Rabbit Manure

I wouldn't garden without it, and recently acquired a rabbit specifically for her poop potential (got a mixed giant breed, to make up for the other, smaller rabbit that doesn't eat or poop much. This giant girl sure can eat!!). They are easy to keep  and create structures for, and also can eat all your weeds and garden waste- talk about a circular economy!

If I ever ramp up rabbit production (as I keep threatening to) I could see rabbit pellets being a side product I could sell. I'm always sharing them with people and they really make a fabulous garden.

Tereza Okava wrote:I wouldn't garden without it, and recently acquired a rabbit specifically for her poop potential (got a mixed giant breed, to make up for the other, smaller rabbit that doesn't eat or poop much. This giant girl sure can eat!!).

I have a good friend locally to me who ended up rescuing a large 'meat' rabbit that got loose (they found it on the roadside by their driveway)  and his daughter got attached quickly. Part of her chores is to clean out the hutch and they kindly bring it over and drop it off by my compost pile. I'm lucky to have such good folks nearby!

Unfortunately, my current dog (adopted when I was still renting) is incredibly predatory.  She can control herself around the chickens if I'm supervising, but a small mammal would drive her insane and I'm sure the rabbit would pick up on this even if well fenced and be stressed by her intensity.  Until Mookie's time on earth is up, having rabbits doesn't seem convenient enough for me.  
I had two wonderful pet rabbits as a kid- one was a New Zealand White and the other was a mini Dutch. I have always wanted a Belgian Hare since I saw them at the state fair.  The Belgian Hare is a domestic rabbit bred to look like a hare, not an actual hare and it's huge with huge feet and so cool looking and supposed to be super smart and a good pet if you can give them the space they need.  

Until I'm ready for rabbits, I've been collecting deer and porcupine poop when walking the dogs.  My land is mostly wooded, and there are an insane amount of both the deer & porcupine here and piles of pellets everywhere.  It's pretty easy to scoop the poop with my hand along with some forest topsoil/leaf mulch and so I bring a bag on walks for it and been adding this to the garden beds instead.  

I also had a min lop eared rabbit who was very aggressive and not the best pet.  While the other rabbits learned to use a litter box in the house, she didn't seem to pick up on this despite my efforts at different set ups.  She could also be very aggressive, which I've read is not uncommon for female bunnies as some (not all) can be hormonal, and in their readiness to breed are inclined to bite people.  She liked to be pet, but when you stopped she would bite you because she wanted you to rub her head for hours.  She would growl at guests and attack them.  She was fearless with people.  Luckily, I was able to rehome her with a family that just wanted an outdoor rabbit to feed and care for and they loved her.  

The New Zealand and Dutch were males and loved everyone.  Even though the New Zealand lived outside, I would bring him indoors and he used the cat's litter box with no training. The Mini Dutch Rabbit lived indoors and we had to have him neutered because he would rape the cat, although it was a male cat he would grab it and hump him and the cat did not appreciate this.  After the rabbit was "fixed," the cat would attack him (but not severely because he was a gentle cat, he'd hold him and bite his ears but never actually draw blood or hurt the rabbit) but the poor bunny would be confused over what the issue was and just wanted to be friends once his hormones weren't a problem.

Jolene Csakany wrote:Mookie

I just have to stop this thread and say that my incredibly predatory Mookie says hi to your incredibly predatory Mookie!! I have not met another person with a Mookie! (Mokey, but not Mookie), although to be fair where I live it's a word people have a hard time saying.

(the only way I can have rabbits is that my backyard is separated from my front yard by the house, with me in it. He does not have access to the yard with the rabbits, ever. Period. He is a rat hunter who dreams of eating cats, and just the smell of the rabbit manure is enough to send him to crazy-prey-drive land)

We recently got Creme d'Argent rabbits because we wanted another source of meat and I like to help preserve threatened breeds.  I am adding a handful of droppings to each hole as I plant this year.  So far, I am seeing beautiful results!  After I get enough for ourselves I am hoping to sell some to help cover the ongoing costs of the rabbits.

We two PET bunnies, one old man at 11 years and one young at less than 6 months.
My wife dotes on them, I build them coops, feed them treats from our garden and collect their excellent effluent.

I have considered getting a bunch of outdoor  bunnies, just for the poop, but I realized that I'm too softhearted to dispatch a sick bunny and too poor to pay more vet bills for them.
Chickens I can put out of their misery, but it's hard.
Rabbits would be harder still.

I think the next size up (poop wise)from a very  big bunny is a very small sheep.
No where near as convenient,but the poop is similar.

