BS: Domesticated Rabbits

Subject: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: robomatic
Date: 15 Feb 18 - 11:47 PM

Couple three years back I was making one of my supply runs to Costco, of which we have two here in Anchortown. It was Spring into Summer, a dapper day of sunlight and ravens flying low over the parking lot. Stationed in front of the main entrance were a couple kids with a cage full of rabbits on a card table. Thu bunnies were white with, I swear, spots. They were apparently a breed. They looked quiet, harmless, rather passive. Big but sort of cute. Ten dollars apiece. They were brothers and sisters so don't buy them for mating. If you have snakes at home, move along, no rabbit for you.
I didn't have snakes at home, but eventually I moved along. I wondered about a rabbit as a pet/ food source. Decided that might not be good thinking where small animals are concerned. I remembered some spotted cats I'd seen, also a breed and one that the owner had let interbreed. I looked up on the internet and found out that rabbits and hares are different, that they are not rodents.
Comes now the New York Times with this long story about how the traditional history of domesticated rabbits is such-and-such and how we now know this is not true.

Anyone have rabbits ?

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Senoufou
Date: 16 Feb 18 - 06:36 AM

I do love all animals robomatic, but with regard to rabbits, many of the poor things end up in rather small hutches, left outside in the cold, and once the children are bored with them, there they sit.

When one observes rabbits in the wild, they live in colonies, in extensive warrens connected by tunnels, and run all over the fields, so life alone in a hutch is cruel and unnatural.

Some folk here let their rabbit run freely around the house, but I don't know if they can be trained to use a litter tray (I reckon not)

I'm a bit doubtful about children and small, delicate pets like guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits and so on. They need gentle handling and children can be a bit rough at times.
There's a massive rabbit show at the Royal Norfolk Show every year, and some of the breeds are huge (Flemish giant for example) It can be quite an interesting hobby, if the animals' needs are met correctly.

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Jos
Date: 16 Feb 18 - 06:54 AM

"kids with a cage full of rabbits . . . They were brothers and sisters so don't buy them for mating"

If they were together in one cage it may already have been too late ...

"delicate pets like guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits"?

I used to know someone who fell out with her next-door neighbours because her rabbit bit their alsatian dog.
A buck rabbit can be very far from a gentle, fluffy pet.

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Iains
Date: 16 Feb 18 - 07:04 AM

I like them in a stew. The only drawback is that for such little creatures they always seem to have a phenomenal number of bones.

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Senoufou
Date: 16 Feb 18 - 07:08 AM

I've skinned and gutted many a wild rabbit for the pot, as my colleague went shooting every weekend and let me have his surplus (pheasant and pigeons too) I didn't mind the bones, but one had to be careful of the shot left in the flesh (broken teeth if one didn't extract the pellets before cooking!)

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Iains
Date: 16 Feb 18 - 07:25 AM

Senoufou you make a very valid point about chomping on shot. It can make rabbit a very expensive meal if dentistry is part of the desert.
I think my grandfather must have used a scatter gun when he shot rabbits.

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Jos
Date: 16 Feb 18 - 08:11 AM

If you get it from the butcher it's best to get it whole, so you can joint it yourself and not be left with bits of splintered bone.
Cook it with wine and plenty of garlic.

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 16 Feb 18 - 08:33 AM

My kids had one once in a hutch outdoors. A mink ripped open the wire mesh and ate the rabbit. For starters he ate the guinea pig.

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Senoufou
Date: 16 Feb 18 - 09:22 AM

On the Ash Wednesday thread I mentioned taking pupils to Normandy for a week each year, and small local markets were interesting to them.
However, I recall once they saw a chap with several rabbits in a cage for sale. They ooohed and aaaahed at the dear little creatures, then the man explained they were for the cooking pot. Fortunately, my blooming Norfolk pupils were absolutely rotten at French. After three years of it they could barely say "Non" and "Oui". So his words were not understood, and I forbore to translate.

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Iains
Date: 16 Feb 18 - 09:55 AM

"A mink ripped open the wire mesh and ate the rabbit."
Was spinach on his menu as a starter?

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: robomatic
Date: 16 Feb 18 - 05:23 PM

So how do rabbits taste?
Unacceptable answers: "Delicious" "Like Chicken!"
Would it be worth it to raise rabbits for survival?

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Iains
Date: 16 Feb 18 - 06:38 PM

Chickens are a far better bet for survival. They are more versatile. You can have lots of eggs before you wring their necks.
From what I have read rabbit meat is a bit shy on fat. The texture is similar to chicken but the taste is rabbit, rather bland not in the least bit gamey. Good eating!

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Feb 18 - 10:36 AM

Rabbit is a delicate flavour, which is why I always add a whole large onion to the (small) pot, to give it a bit more taste. I find it easier to gut, skin and joint a rabbit than to pluck and draw poultry. Those blooming feathers get everywhere!

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Iains
Date: 17 Feb 18 - 10:56 AM

Senoufou. At least with a chicken the feathers come out.With pheasants I find the skin just wants to tear all the time, and the smell sticks like glue to the hands even after repeated washing. I wonder what percentage of the population could countenance slaughtering and preparing a carcase?
After all we know meat comes nicely packaged from a supermarket.

A bit different to my days in Port Harcourt when the roof ridge of the local slaughterhouse used to provide a vantage point for around 20 vultures that would be watching with beady eyes, waiting for the next pail of entrails to be thrown out the open gable end.

http://www.nairaland.com/357579/port-harcourt-trans-amadi-meat-market

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Feb 18 - 11:24 AM

I've seen sights like that Iains, where they just cut the poor creature's throat. At Tabaski (Eid over here) sheep are slaughtered all over the place, blood running everywhere. Outside some butcher's establishments, especially North Africa, they display the head and feet on a high shelf, to show it was a halal beast!

