Unlike the solitary wild rabbits (e.g., the American cottontail rabbit), most meat rabbit breeds, including New Zealand, Californian, Flemish Giant, Standard Rex, Chinchilla and others, naturally thrive in colonies.

We breed New Zealand rabbits on our homestead to feed ourselves and our German Shepherd, and in this video, we’ll share with you the pros and cons of raising rabbits in a colony vs. rabbit cages.

Let’s dive into the pros and cons so you better understand their context and how they might apply to your situation. We’ll give examples of how the factors above impacted the rabbit colony on our homestead.

Advantages of raising meat rabbits in a colony:
A colony setup mimics your rabbit’s natural environment.
You might be able to repurpose an existing structure to set up your colony.
Makes daily chores (feeding) less timeconsuming.
No need for nesting boxes (if you let them burrow).
Better temperature control (if you let them burrow).
Better immunity through socialization.
More room for exercise leads to more flavorful meat.
No extra effort is involved in breeding your does.

Disadvantages of raising meat rabbits in a colony:
Catching rabbits can be a challenge.
Record keeping is more difficult (if you let them burrow).
No control over breeding.
Little disease control.
Keeping the rabbit pen clean could be a challenge.
More muscle tone leads to tougher meat.

[Links]
Colony Rabbit Hutch Walkthrough (How We House Our Meat Rabbits)    • Colony Rabbit Hutch Walkthrough (How ...  
This is how we built nesting boxes for our rabbits:    • This is how we built nesting boxes fo...  

[Chapter Markers]

0:00 Intro
0:09 Why We Chose to Raise Our Rabbits in a Colony
0:55 The Pros of Raising Rabbits in a Colony
7:21 The Cons of Raising Rabbits in a Colony
11:14 Closing Thoughts

Make sure to follow us on Instagram to learn more about how we take care of our farm animals:   / kummerhomestead  

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