to the October rains, so store hay, grain, squash and roots for summer as well as winter, and keep a patch of watered greens if you can (rule of thumb).

📚 Go deeper: AIB 358, p. 12 — feeds without pellets; FB 1730, p. 8 — feed groups; R-41, p. 37 — what not to feed; WSNWCB — color photos of toxic plants.

🌿 Making and storing hay

Cut grass before it blooms, while stems are fine and leafy — it has more protein then (FB 1730, p. 9; Handbook 309, p. 28). Legume hay should be fine-stemmed, leafy, green and free of mold (FB 1730, p. 9). Here most grass heads out in May–June (rule of thumb).

  1. Walk the field first and pull tansy ragwort, hemlock and bracken — they stay poisonous in hay (WSNWCB, pp. 24, 34, 36).
  2. Cut in a dry spell after the dew is off (rule of thumb), before the grass goes to seed; let it cure in the field and turn it so the underside sees the sun, or it molds (Animal Traction, p. 186).
  3. It is cured when a twisted handful snaps without giving up juice — 1–3 days in the tropics (same page), 2–4 in our June sun (rule of thumb). Rake it into cocks if rain threatens (rule of thumb).
  4. Store it in a dark, dry shed out of light and wind (same page), away from the hutches.
  5. Check new hay for hot spots. Hay stored damp heats, chars inside, and can catch fire by itself (4-H Horse Project, p. 61; War Office, p. 127).

Good hay is green, slightly brittle and sweet-smelling, with no dirt or woody stems (Animal Traction, p. 186). Gray or dusty hay is moldy (WSNWCB, p. 56); visible mold is "unfit for fodder" (War Office, p. 127). If late rains spoil the curing, make silage instead (Animal Traction, p. 186). To feed, cut coarse hay into 3–4-inch lengths on a bench with a saw slot (FB 1730, pp. 9–10; bench), and use a manger. How much to put up: see "How many does feed a family".

💧 Water

🗓️ Breeding schedule and records

Step When Source
First breeding Small breeds 4–6 months, medium 7–9, large 9–11 EC 1655, p. 1
Mating Always take the doe to the buck's hutch; one buck serves about 10 does FB 1730, pp. 24, 26
Check pregnancy Palpate at 12–14 days; rebreed if empty AIB 358, p. 16
Gestation 28–35 days, 31 on average; 98% kindle on days 30–33 EC 1655, p. 2; FB 1730, p. 18
Nest box in Day 27 after mating AIB 358, p. 16; nest-box plans
Weaning Leave young with the doe until 8 weeks AIB 358, p. 18
Rebreeding 42 days after kindling still gives four litters and skips 2–3 hot months FB 1730, p. 19
Litters a year Four possible if none fail FB 1730, p. 19
Working life Does 2½–3 years, a few to 4–6 FB 1730, p. 20

Conflict on age: FB 1730 says medium breeds at 7 months (p. 18), AIB 358 at 5–6 (p. 15). All agree size and maturity matter more than age — on home feed, use the later ages.

Making a mating (FB 1730, pp. 22–26; R-41, pp. 15–16):

  1. A ready doe is restless, rubs her chin on things and has a red, swollen vulva (deep red: about 75% conceive). Take her to the buck in the cool early morning or late afternoon. Mating is done when he falls over on his side; take her home.
  2. If she refuses, try again that afternoon or next morning, or another buck; or hold her for him (how). Use a good buck about 3 times a week at most to keep him long.
  3. Palpate at 12–14 days (AIB 358, p. 16; Handbook 309, p. 39): hold ears and shoulder skin in one hand; slip the other under the belly in front of the pelvis, thumb one side, fingers the other, and move gently back and forth. The young feel like marbles. Light pressure only — squeezing can cause abortion. Unsure? Feel again a week later (how to hold her).

Two photos: a man lifts a small rabbit by the loin, and carries a bigger rabbit by the loose skin over its shoulders with his other hand under its rump Lift a small rabbit by the loin, a bigger one by the shoulder skin with a hand under the rump; never by the ears or legs (AIB 358, pp. 23–24).

