Rabbit friscassee. From “farm” to plate.

[Dead Pool]

I don’t know the best place to put this, but it ends with cooking and eating, so here y’all go! We’ve been raising meat rabbits on our property in town. .3 acres, you work with what you have. These are TAMUK composites, which stands for Texas A&M university - kingsville. They’re specifically bred for the Texas heat. Our first litter finally hit 14 weeks which is prime butchering time so on Saturday I got after it. Killed and cleaned 5. We sold a couple trips and lost a couple on the way due to our inexperience. Here’s the pics.

Picking up our first trio. People generally get 2 females and a male so that’s what we did

Building cages and structure. We used treated wood and scrap crap from work, 14 ga cage wire.

Got the kids involved.

Then had to build a second structure for grow out cages. The plan is for worm beds under the structures but haven’t gotten there yet. Work in progress. Rabbit shit makes some of the best fertilizer.

 

[Dead Pool]

Then we bred them and had kits back in April. Gestation period of a rabbit is 31 days and they usually have 8-10 babies. We got 16 babies between the two and lost 4 due to our inexperience in making nesting boxes. They were too small And the mommas couldn’t get in there to nurse properly. Live and learn. They look like little alien mice when they’re babies.

About a week old:

Around 3 weeks:

 

[Dead Pool]

So then we just fed and moved to the grow out cage around 7 weeks old. They like making rabbit piles and lounging on the rabbit hammock which is just a cage door between sections.

 

[Dead Pool]

So another few weeks passed and Saturday was the day. Record high temps down here, not optimal. But I made it work. Made a quick ground cage and put them on the grass for their final moments, rabbit heaven. Popped them in the head with the Gamo, then butchered. First one took way too long, but then I watched a video by meat eater and now I can do it in about 12 min from kill to cooler.

Left them on ice for 24 hours to finish draining. Packed 2 whole for the freezer and two cut up. One became dinner last night.

And one escaped the knife for now. Decided to keep this girl for breeding stock.

 

[Dead Pool]

All that to say, we made rabbit fricassee last night. I’d never heard of it, but my buddy I got the rabbits from down in Houston sent the recipe and I gave it a shot. It was damn delicious!

 

[Dead Pool]

It’s a YouTube video, not a recipe per say. But if you’ve ever got a rabbit you don’t know what to do with, I’d entirely recommend it. Stay tuned for more delicious rabbit recipes!

 

[Dead Pool]

No pics of it yet, but I made bone broth out of the scrap meat and bones, it's still cooking in the crockpot at home. Cut the belly meat off and it's marinating for jerky. And sauteed the liver, lungs, and hearts for the dog which she loved. That 7 month old 65 pound mutt will eat anything, but she scarfed that up like she was starving!

 

[Chadwick]

Our start on rabbits here. This single doe. And picking up a buck and doe this next weekend. Will start with all Californian. And go from there. Looks as if you are off to a really good start on yours.

 

[Island rules]

i like to add a few spoonfuls of capers at plating time and serve it over rice. but seems like a decent recepie

 

[Dead Pool]

Our start on rabbits here. This single doe. And picking up a buck and doe this next weekend. Will start with all Californian. And go from there. Looks as if you are off to a really good start on yours.

Looking good my man. It's supposed to hit 108 today and 111 tomorrow. I've got fans on my three and have been putting an ice block in the cage with each one during these crazy temps, but we'll see if the tamuk is hardy enough. 108 is the record high temp here, so we're about to be breaking some records. It's absolutely brutal out there with 30% humidity on top of all that. Really glad I went ahead and butchered those 5, it's going to get rough.

 

[rockmup]

Wait until they eat the whole litter.
Explain that one to the kids. lol

 

[Provience]

in for more updates. i'd like to raise meat rabbits, the wife has already said she is going mostly vegitarian anyways once we move further away from the store

 

[Dead Pool]

Got 4 pints of double strained bone broth out of it.

 

[grapehead]

Are you using the pelts too?

 

[72blazer]

Got more pics of the rabbit cage setup?

 

[Dead Pool]

in for more updates. i'd like to raise meat rabbits, the wife has already said she is going mostly vegitarian anyways once we move further away from the store

Those leftover veggies will help with feeding for sure. We are feeding 90% pellets now, but I'm reading a book called "beyond the pellet" that advocates for a more natural diet for them. Considering building some rabbit tractors for some of them to put them on grass in the yard. Lots of ideas, but going to finish the book before I make a bunch of decisions. Some veggies are great for rabbits and some, not so much. Not sure where St. Augustine grass fits in there. We are also considering seeding the backyard with something besides a standard american backyard of perfectly manicured grass.

Are you using the pelts too?

