What to do with a rabbit pelt

Our family just butchered our first brace of "coneys" or pair of rabbits. Learning experience, for sure!!! Tell me, what do I do with this beautiful pelt? New Zealand rabbits, 5 months old.

Rebekah Harmon wrote:Our family just butchered our first brace of "coneys" or pair of rabbits. Learning experience, for sure!!! Tell me, what do I do with this beautiful pelt? New Zealand rabbits, 5 months old.

No answer for you, but I was debating raising rabbits but after watching a video of butchering them wasn't sure I wanted to deal with the hassle right now (I just live in a suburban yard). It looked more bloody than the chicken slaughter I helped at a couple weeks ago...

How was that for you?

Rebecca, I've never despatched a rabbit, but have been gifted corpses by a friend and a dog.  I found the skinning and butchering quite straightforwards.  The main thing is to have a good really sharp knife to cut through the skin.  Not to cut into the gut(!) A pair of shears maybe easier to cut off the feet and head.  All the messy bits stay together if you are careful and can be caught on some paper and disposed of.
Rebekah, I'm thinking of trying to cure my bunny pelts.  Never done it though myself so am interested to see what advice you get.  So far I just rolled them and put them in the freezer.  We do have a tannery locally.  I was thinking of seeing if I could slip these through as a foreigner....but it would be good to have another skill to use really.

Here is a method that I have used successfully on rabbit pelts and a deer hide.           https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Don%27t+tan+...+taw!-a057564296

That looks pretty simple, thanks.  Any ideas what to do with the liquid afterwards?

Rebekah,

I keep my pelts for the simple reason of I don't want to waste it. So far I haven't found much use for them except for making my wife some nice soft slippers... twice (because the dog ate one - can't really blame him either since it is rabbit). They are extremely soft for those projects though - might make a blanket or something one day when I have enough of them. Just have to make sure to keep it away from the dogs.

Either way I use this tool to dispatch them quickly as I can and hang them for easy butchering: https://theoriginalhopperpopper.com/Hopper_Popper/. They are a small family business and I have bought twice from them now - highly recommend it.

I could do a quick summary of the tanning process if you're interested. I have gotten much better at it and learned a lot. It is a good skill to hone and I think the pelts look very nice up in the garage. They just felt too pretty to throw away / compost.

Let me know if you want. I'm finishing one hide today and butchering another tomorrow so I might make it into a whole thing with pictures if I have the time to string it together.

Slippers, bags, hats, quilts, mittens, pillows.... The thing about rabbit hide is it's so thin it sews like fabric. You can even machine it. I just hate tanning the hides and it's expensive to have them tanned for you.

Wait. What!? I can run rabbit pelt through my sewing machine!?

I had given up the idea of doing rabbits but... that’s making me reconsider.

Footwear insert.

My wife and her family do a lot of re-enacting and when making moccasins they would put a piece of rabbit fur inside for warmth and softness. I imagine you could do the same even with modern shoes. But you would have to deal with tanning them first I would imagine and that is outside of my experience.

Cat toys!  Would make great gifts for those who have moggies!