A year's calendar for the valley

Early spring is the natural breeding season; conception drops in late summer and fall (FB 1730, p. 19), when twice as many does need holding (p. 26), and rabbits go temporarily sterile at about 86–90 °F (R-41, p. 42). This plan gives four litters, none born in July–August, rebreeding 42 days after each kindling (arithmetic from a 31-day gestation; dates approximate; jobs are rule of thumb):

Month Breeding and litters Other jobs
Jan Rebreed mid-month; wean the December litter Hay, grain, roots; break ice twice a day
Feb Kindle mid-Feb in winter nest boxes Clean and repair nest boxes
Mar Rebreed late March — best conception of the year Spring greens start: introduce slowly
Apr Wean the Feb litter mid-month; kindle at month's end Butcher February fryers from mid-April
May — Cut hay before the grass blooms
Jun Wean the April litter late in the month; rest the does Finish hay; check the bear fence; stack evacuation crates
Jul No kindling Shade, water, wet the hutch roofs; smoke watch
Aug Breed about Aug 20, early morning Dry grass: feed hay, roots and stored greens
Sep Kindle about Sep 20, cooling baskets ready Butcher the last spring fryers
Oct — Rains start: check roofs and drafts; spread manure
Nov Rebreed early in the month; wean the Sep litter Pick replacements; cull old breeders for roasters and prime pelts
Dec Kindle early Dec in winter nest boxes Tan the winter pelts

Records

A card on every hutch and one for every buck — date bred, buck, date kindled, born alive and dead, kept, weaned and their weight — tell you which does to cull and which to breed from (FB 1730, pp. 30–31; a hutch card). Replace a doe that raises fewer than 5 healthy young two litters running (R-41, p. 16). Mark breeders by ear tattoo — tags tear out (AIB 358, p. 18). No tattoo pliers? Pencil the number inside the ear, wipe with alcohol, and prick it in with a taped sewing needle dipped in India ink, avoiding the veins (Peace Corps Vol 4, p. 321). Keep cards dry in a tin (rule of thumb).

📚 Go deeper: FB 1730, p. 18 — gestation, schedule, false pregnancy; R-41, p. 15 — signs of heat and breeding rules; Handbook 309, p. 39 — palpating, with a picture of growing young.

🪺 Kindling, nest boxes, fostering and weaning

Nest boxes

Plans for a wooden nest box about 12 in wide, 16 in long and 12 in high, drawn from the end, the side and in perspective, with the top part of one end left open A box-type nest with the top of one end open for the doe; its top and bottom come off for cleaning (FB 1730, pp. 42–43).

Kindling

  1. A day or two before, the doe pulls fur to line the nest and eats less — normal; tempt her with a little green feed (AIB 358, pp. 16–17; litter in a fur-lined nest).
  2. Most litters come at night. Keep strangers, dogs and noise away (R-41, p. 46).
  3. Next day, while the doe is eating, check the nest quietly and remove dead or deformed kits (FB 1730, p. 27); then leave them a few days — too much handling can make a doe abandon them (EC 1655, p. 2).
  4. Litters average 7–8; leave 6–8 on a doe, 9 on a heavy milker (FB 1730, p. 27). She nurses once a day, at night or early morning, for a few minutes (R-41, p. 40).

If this goes wrong:

Fostering

Breed several does the same day so litters can be evened out (FB 1730, p. 27). Move kits only to a litter within 3–4 days of the same age, aiming for 7–9 per doe (AIB 358, p. 18), and mark the movers. Your scent won't make her reject them (FB 1730, p. 27); rubbing your hand over the foster doe's fur first can't hurt (R-41, p. 46). Never move kits from a doe with mastitis (Handbook 309, p. 50).

Eyes, leaving the nest and weaning

Close-up of a young rabbit's underside, drawn twice: a buck, where gentle pressure brings out a round tip like a circle, and a doe, where it shows a long slit that dips at the end next to the anus Pressed gently, a buck shows a round tip and a doe a slit (a diagram drawn for this guide).

📚 Go deeper: OSU EC 1655, p. 2 — palpating, nest boxes, newborn kits; FB 1730, p. 26 — kindling, fostering and losses; Handbook 309, p. 22 — nest box plans.

