Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
The most common animal that people raise in their backyards or on their homestead is the chicken. But there's another small animal that is also worth raising: the rabbit. Contrary to what many people think, rabbits are actually just as easy to raise and take care of as chickens. And just as you can make money with chickens, you can make money with rabbits as well.
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As this video by Better Life Together discusses, there are several ways to make money by raising rabbits.
Meat
First, we need to make a small disclaimer: You won't get rich selling rabbits for meat. The market simply isn’t there, although that could change in the future if economic conditions become dire.
But at the very least, rabbits are a niche market that could earn you a small but dedicated group of customers. The best advice is to ask around in your area to see who would potentially be interested in buying rabbit meat from you.
Breeding Stock
Arguably the most profitable way to make money off of rabbits is to breed stock. In comparison to selling rabbits for meat, there is a really good market for breeding stock, or for people who want to raise rabbits. Specifically, you’ll want to reach out to people who you know already raise animals.
You can sell a doe who has bred at least once or twice for the most amount of money, and bucks for less. You'll want to sell rabbits who have already bred because people looking for a breeding pair will want proof that the pair you’re selling them is capable of breeding. Take photos or video of the doe you’re selling with a prior litter of hers to show to interested people.
You can realistically average $25 to $35 per rabbit with this method, with $50 being a realistic target for the finest specimens. A proven doe will always fetch the most money, with bucks selling for a little bit less.
If you really put the effort into raising rabbits and selling breeding pairs, it’s possible to scale things up to where you’re making a few hundred dollars a month with this method. It’s not a lot of money, but it can be a consistent side income.
Note: Do not sell a doe that is pregnant. Doing so and transferring her to a new home could be a very stressful event and cause her to lose her pregnancy.
Manure
Yes, you really can make money selling rabbit manure. That’s because rabbit manure is among the most effective fertilizers out there, and most professional gardeners are fully aware of this fact.
Fur
Selling rabbit fur will be an even more niche market than rabbit meat. Again, the key is to sell to a small but loyal group of customers. Even though rabbit belts are too small and thin to be used effectively for heavy-duty winter clothing, they can be used to make a number of other products, including cushion covers, hats, mittens, vests, and bedspreads.
For a more detailed discussion of how to make money raising rabbits, watch the video by Better Life Together below.
I eat rabbit and I wish it was more popular, but please, please tell folks who rear rabbits BE CAREFUL and do not let them escape. They can do untold damage to plant sand land as in Australia & New Zealand, and then folks start to make diseases to kill them like myxomatosis etc. and then folks are put off eating them.
ALSO, rabbits breed too quickly.
Also, all animals need care and children can become too attached to them.
I cannot stand vegetarianism and really loathe the idea of Veganism as seems to be the fashion.
The quick breeding aspect is typically seen as a plus in this case, but back to the first line, it’s a matter of controlling the population. If you are in an ecologically fragile place, bringing in something from outside is a really, really bad idea. On the other hand, if you have local predators which feed on local hares and the like, it’s not like you are going to see locus swarm, rabbit boogaloo devastation.