I raw feed my pets (3 dogs + 2 cats) and rabbit has been a big portion of their diet because we are living very near to a girl who runs a small rabbitry, well my source is now deciding to stop keeping rabbits. She offered to give me a pair/trio/or more if I desire but I have never done this. I have been trying to read as much as possible but am still not sure where to begin. I only have a balcony to set up the rabbit cages, anywhere else my pets have access to and I am sure would bother them. The balcony is approximately 12'long by 7 feet wide. Is that enough room to raise some rabbits to meet my needs or would it just be financially not worth it in such a small space. My animals eat approximately 30lbs of rabbit in a given month, depending on what else I can add in and how finances are so sometimes it is a little less but it has been as much as 40lbs in a month. Or should I just take the bunnies she offers and send them all to the freezer? I was being charged 75 cents a pound for rabbits, everyone else I have sourced close to me charges 2 dollars or more a pound. Also I live in New york, it gets rather cold and snowy in the winter (though not on the balcony) but will the rabbits be fine and still reproduce if left outside? Any help or advice would be very helpful. Thanks in advance.
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- Thread starter Wil.d
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she was giving you an excellent deal.
can you keep rabbits on a balcony. Yes.
Will they survive being out there yes...given that you supply them with proper housing. (heavy duty tarps will work)
Will they kindle during the winter. yes. and will the litter survive? yes... IF you supply them with a good nestbox, if the does pull fur properly, and do everything they way they are supposed to.
query: where you getting them from her live or will Dead? if dead... are you able to kill your own stock?
Will you be able to easily remove the litter on a daily basis?
are you willing to put the work into keeping them clean?
can you keep rabbits on a balcony. Yes.
Will they survive being out there yes...given that you supply them with proper housing. (heavy duty tarps will work)
Will they kindle during the winter. yes. and will the litter survive? yes... IF you supply them with a good nestbox, if the does pull fur properly, and do everything they way they are supposed to.
query: where you getting them from her live or will Dead? if dead... are you able to kill your own stock?
Will you be able to easily remove the litter on a daily basis?
are you willing to put the work into keeping them clean?
I was getting them live. I would go over 2-3 times a month and she would let me know which rabbits she no longer needed/wanted we would weigh them and I would pack them into a cat carrier and take them back home. I grew up with a father who raised snakes so I am very used to dispatching of small animals, it's been skinning and gutting them that is the hardest part for me. It still makes me a little squeamish to pull the fur off then take the intestines out. Thanks for the idea about the tarp and as for the cages she said I can borrow a few of hers until I get something figured out. I did offer to buy them but I think she wants to keep them for some reason. But I do own three ferret nation cages (the small one story ones) and I was thinking I could take the bottom trays out, wrap chicken fencing across the bottom so the floors have smaller holes so the rabbits don't have a foot slip through, then for the does cage wrap the chicken wire along the walls to keep kits it. I have plastic totes that fit under the cages that I can use as a drop pan for waste, I thought that would streamline things a bit cleaning wise and be more or less like what they had before.
Hi Wil.d! 
I got into rabbits for the same reason as you are considering, for my pets.
We got started in February raising rabbits, and started with 3 does and 1 buck. We chose NZ and CA meat rabbits. I have a barn, so we had the space, and I can't speak for space constraints, but I will tell you to be prepared for anything to happen. We are still learning everyday, but we had quite a learning curve at first, and we had alot of misses, and lost our whole first litter. It took us a while at first to get consistent litters enough to produce the meat I needed to feed my pets. I would make sure you have a back up source just in case. Right now I have enough does that it doesn't matter if someone misses a breeding, or if something minor happens. Trust me, it will too. :lol:
I love having the rabbits here, and compared to the sources I had available before, it is the best way to provide quality meat to my pets. I know everything that goes into what I'm feeding them!
Best of luck to you, and have fun. This is a great place for resources, and the information you will need to help you along the way.
I got into rabbits for the same reason as you are considering, for my pets. We got started in February raising rabbits, and started with 3 does and 1 buck. We chose NZ and CA meat rabbits. I have a barn, so we had the space, and I can't speak for space constraints, but I will tell you to be prepared for anything to happen. We are still learning everyday, but we had quite a learning curve at first, and we had alot of misses, and lost our whole first litter. It took us a while at first to get consistent litters enough to produce the meat I needed to feed my pets. I would make sure you have a back up source just in case. Right now I have enough does that it doesn't matter if someone misses a breeding, or if something minor happens. Trust me, it will too. :lol:
I love having the rabbits here, and compared to the sources I had available before, it is the best way to provide quality meat to my pets. I know everything that goes into what I'm feeding them!
Best of luck to you, and have fun. This is a great place for resources, and the information you will need to help you along the way.
do you need to skin and gut your animals to feed them? (that would remove the difficult step).
Chicken wire not so good for bunny feet, can work well to keep young rabbits in. not sure what to suggest for bottom wiring for you... now... if you can find some OLD cages for sale cheap that you can dismantle, you could use that for cage bottoms.
Chicken wire not so good for bunny feet, can work well to keep young rabbits in.
not sure what to suggest for bottom wiring for you... now... if you can find some OLD cages for sale cheap that you can dismantle, you could use that for cage bottoms. 
I'd suggest buying some proper floor wire for the cage bottoms. It has a grid size of 1" x 1/2" and should be heavy duty: 14 gauge is good. TSC used to sell it by the foot, which if you only have a few cages would likely be best. You can also buy it by the roll.
Few questions here. Do you like rabbits? Will you enjoy working with them? Because if not, I think you would be best to look for another supplier. Keeping them on a balcony can work fine, but you will need a good plan for waste removal or you'll end up in a mess. Putting dollar store washbasins with some wood shavings in each cage for litter boxes may make your life easier. Most rabbits take fairly well to litter boxes.
Few questions here. Do you like rabbits? Will you enjoy working with them? Because if not, I think you would be best to look for another supplier. Keeping them on a balcony can work fine, but you will need a good plan for waste removal or you'll end up in a mess. Putting dollar store washbasins with some wood shavings in each cage for litter boxes may make your life easier. Most rabbits take fairly well to litter boxes.
You are going to create a mess on your patio irregardless, so in addition to waste removal, you will have random dropped pellets, and I always have hay on the floor that needs to be swept up. Hay is messy.
One thing I thought of in addition, is if you have space constraints, how does someone quarantine in a space this size? In a perfect world, everyone would be healthy all the time, but things happen.
One thing I thought of in addition, is if you have space constraints, how does someone quarantine in a space this size? In a perfect world, everyone would be healthy all the time, but things happen.