I reckon not many folk in urban areas over here, or among the younger people, could skin or pluck for the pot. Actually, I'd rather 'start from scratch' than get a plastic tray covered in plastic film in which the (plastic?) meat rests on a little plastic pad. And our cats love the odd bits and pieces left over. A rabbit's paw makes a great toy for a cat, and smells interesting!

Here in Norfolk, I think many of us know how to prepare carcasses. It's quite rural, and people like the 'old ways'.

Regarding pheasants, you're right. Their skin is fragile and rips easily. I used to pull the feathers in the direction of their growth, whereas with chickens, I'd pull against the grain so to speak.

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Jos
Date: 17 Feb 18 - 11:38 AM

The solution to plucking pheasants may be to simply skin the bird and forgo eating the skin. That's what I do with pigeons. I prefer chicken with its skin on though.

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Donuel
Date: 17 Feb 18 - 11:58 AM

Americans like big food over small critters
food or friend

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Senoufou
Date: 17 Feb 18 - 12:03 PM

If a pheasant has been hung for a while, the skin just comes away when it's plucked.

I'm not saying we dined on pheasant every night of the week. My colleague used to sell braces of them to Harvey's (game shop in Norwich) if he'd had a good 'shoot' (His father was a landowner, and they had big commercial shoots during the season) I got the odd leftover ones, when his wife's freezer was overflowing!

My husband can never understand why roadkill (badgers, muntjac deer, foxes etc) is left to rot. Where he comes from there would be fights over it!

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Iains
Date: 17 Feb 18 - 12:08 PM

Jos.That sounds like a good plan. Where I live now the pheasants are scrawny looking things and have probably been feral for generations. You would need a brace just to fill a sandwich.
When I was living in Lincolnshire there are many raised for shooting, and even the escapees are always plump enough to be of interest.

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Hrothgar
Date: 18 Feb 18 - 03:13 AM

150-odd years ago, some fool decided it would be nice to have rabbits to hunt in Australia, so he imported a few. To say they liked it here is an understatement. They multiplied dramatically, and caused untold devastation to food plants particularly, almost wiping out pastoral industry, to say nothing of the effect on the environment of the native animals.

They're vermin. Shoot the bastards.

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Iains
Date: 18 Feb 18 - 03:46 AM

In the UK we can blame the Romans for their introduction.

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: wysiwyg
Date: 18 Feb 18 - 05:48 AM

I've raised rabbits. A friend managed a deonstration farm at an outdoor ed center; his were raised in a well-strawed section of the henhouse (separated from the hens), where they burrowed to raise their young. It was quite delightful to sit in there and have one's lap overrun.

The touch and space requirements to raise them and successfully breed them aren't for everyone. There are quite good books to study before taking the plunge. I just gave all mine away or I could send you one.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Senoufou
Date: 18 Feb 18 - 05:54 AM

Myxomatosis arrived here in UK in around 1953, and one saw many dying rabbits with swollen heads and closed-up eyes. But I haven't seen this for many years. Do you suppose the rabbits are so resistant now that it's no longer a threat to them?

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Iains
Date: 18 Feb 18 - 06:59 AM

Senoufou. Myxomatosis still breaks out sporadically, although I have not seen a myxy rabbit for about 10 years. It is pretty unmistakable and not pleasant to see. Some reports suggest a developing immunity is occurring.

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Senoufou
Date: 18 Feb 18 - 08:38 AM

It is indeed distressing to see, Iains. I've actually 'dispatched' myxy rabbits in the past, as it was the kindest thing to do.
I think you may be right, immunity has developed (as in any population).
We have many foxes around here, so maybe they deal with surplus rabbits.
There's a crematorium near our last village, and a chap was paid to sit overnight with a rifle and pick off as many rabbits as possible, as they were eating people's floral tributes and dedicated rosebushes were being nibbled down to the roots. I bet he went home each morning with a fine bag for the pot!

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Iains
Date: 18 Feb 18 - 09:58 AM

Senoufou. The person you describe is one lucky fellow. Where I am now a rabbit in the butcher's costs almost double the price of a medium size chicken. How times change.

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Mo the caller
Date: 21 Feb 18 - 07:09 AM

I think I read that
a) mixy was introduced to controll the rabbit population
b) rabbits breeding above ground get less mixy - natural selection causing change in habits.

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Senoufou
Date: 21 Feb 18 - 07:45 AM

I believe the myxy is transferred by rabbit fleas, which get onto the baby rabbits while nursing form their mother. (I once watched a fascinating documentary about it)
Years ago, ordinary people were allowed to take rabbits and pigeons from farmers' land to feed their families. Any other game was poaching.
We used to eat both regularly as children. They were delicious, and very cheap. Modern youngsters perhaps wouldn't know how to skin, pluck or joint them though.

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: Hrothgar
Date: 23 Feb 18 - 11:35 PM

Rabbits here in Australia seem to have built up some level of immunity to myxo. A new disease called calicivirus was introduced a few years ago and was very effective, but that seems to be losing some its effects also.

Subject: RE: BS: Domesticated Rabbits
From: robomatic
Date: 24 Feb 18 - 01:01 AM

When a lad I read a novel of Australian Sci-Fi "Year of the Angry Rabbit" where Aussie scientists develop a chemical in order to kill rabbits, but it not only fails to kill them, it is so lethal to humans that Australia weaponizes it and rules the world.