William Bronson wrote:

I have considered getting a bunch of outdoor  bunnies, just for the poop, but I realized that I'm too softhearted to dispatch a sick bunny and too poor to pay more vet bills for them.
Chickens I can put out of their misery, but it's hard.
Rabbits would be harder still.

Understandable, I couldn't do it either.  I am thinking about dispatching my rooster right now, as I have been offered a less aggressive one and it's hard to say good bye- even to an animal that wants to attack me (or mate or show dominance- all makes rooster scary problem to humans).  

I fostered pregnant rabbits for my local shelter when I was in a different location.  Brother Wolf paid for all their vet bills, including spaying and neutering all the babies before they were rehomed.  And the shelter was proactive about rehoming the rabbits too (my ex was worried we would be stuck with all the rabbits and questioned my sanity, but the adorable babies won over his heart).    That shelter would also pay for the care of animals that needed hospice care.  When I am better set up at my new home, I will start contacting local shelters to see if I can find a similar program.  It may be something you want to try if you want more animals for poop, but can't handle the cost of their care.  Many people buy adorable baby bunnies as pets, and then decide it's not the right pet for them and bring them to the shelter so there are usually plenty to be had.  

Tereza Okava wrote:

Jolene Csakany wrote:Mookie

I just have to stop this thread and say that my incredibly predatory Mookie says hi to your incredibly predatory Mookie!!

Your Mookie is also incredibly adorable!  My Mookie was actually named Millie, but it evolved into Mookie and she answers to both.

Jolene, thank you for sharing your experience and  a fantastic suggestion!
The idea of fostering bunnies never occured to me.
I feel like my family has the heart and the skill set to be very good at this.

I find them to be not like unlike cats, generally  finicky in  nature, so more than a dog(or cat) a rabbit might be very happy only being played with a few times per day.
Our youngest was very well socialized by the friend who gave him to us, he doesn't mind being picked up at all and loves to cuddle.
Our elder bunny likes the petting, and the treats, but still hates being picked up.
(You try being a tasty nugget of fuzzy raptor treat and see how you like your feet leaving the ground!)


Our old man bunny,(El-ahrairah) has a table height 4x6 indoor hutch, I would want to give my fosters something almost as long, if not quite a wide.
I'm imagining a row of long/deep hutches,table height, for maximum face time, with a box of dirt for enrichment.

Last fall I bought 16 feed bag sized bunny and Guinea pig poo (some bedding mixed in).  If this spring is any indication,  it was a worthy investment.

Rabbits are great but they die remarkably easily.

When we had a pet rabbit, I used wood pellets for her litterbox. When the litterbox developed any odor, I would take the whole thing outside and fill it with water from the hose, then let it sit. (Hmmm, did I have two trays that alternated, or did I just make the bunny wait? I can't recall, it was in 2012.)

After all the wood pellets had "exploded" in the water, the urine was diluted enough that I could use the mixture as mulch in my vegetable garden. The high nitrogen urine helped the wood bits break down and my tomatoes went crazy.

Rabbits really are a great pet for a gardener, because they inspire you to pull weeds (it made her so happy to eat them) and give you two kinds of fertilizer.

I've never had rabbits nor wanted to, but ONCE someone gave me some rabbit poo--well aged stuff--and that was THE best. According to what I've read, in multiple places, rabbit, goat, sheep and alpaca manure are all higher in nutrients than cow, horse, pig or even chicken manure, and yet also okay to use as fertilizer right away--I would think the ones highest in nitrogen would be the ones that needed the longest composting but somehow that isn't true. But, my friend with the goats says her daughter the nutrition specialist, says that E coli is a potential problem in goat manure until it has composted 6 weeks. So I try to wait that long. I suppose this applies to other flavors of manure as well.

I have heard of people raising worms off of the rabbit bedding, and then applying the worm casting to the plants, but that just seems like an extra step ,unless you are wanting worms as a yield.


Julia, I also settled on hardwood pellets for the litter and I get similar results.
I topdress, and rarely incorporate,though my topdressing can be very thick.

William Bronson wrote:I have heard of people raising worms off of the rabbit bedding

While I do not have a worm bin, the pile where I 'stock' my rabbit bedding and manure is flush with worms. It is actually kind of ridiculous the amount of night crawlers I found. I feel like I am being pranked.

We are in the market for rabbits (NH). Our daughters raised them when we homeschooled them in the past. Their pellets were made a difference in our gardens. I miss having them, and once hubby gets the hutch built, we will have a home for them.