I didn't with these. I'd never skinned a rabbit, much less in July with temps over 100 degrees. I wanted to focus on the meat preservation this time. But I plan to tan the pelts of the next batch if it seems feasible. Never done it successfully. I tanned a deer hide when I was 12 with lye and ended up with lye poisoning so I probably won't use that method again. Need to research it. Much better resources now than there was then with the invention of the internet and all.

 

[Dead Pool]

Wait until they eat the whole litter.
Explain that one to the kids. lol

I've heard of that, but luckily we haven't experienced it yet. We'll cross that bridge when the time comes. We did rebreed last month and then had a momma and the male both die unexpectedly. I think it was algae bloom in the water bottles that I just didn't catch. The other momma gave birth last week and none of the babies made it. I think it was due to the heat. She didn't eat them though.

 

[woods]

wait. the momma rabbit eats the litter? I read that correctly?

 

[4Eyedturd]

My mom has a shitload of rabbits she’s trying to thin them out if you need more.

 

[Dead Pool]

Got more pics of the rabbit cage setup?

Sure. What do you want to see? Working on a better watering system this weekend. Using a gatorade cooler and black tubing with a shutoff and few nipples to drink from. Bought most of the stuff from a great site I found online. They're old school though, you've got to call in your order and plan ahead. It takes them a bit.

Klubertanz Equipment Co., welded wire, cages, & supplies for small animals.

Equipment and Supplies for Rabbits and Other Small Animals.

www.klubertanz.com

You can get cage wire from them too, I got the 14 ga 1/2x1 floor wire from them, but tractor supply has the 14 ga 1x2 wire in stock. First cage was built with wire from lowes, so we have 16 ga floor wire and 16 ga 1x1 on the sides. Not optimal, I'd highly recoommend going with 14 ga wire. Tractor supply feeders to start out, but they're crap so we're switching over to the pro-b feeders from kluberantz. A few other things like wire protectors, floor mats, and cage clip springs from there too. Cages are assembled with J- clips.

Cage one is 9' long, 30" deep with 3 compartments. I put pass through doors between each in case we changed direction later and needed a long cage. Each compartment is 36x30 which is perfect for the breeding does.

Cage two is 7' long, 24" deep with 2 compartments and the pass through. The door was up in that one picture and the rabbits used it for a hammock of sorts.

I have 3 females and no males now, since we lost our one male to the algae and apparently you can't breed male offspring back to their mommas. But you can breed females back to their poppas. We will have to get a new male once this heat wears off so we can get back to it. That probably leaves me with having to build at least one more cage. I'll hang it under the current growout cage (7x2) and slope the roof so we can put lexan on it to protect those rabbits from constantly getting sprayed with poop and pee.

I'll post a few random pics, if there's anything specific you want to see, let me know and I'll try to get some pics of it tonight.

 

[Dead Pool]

My mom has a shitload of rabbits she’s trying to thin them out if you need more.

Any Tamuks?

 

[rockmup]

wait. the momma rabbit eats the litter? I read that correctly?

Yes, they do that sometimes.

 

[Dead Pool]

I don’t guess I really have any good cage pics but I’d be happy to take some.

 

[Dead Pool]

The cage wire edge protectors are worth the investment though. Stupid cheap from Klubertanz.

 

[woods]

Yes, they do that sometimes.

what the...

I've heard of chickens eating the eggs, but never the rabbits eating the young. weird.

 

[rockmup]

what the...

I've heard of chickens eating the eggs, but never the rabbits eating the young. weird.

I was always told that it happened when there was something wrong with them. Its not uncommon in the animal world for them to cull defective young.

 

[4Eyedturd]

Any Tamuks?

I have no idea, the only picture I have is this.

 

[Dead Pool]

I have no idea, the only picture I have is this.

Tasty looking bunny but I'm trying to keep mine to tamuk only for now. I may try cross breeding at some point, but don't feel ready for that step yet. I can get all the Californians I want from the local 4h after the shows, didn't do it last year, will probably do it this year just for the meat.

 

[Chadwick]

Got my pick up date moved up to tomorrow morning am.. 0530 up coffee fill cup let Bonnie outside start jeep and head to get the rest of our Rabbits. Pics tomorrow once back.
I'll be keeping pelts on my end.
Also all my cages are not permanent using what I have. Nor are they staying where they are .
I've still got to get a flat pad dug out on side of our mtn... for green house. Chicken coop and rabbit hutch area...

 

[Dead Pool]

Got my pick up date moved up to tomorrow morning am.. 0530 up coffee fill cup let Bonnie outside start jeep and head to get the rest of our Rabbits. Pics tomorrow once back.
I'll be keeping pelts on my end.
Also all my cages are not permanent using what I have. Nor are they staying where they are .
I've still got to get a flat pad dug out on side of our mtn... for green house. Chicken coop and rabbit hutch area...

I've read some that you can put chickens under the rabbit hutches. They eat dropped food, hay, and yes, poop. But I have not gotten that far. Putting worm bins under one of ours, considering that for the other.