Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits, 4th Edition

Absolutely the best rabbit book around! This guy has been raising rabbits since he was a little kid and he really knows his stuff. He has a wonderful concept (and I haven't seen this anywhere else) for building and setting up rabbit cages. He talks about things (like raising earth worms beneath the rabbit cages) that other people don't even mention. He has excellent advise about the nuts-and-bolts of raising rabbits (how often to breed, how to kindle in cold climates, how to feed, etc). If I could only have ONE rabbit book this would be it. And be sure to get the most recent edition (I think it was published in 2009 or 2010). It really is different (more updated and better) than previous editions. Also, the best price I found for this book was on Amazon.com.

I'm torn on this book. While it's a great book for those interested in raising rabbits for meat (not as pets), I am disappointed nonetheless. I had wanted to learn as much about raising rabbits on a homestead, mostly Angora rabbits for fiber, but there is scarcely a mention of fiber rabbits in this book. I am not offended that this book ISN'T about keeping pets - my animals work for me, and I could even one day see myself raising rabbits for meat. However, I hadn't expected it to be the SOLE focus of the book without even a chapter to another kind of rabbit keeper.

In a nutshell, a simple expansion on the title to the book: "Raising Rabbits for Meat," would go a long, long way. It's really not a bad book - but clarification in the title would reduce the disappointment in those looking for a practical book on keeping rabbits as pets or for any other purpose, like mine. Since it's a homesteading book of sorts, a chapter (even a guest chapter, if the author doesn't have experience) in caring for Angoras would be immensely helpful.

I rated this book low because Storey is mislabeling the book - under the title it says: "Breeds-Care-Housing". NOTHING about it being a meat animal book. Storey's Guides are usually the best (which is why I bought the book in the first place), but the title is misleading.

On a side note, anyone who has a recommendation on a good book about Angoras, send it my way!

UPDATE: ONE YEAR LATER (9/2012):

This fall, after much deliberation, I decided to raise a few rabbits for meat. Knowing the book was heavily, if not entirely, focused on raising rabbits for meat, I turned to Bennet's Storey guide. It certainly holds up as a very good guide for choosing a meat breed, finding a breeder, learning about pedigrees, breeding does, kindling and even recipes for rabbit meat. I'd highly recommend it **if you're raising rabbits for meat.**

Since slaughter is such a large part of raising meat rabbits, I wish the book had focused more on proper and humane slaughter and dressing of your rabbits. Overall, though, I think it's a great guide for raising meat rabbits.

Still haven't found a good book on raising angora rabbits, so I've made it up as I've gone along. So far so good!

This book was disappointing on various levels. While it contains a lot of technical information and parts of it are, in fact, very useful, it seems to approach the whole concept of raising rabbits from the angle of how to turn animals into little rabbit-producing factories, maximising output at every turn with insufficient consideration for animal welfare, and certainly no good advice to people who see rabbits as living beings worthy of respect, before they are money-making devices. I particularly noticed the section on 'forced matings'. Of course, in civilised society, we have a different word for that...

The book is a strong advocate of commercial feeds, and offers little useful advice to anyone wanting to use anything else (such as home-grown grain), except to tell you that if you don't use commercial food, you are little better than an idiot. It also leaves out some basic, important details about rabbit physiology, such as coprophagy, life span and how many years a doe can be used for breeding.

If you want a commercial enterprise, the rabbit equivalent of battery hens, then go ahead and buy this book. If you want your rabbits (be they farmed or pets) to be happy and content, look for a different book.

Can I just say how amazing this book is? I realize that sounds forced or programmed but it isn't. I have been wanting to do meat rabbits for a few years now. I have been talking to people who have them, reading online, doing everything I can to prepare myself. My husband, who is a avid hunter, kept shooting my idea down-- no pun intended. Finally, after a third year of rabbit hunting and coming home empty handed, he said, let's look into it. Well, id done all that. So after sharing everything I learned, we went to get rabbits and he was like a kid at Christmas. From there, my interest turned into a continious burst of excitement for him and me-- since I no longer had to do this alone, lol.

No matter how much research and talking a person does, though, there are still things I have no clue about until they become an issue. That's when I went looking for a book.

I've bought Storey books before and liked them but I still prepared myself to find a bunch of things out that I already knew. In fact, usually a book is filled more with "I already know that" than, " oh! I didn't know that!".

This one wasn't like that at all. I mean, a few things I few but a wealth of info that I didn't. For example, I didn't know about Florida Whites and while I have no proof, I think a couple of rabbits I bought this past weekend who the owner said was New Zealand's, but after getting them home and seeing them compared to my NZ's and seeing how tiny they are compared to them, I am now wondering if they are FW's. Rare in my area-- if I can find them at all, I think it's possible people would confuse the two.