⚖️ Growing out to butcher weight

Class Age Live weight Carcass Source
Fryer 8 weeks 4–4½ lb 50–59% of live weight; 78–80% of that edible FB 1730, p. 47
Heavy fryer 9–10 weeks 4½–5½ lb — Handbook 309, p. 43
Roaster Usually 8 months + over 4 lb dressed 55–65%; 87–90% edible Handbook 309, p. 59
Stewer Over 6 months — Meat toughens with age EC 1651, p. 1

🩺 Health with no vet

Heat stress

Newborn litters and does late in pregnancy suffer most. Signs: fast breathing, wet mouth, slight bleeding from the nostrils, restless young (FB 1730, p. 31); at worst lying flat with blood-tinged fluid from nose and mouth (Handbook 309, p. 50). Do: move it somewhere quiet and airy, onto a feed sack soaked in cold water, and put jugs of ice or cold water in the hutches (AIB 358, p. 22). On hot, dry days, wetting hutch tops and floors cools the hutch 6–10 °F — it suits our dry summers; in humid heat move air instead (Handbook 309, p. 45).

Snuffles and pneumonia

Ear mites (ear canker)

Signs: head-shaking, ear-scratching, brown, scaly crusts inside the ear (R-41, p. 53) — the commonest parasite after coccidia (Peace Corps Vol 4, p. 340). Treat (same page):

  1. Swab the whole inner ear with vegetable or mineral oil, letting a little run down the canal.
  2. Soak heavy crusts in oil until soft, lift them out with tweezers, oil again. Burn the swabs and crusts.
  3. Treat every rabbit in the herd, mildest first; repeat weekly until clean (R-41, p. 53).

Untreated canker reaches the inner ear and causes wry neck (head twisted, rolling) — cull those (R-41, p. 59).

Coccidiosis

Sore hocks

Bruised, scabbed or abscessed pads on the hind feet, weight shifted forward — from wet floors, rough wire, heavy rabbits, nervous stamping. Give a resting board or lath platform, or put it on the ground; cull advanced cases (Handbook 309, p. 49; R-41, p. 26). Check feet often (EC 1654, p. 2); sore hocks also stop does conceiving (FB 1730, p. 19).

Other troubles

You see Likely cause What to do
Dull, hunched, teeth-grinding, bloated; watery or mucus droppings Enteritis (bloat, scours); no reliable cure (Handbook 309, p. 48) More hay and roughage; no fermented or spoiled feed (R-41, p. 57)
Eats less and less, rough coat, losing weight Fur block: swallowed fur plugs the stomach — too little fiber Feed dry hay (Handbook 309, p. 51)
Green, wet, sore fold under the chin Drinking from crocks Raise the crock; clip the fur; mild ointment (AIB 358, p. 23)
Front teeth curling out of the mouth Inherited bad bite Trim to get a fryer to butcher; never breed from it or its parents (R-41, p. 56)
Long claws catching in the wire Hutch life Hold the foot to daylight; cut below the pink "quick" (AIB 358, p. 23)
Dragging hind legs Back injured in a night fright Rest and good feed; no better in a week, kill it (FB 1730, p. 32)
Hot, red or blue-black teats Mastitis Cull bad cases; never foster her kits (Handbook 309, p. 50)
Scabs on the sex organs Vent disease, spread by mating No breeding until healed; don't lend bucks; cull if few (Handbook 309, p. 49)
Swollen eyelids, ears, nose, genitals; usually fatal Myxomatosis, carried by mosquitoes and biting flies No cure; screen hutches, drain standing water, kill the sick at once (R-41, p. 58; Peace Corps Vol 4, p. 333)
White streaks or small cysts in liver or belly at butchering Dog and cat tapeworm larvae Keep dogs and cats away from feed and nest boxes (Handbook 309, p. 51)
A lump under the skin with a grub in it Bot-fly warble Widen the hole, pull it with tweezers, paint with iodine (Peace Corps Vol 4, p. 341)

Rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHDV2)

A fatal virus that "affects both domestic and wild rabbits"; it has spread across the western states since 2020. "Many times, the only signs of the disease are sudden death and blood stained noses"; some get a fever, stop eating, or show breathing or nerve signs (USDA APHIS, p. 1). It "is very resistant to extreme temperatures" and spreads "from carcasses, food, water, and any contaminated materials", and on people's "clothing and shoes" (same page). No vaccine will be available, so keep it out:

📚 Go deeper: Handbook 309, pp. 48–52 — table of ailments; R-41, p. 53 — disease, cause and treatment; Peace Corps Vol 4, p. 337 — parasite life cycles; Raising Healthy Rabbits — illustrated care; Where There Is No Animal Doctor — how diseases spread.

