Shortly after we purchased our backyard chickens my husband and I wanted another small animal that would help us become more self-sufficient. That’s when we researched the cost to raise your own meat rabbits!
It was actually in a homesteading book I was reading at the time where I first heard of people raising rabbits for meat for their families. I was curious and looked into it further. It turns out rabbits are a very smart animal for you to raise (less time, less space, and reproduce fast) and are extremely healthy for you to eat too!
Compared to chicken, beef, and pork, rabbits have the least calories per pound, least fat per pound, most moisture per pound, and most protein per pound! They truly are a superfood.
But, is the cost to raise your own meat rabbits in your backyard or garage really worth it? Are the time and money investments worth your while?
Let’s check it out…
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The Cost Of The Rabbits Themselves
When we started looking for meat rabbits to purchase and start our own rabbitry we had no idea what the cost would be. It wasn’t like when we purchased our chickens. We could just go online and compare prices at different hatcheries before they shipped the chicks to us.
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After looking online for meat rabbits, the only place I was able to find reliable sources was on Craigslist. Of course, if you knew of a rabbitry near you, I would start there.
To start a decent rabbitry, you really need three rabbits – a male and two females. They also need to be from different family lines because breeding within the same family line could result in poor genetics.
For us, this meant two road trips to purchase the rabbits and both were quite a distance. We purchased our male rabbit from one breeder who only charged us $10 because it was right after he was weaned from his mother. Then, we purchased our two females (who, funny story, actually ended up being males) for $30 each as they were slightly older.
That means our three initial meat rabbits cost us $70 plus the gas money to pick them up.
The Cost Of The Rabbit Food And Water
When you think about the cost to raise your own meat rabbits you of course have to think about what you will be paying to feed them.
Rabbit food consists of both pellets and timothy hay. The pellets can be purchased in 50 lb bags from Tractor Supply or online. Timothy hay could be purchased from a farm nearby, a local retailer or farm store, or online.
We feed our rabbits a strict diet of half a cup of pellets in the morning and another half a cup at night. You don’t want to overfeed them as they could become too fat to produce. However, you will want to feed them unlimited timothy hay.
For three rabbits, it will take you a few weeks to get through a bag of pellets. Timothy hay can also be very cost-effective and last for quite a while if you purchase it in bulk.
A bag of pellets is about $20. A barrel of compressed timothy hay is also about $20. You are looking at about $25 a month in food on average.
That is, of course, until you start breeding your rabbits for your meat production and have to start feeding the six to ten bunnies that each mother produces once they wean. Your feed cost will likely increase to two bags a month or an average of $30-$35 a month.
The Cost Of The Rabbit Hutches And Supplies
I suggest purchasing a few items for each rabbit to care for your rabbits properly: a hay rack, a feeder, a water bottle, nesting boxes (for female breeders), and a travel case.
It is so handy to have a travel case on hand when you pick up your meat rabbits from the breeder. Especially if you are taking them a far distance. It can be a traumatizing experience for them and being stuck in a cardboard box would only make it worse.
For three rabbits you can expect to pay around $70 per rabbit for these supplies, or $210 in total.
Next, you will need to either purchase rabbit hutches or build your own.
We built our own with hardware cloth and wood. It was quite cost-effective, and we could make them fit our space perfectly. In total for the wiring and the wood, we probably paid around $150.
However, if you would like to purchase a rabbit hutch for each rabbit, you are looking at a cost of $100 to $300 each.
Related Post: How Much Does It Really Cost To Raise Your Own Backyard Chickens?
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Other Possible Rabbit Expenses
You can’t forget that sometimes animals get sick. When you consider the cost to raise your own meat rabbits you have to ask yourself what you will do when this happens.
Our first male rabbit got sick probably around six months after purchased him. He couldn’t stand up straight without falling over and his head was tilted. We tried to diagnose his case online and it seemed to be E. Cuniculi.
However, we weren’t certain and decided to take him in to the vet. Turns out the vet told us that was her best guess as well and there was no sure treatment, just as we had read. We were left with an expensive vet bill and no answers.
From then on we decided that we would just keep an extra male breeder on hand and if one of our rabbits became sick, we would put it down. If the meat is safe to eat, we will eat it and salvage the hide if we can.
Then a few months later, another rabbit of ours had somehow grown a bacterial infection from a cut. We decided to follow our plan to put it down and salvage what we could.
For us, the vet bill did not justify the time and money spent to care for the sick meat rabbit. However, it is certainly something to consider for yourself when you think about the cost of starting your own rabbitry.
Other expenses for your rabbit could include fun toys, nail trimmers, hay for nesting boxes, and things for them to chew on. Our rabbits are given our scrap wood to chew on and love it just the same!
Income From Your Rabbits
Lastly, it’s time to consider the income you could make from your rabbitry and meat rabbits. There are actually quite a few options!
First, you might consider selling one or two rabbits from each litter you produce. If you sell a rabbit for $20, that basically just paid for all the food you bought that month! Now, the rest of your rabbit meat that you process and consume is essentially free!
You can also sell your rabbit manure for about $10 a bucket or bag. It is “gardener’s gold” and makes an amazing fertilizer. Gardeners in your area will likely be willing to pay for this crap (pun intended)!
And lastly, you can sell your rabbit meat after you process it. I’m going to be doing this at the farmer’s market near us this summer! But, perhaps you have your own farm stand or local store that is willing to sell your meat. You could charge up to $50 for a whole rabbit.
Lastly, you can sell the rabbit hides. List these on Craigslist and see if anyone is interested!
Overall, test your market. What are people willing to pay for your rabbit meat? Is there a demand for the meat itself or maybe just selling the bunnies to others?
You could essentially raise your rabbits for free if you make an income from your rabbits. It’s really not that hard to achieve, which makes the cost to raise your own meat rabbits completely worth it!
Is It Worth The Cost To Raise Your Own Meat Rabbits?
Ultimately, it comes down to what your goals are with your rabbitry.
If you are looking to provide farm-fresh food for your family, it can be cheaper than buying meat at the grocery store. You can keep re-breeding your rabbits and have a constant meat supply ready to go.
However, there is a time investment of 15 minutes of chores each morning and each night. You also have to consider the time investment of butchering and processing the rabbits.
For us, selling one rabbit per litter or selling some rabbit meat can completely offset the cost of the rabbit feed. We also have fresh meat that is farm-raised and goes straight to our table. We no longer need to buy hormone-packed meat from the store that has been over-processed.
Knowing where our food comes from and raising the meat ourselves makes raising meat rabbits completely worth it to us!
Let me know in the comments below if you learned something new or if you will be starting your own rabbitry at home!
Kelsey at GoodPointGrandma
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This is a really thorough breakdown of the costs and potential income! I never really think about these things, since we have so many local farms near where I live. However, I’m pretty sure I would very quickly have a bunch of pet rabbits instead if I ever tried this. I wouldn’t be able to eat them!
Haha I know, rabbits are so cute! You are not the first to say this (;
Well I can safely say this was something I knew nothing about! But the breakdown in cost seems super useful and easily laid out. I did stay at an Airbnb once and the next door neighbor had a bunch of rabbits in the back and we talked with them for awhile and held some of the rabbits. They were so cute though I don’t know that I would be able to raise them in this way!
Oh, that’s awesome! The butchering is definitely the worst part. It is hard at first but I also love the taste of rabbit meat so it makes it a little bit easier! (:
Thanks for sharing! It’s cool how self-sufficient you are with all the animals you’re raising.
Thanks Kelly – it’s hard work but it is totally worth it!
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