The first 5 rabbits did fine in our secondhand hutches until the hutches started coming apart. We had bunny rabbits running loose EVERYWHERE! The rabbits turned their wooden hutches into chew toys, then into kindling… it was a mess.

The need for quality cages was apparent, but proper materials were not to be had in small quantities. I shipped in 14 and 16 gauge cage material to build some proper cages. The first set I built was a nice hanging style that went up in my 3-walled shed. They were huge and inefficient. The rabbit cages were too deep to reach a rabbit laying against the back wall, so tall they took up a lot of volume in the shed, and so wide it was difficult to catch the bunnies for inspection or removal. The oversized cages caused other issues as well, when spooked, the rabbits could get up enough speed to seriously hurt themselves against the opposite wall. The next generation of rabbit cages proved MUCH more suitable and are still in use today.

After the very expensive learning experiences of starting up, I started to feel I was knocking the rough edges off my rabbit cage designs and rabbitry function. The new 36-inch by 24-inch footprint kept the rabbits snug and feeling safe. The 15-inch tall roofs were sufficient to let the rabbits stand, and keep their ears up while laying down without their ears hitting the cage ceiling. With the newly designed cages, I was able to take the barn that only fit 5 cages before and convert it to hold 24 breeding females and 10 males. My rabbitry went from producing 20 bunnies a month to 120 head a month. The new cages were also MUCH easier to clean!

As the rabbitry grew, so did the demand for efficiency. Soon I had outgrown my little 40 x 20-foot backyard and needed space for expansion. I built a small barn and added quail to the Hostile Homestead. With the high quality rabbit and quail cages, I was able to ramp up production and start REALLY hitting my output goals. The quail happily laying 300 eggs per hen per year, the rabbits having 64 babies per doe per year, you could say I had SLIGHTLY more food than I needed to survive!

Why you should consider raising your own rabbits:

Time Efficient

Feeding, watering and breeding your rabbits takes very little time. A properly built housing system installed in a well-planned rabbitry will allow for decreased labor and increased production. As an example, 128 breeding females, 16 males and an average of 1200 babies still only required 20-30 minutes of labor daily to maintain those numbers. So for a combined total of 10-15 hours of work per month, 3500 pounds of rabbit could be produced. That’s $35,000 retail. Think of how little time you’ll need to lower your food costs.

Space Efficient

Rabbits require very little space to live and nurture their young. In the wild their warrens are just big enough to turn around in and nest their kits. The warren is also just tall enough to allow their ears to stand up all the way while the rabbit lies down. Our housing systems are designed and built with that in mind. For every 28 square foot, you can raise 640 baby rabbits annually for a combined live weight of 3200 pounds. You can find Hutches and cages here.

Money/Resources Efficient

Seventy percent of America’s tillable soil/ known farmland is allocated to growing food for our food. Vast seas of corn and soybeans sprawl out over the countryside, mostly intended for cattle. Cattle require an average of 9 pounds of feed for every 1 pound of meat. Rabbits require 1.5 pounds of feed for every 1 pound of meat. If retail rabbit pellets are used, rabbits cost 7-8 cents per day to feed. If barley grass and “Cut and Carry” methods are used, the cost will drop below 2 cents per day. On pellets cost per pound (live) will be around 78-81 cents. On barley and garden scraps cost per pound could be under 20 cents!!