🔪 Humane slaughter and butchering

Killing — practice the grip on a dead rabbit first. AVMA accepts neck dislocation only when done with a high degree of skill; it is harder on heavy rabbits, and devices that hold the head while you pull down on the hips work well (AVMA, pp. 44, 63):

Butchering (FB 1730, pp. 52–56; AIB 358, p. 25):

  1. No feed the day before (R-41, p. 77). Work in the cool morning, in gloves (rule of thumb).
  2. Hang it by a hook through the hock tendon of one hind leg; cut off the head at once to bleed.
  3. Remove tail, free hind foot and front feet; slit the skin inside each hind leg to the tail and peel it off like a sock, leaving the fat on the carcass — fat left on the skin burns the pelt (steps).
  4. Slit the belly; remove guts and gall bladder, keeping liver and kidneys; don't spill the bladder on the meat (R-41, p. 79). Heart, kidneys and liver are good food.
  5. Rinse in cold water no more than 15 minutes; cool overnight before cutting up. Cut with a knife, not a cleaver — rabbit bones splinter; a fryer makes 7 pieces (cuts).

Six rabbits hanging by one hind leg from a rail, each one a step further along, from right to left, in skinning and taking out the insides Skinning and gutting, step by step from right to left, each rabbit hung by one hind leg (FB 1730, p. 54).

Check liver and spleen: white spots on the liver = coccidiosis; discard the liver (R-41, p. 56). Liver and spleen both enlarged and spotted can be tularemia, which people catch from skinning and undercooked meat (Trapper Manual, p. 92) — if the rabbit was sick, bury it whole, scrub up, and always cook rabbit well. Domestic rabbits kept free of ticks and fleas don't get it (Handbook 309, p. 48).

Keeping the meat: pressure-can it, soaking dressed rabbit 1 hour in water with 1 tablespoon salt per quart first (USDA canning guide 5, p. 5), or dry thin strips (CVM, p. 90) — 16 oz raw makes about 4 oz jerky (PNW 632, p. 7). In summer, butcher only what you'll cook or can that day (rule of thumb).

📚 Go deeper: FB 1730, p. 52 — slaughter and skinning drawings; R-41, p. 77 — skinning with photos; UF Humane Euthanasia — putting down a sick animal; Preserving Food guide — canning and drying meat.

🧥 Pelts and Angora wool

Prime or not: stroke a live rabbit tail to head. A prime coat feels dense and flies back evenly; long and short hairs lying unevenly mean a molt. Skins from rabbits under 4 months are rough, thin and weak; the best pelts come from mature rabbits in the colder months (FB 1730, pp. 57–58; prime and unprime). Butcher culled breeders in November–February for fur and use fryer skins for linings and mittens (rule of thumb). Skins make fur garments, glove linings and hat felt (FB 1730, p. 5).

Drying a skin (FB 1730, pp. 58–59; Handbook 309, pp. 67–68):

  1. While warm, pull it flesh side out onto a shaper of 5 ft of No. 9 wire, all four legs on one side to spare the back fur. Smooth out wrinkles; don't stretch it hard (pelt on a stretcher).
  2. Next day check that edges dry flat, straighten the front legs, scrape off fat.
  3. Dry in shade with moving air, never in sun or by a fire. Don't salt rabbit skins for drying. Store them hung in loose bundles, cool and dry, away from rats and mice.

Two rabbit skins pulled flesh side out over hanging wire shapers, with all the legs of each skin on one side Skin flesh side out on the wire shaper, all the legs on one side so the back fur stays whole (FB 1730, p. 55).

Conflict: R-41 salts skins before tanning (p. 80). Air-dry skins you will store; skins going straight into the tan can be salted.

