How to Prepare to Raise Rabbits

I am of the mindset that you prepare yourself whenever you take on a new task or project. Raising rabbits was no different. Although I had experiences with raising rabbits, before I established my bunny barn in Texas, I spent two solid years learning before I pounded one nail into a board for the barn.

I found a mentor and studied websites all over the Internet. I bounced things that I read from Facebook groups off onto my mentor for his opinion. Most of his responses were to “keep it simple,” and that’s what I do to this day! You can easily inundate yourself with completely useless information, or with information that may not necessarily be relevant to your situation, so don’t overwhelm yourself.

I would ask myself a lot of questions in preparation, so that I could direct my learning to specific areas like a particular breed. So, the rest of this article will be a list of what I think are the most important questions that I would ask you to consider before spending a dime on rabbits, or food or a building that may end up to be too expensive for what your needs really are! 

Here they are. These three categories are not in any particular order, but all of these questions should be considered regardless.

I’ll list the category heading and then pose the questions under each heading.

Breed
What breed are you going to raise?

Are you going to raise rabbits for meat, for show, for sales or for pets?
What size rabbit are you physically able to handle?
Do you have a particular color that you prefer?

Cages/Hutches

Are you looking for an individual hutch type cage for one rabbit, or are you interested in raising multiple rabbits and you need long, divided wire cages?
Will you be hanging this/these cage/cages by wire from a beam in a barn?
Will you be letting the manure fall to the ground or will you provide trays under each cage?
Had you considered stacked cages for raising multiple rabbits?
Will your cages be inside of a barn or outside under some sort of natural shade?
What type of material do you want your cages to be made out of?
How are you going to clean and sanitize your cages?
How are you going to attach feeders and a water supply to the cage?

Feed/Water

Are you going to feed your rabbits a pelleted product?
How and where are you going to store enough pellets to keep on hand?
Will you feed weeds and other things like fruit, grains and vegetables to your rabbits?
Do you have a resource that tells you which other foods and grains are good/bad for your rabbits?
Will you place free standing bowls for food and water?
If you are going to attach feeders and watering devices to the cage, which type will you use?

There are obviously so many more questions to consider, but this should be a great start! Don’t forget to search out a mentor. Ask a LOT of questions, but be respectable of their time. Good luck in whatever the future holds in store for you as you begin your journey!