Thanks for the reply, its always good to share ideas and why we do things differently. We might learn something new! I’m glad I found another rabbit meat enthusiast, rabbits can be such an economical and easy source of meat for both the small scale backyard homesteaders and large farmers alike.
We also process our rabbits pretty young. I never follow a certain time line or age to process, more like when I look out the window and say “the rabbits look big enough and its a good day to process, lets do this”
Have a great day and stay warm in this frigid weather!

I would have NEVER seen that coming. I know our dog, unwittingly, often startles the rabbits when he’s going through the barn (where their cages are). But I would have never thought he could startle them in such a way that one would die. That’s really tough. I was heartbroken over loosing one that I was going to process for meat in a few days, and I had no attachment to him. Loosing a sweet breeding rabbit would be much worse. As for separating them, we always have, just to avoid the off chance of one of the females being bred. While we should process right at the 8-10 week mark, we don’t always, and I assume they could easily be mature enough to be bred by the time we process them sometimes. But honestly, it’s just something we’ve always done without questioning it. Now that YOU have questioned, I did some research and I guess there’s no need to do so unless we wait a whole 5 months to process, which would be crazy. (They would not gain in size and the cost per pound of raising them would be exorbitant.) Hmmmm, maybe I’ll skip this effort next time we have kits.

Great idea about the rock, Pat, but it would also make it more difficult to drag the water bowls out of the cages for refills. For now, tossing all the bowls that appeared to be “tip-able” is doing the trick. And thank you for your kind words. I’m glad you find some joy and benefit in my musings and ramblings. 🙂