Tanning: salt-alum — see the Clothing & Leather guide (FB 1334, p. 27; FB 1730, p. 61). First soak the dry skin soft in several changes of cool water and scrape off all flesh and fat — but don't leave it wet longer than needed or the hair slips (p. 60). Work the skin while it dries, not after, or it dries stiff (p. 61).

Angora wool (FB 1730, pp. 49–51; Handbook 309, pp. 59–61): grows about 1 inch a month; shear or pluck every 10–12 weeks from 8 weeks old, for 14–15 oz a year. Scissors flat against the body, starting at the rump; never shear a pregnant doe's belly. In winter leave ½ inch, and shelter newly shorn rabbits at 30–40 °F. Shear on time, or swallowed wool forms a wool block that starves them (FB 1730, p. 33). Spin it on a wheel (p. 51).

🌱 Manure for the garden

🍽️ How many does feed a family

(Our arithmetic from the sources.)

Don't live on rabbit. It is high in protein but low in fat (EC 1651, p. 1). People who live mainly on lean meat get "rabbit starvation" within 1–2 weeks — nausea, diarrhea, weakness and a craving for fat that more lean meat won't fix. Keep protein under about a third of calories and pair rabbit with fat (egg yolks, chicken fat, lard, nuts) and starch (rule of thumb). See the Food Security guide.

🧬 Keeping the line going for years

Inbreeding doesn't create defects — it uncovers hidden ones, quickly (FB 1730, p. 20; Handbook 309, p. 10). Beginners inbreed just to avoid getting a new buck — get the buck (FB 1730, p. 21).

Picking replacements:

📚 Go deeper: FB 1730, p. 20 — inbreeding, line breeding, heredity; Handbook 309, p. 8 — selection and breeding systems; Seed Bank guide — the same idea for seed lines.

⚠️ Old advice in the library to ignore

Book says Do this instead
Lindane for ear mites and skin mange (Peace Corps Vol 4, pp. 340–341) Banned and nerve-toxic. Plain vegetable or mineral oil for ear mites (same page); cull bad mange (R-41, p. 53)
Kerosene in the ear-mite oil (Peace Corps Vol 4, p. 340) The same page says oil alone works
"Salt-acid" tanning with concentrated sulfuric acid (FB 1730, p. 60) Salt-alum (p. 61; FB 1334, p. 27)
Gasoline to degrease skins (FB 1730, pp. 60–61) Fire and fumes. Soap or borax in lukewarm water (same page), then dry hardwood sawdust
Formalin for tanning and preserving paws (R-41, pp. 81, 83) Toxic; salt-alum
Naphtha flakes or paradichlorobenzene on stored skins (FB 1730, p. 59; AIB 358, p. 26) Mothball poisons. Store skins dry and cool in a closed box; check for moths (rule of thumb)
Creosote on hutch wood (FB 1730, p. 33) Wire inside the frame, tin on edges, twigs to chew (same page)
Coal-tar disinfectants (FB 1730, p. 34); a blowtorch to clean hutches (Handbook 309, p. 48) Hot soapy water and sun (same pages). No open flame in fire season
Boric acid, argyrol, yellow oxide of mercury for eyes (FB 1730, p. 27; Handbook 309, p. 49) Warm water to soften and part the lids (AIB 358, p. 18)
Chloroform on warbles (R-41, p. 54) Tweezers and iodine (Peace Corps Vol 4, p. 341)
Ipil-ipil (leucaena) as feed (R-41, p. 37) Toxic in quantity, and not grown here
"Don't mix your own rabbit feed" (OSU EC 1655, p. 1) Right while pellets exist. After that, home-grown feed is the only choice — expect slower growth and smaller litters, not failure
Penicillin, sulfa drugs and other medicines in the disease tables Won't be available: use the tables for signs and prevention, and cull

📚 Go deeper: Where There Is No Animal Doctor — modern no-vet care; USDA FB 1334, p. 27 — safe salt-alum tanning.

🖼️ Pictures & diagrams

Look before you try it. 🖼️ = drawings and photos in the books on this drive; the other links open the offline Wikipedia.

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