Still unsure about those marbles to check a Doe and if she is pregnant, and if my Does took or not-- having to wait till they pull fur--this book gave me a few more ideas on how to tell.

Not to mention Hutch ideas, watering examples, DISEASES and a ton of possibilities on making some money doing this-- pros and cons of both-- like Labs ( not doing but appreciate the info), selling fur and what fur sells best, seeking to commercial meat places verses processing myself and selling local -- well, I appreciated ALL of these!

And the couple of recipes in the back-- wish there were more-- be sure to thank your wife for that!

I'm sure this book will continue to be helpful and it's one of few I will never regret buying!!!!! Thank so much!

This book was exactly what I was looking for. A good descriptive book that talks to the reader like they are right there. Bob takes you through his years of experience in rabbit raising. He tells you how to start right, and how to make your rabbitry something that you can enjoy for years to come. It is a very good beginners book as well as an expert book. No matter where you are in the proccess of raising rabbits, Bob talks about the modern ways that you can improve.

I'm interested in raising rabbit primarily for meat for my family and in fiber rabbits once I get the hang of meat rabbits. That being said, I think this book does a good job of covering some of the basics. The info on acquiring starter breeder rabbits was especially helpful. Basic info like breeds, how to feed, etc are all covered.

What I didn't care for was the author's arrogance about his way of raising rabbits being the only right way. He recommends raising rabbits off the ground, never in houses, in wire cages only. He often brings up the possibility of selling your rabbits to laboratories. (And for me, it's as jarring as a slap in the face, every time I read that.)

Looking for information on Angoras? You won't find it here: the author thinks they're too much work and so doesn't include any information on them except a picture of one Angora variety in the "Breeds" appendix. Maybe he didn't feel he had experience enough to comment on them? From his tone, though, it feels as if he doesn't raise them and couldn't imagine why anyone else would.

His little blurb about "forced mating" was the deciding factor for me on whether or not to leave a review. For someone who claims to care about giving his rabbits the best care, that seems harsh. He describes forcibly holding down an unwilling female rabbit in order to allow his male rabbit to "service" her. Granted I'm not a rabbit keeper yet, but I can't personally imagine ever being ok with doing that.

The author is from an older generation; perhaps things like "forced breeding" can be chalked up to a generational difference. Regardless, I wish the book was a little less biased and opinionated. It has some good information, but I'm wary of taking advice from someone *that* convinced of his authority.

This book covers any questions a beginner might have for his/her rabbitry. I had done countless hours of reading and research on the internet and still found valuable information in this book for beginning my own rabbitry. Half of the information I had read online I was unable to go back and find again. This book has everything I had read online plus tons more of information, and I now have a copy to refer to whenever I need it.

*If you plan to keep a rabbit as a fluffy, soft, cuddly pet, this book is probably not for you. This is a farm guide and written as such.

This is the best rabbit book I've ever read, and I've read 10 to 20 at least. For animal activists, it's not good, but to people who would like to make a profit and be a successful rabbit owners and breeders, this is the best book ever. It tells about everything you need to know, including building your own cages. It's not a cruel book, it's helpful. It shows the practical view of Raising Rabbits. It includes:
1. The best meat rabbits
2. Ideas to turn rabbits into a good living
3. Tips on showing
4. And much, much, much more.
For people who are aiming more for the pets industry, don't read this book. For people who aren't cruel to animals, but are flexible enough for meat raising, YOU MUST READ THIS BOOK!

This book focuses mostly on a single method of raising rabbits (indoors, and caged). I felt that it discourages using outdoor rabbit tractors, growing your own rabbit food, etc. If you're wanting to provide food for your family on a very small amount of land, rabbits are probably the best way to do it, but a lot of the "back woods" rabbit farming techniques are completely left out of the book.

There are different methods for raising just about every type of animal. I got the message loud and clear that the author's method is the "right" way, and any other method is "wrong."

There's more information on raising rabbits for show, or to sell as pets, than I'm interested in. If that's what you're interested in, though, this is probably the book for you.

That said, if you're interested in providing a sustainable food source for your family, or just wanting to diversify your family farm a little bit, with a little bit of creativity, you can use the information in this book to find a method that works for you.

While this is no-doubt a great guide for a commercial operation, I found it was geared more to strict procedures for raising ribbon winners than for practical hobbyfarmers looking to raise meat for themselves in a less rigid structure. Still very good information even if you don't personally follow 100% of it.