DianeS
Ridin' The Range
I am just starting into the world of meat rabbits. I bought three rabbits through a Craigslist ad on Friday. Two NZ reds, and one black Rex. The Rex was considerably smaller than the NZs, would scratch and kick when handled at all, and had an infected cut over his eye.
I intended to treat the eye, but it needed eye drops and it was simply not possible to hold him still to administer them. After just two days the infection had progressed to the eye itself. I decided to cull him, and process him for eating before the infection spread any further and made it unwise to eat the meat.
So that's what I did today. It was emotionally easier, but physically harder, than I expected. He managed to give me sets of parallel claw marks on both hands just carrying him away from his cage.
I used the "rabbit wringer" method, but with a tree on my property that has two branches with just the right shape and spaced just exactly the right distance from each other. The videos made it look so easy, but this was a tough old coot! I really had to PULL HARD to make it work, but I think I did it quickly enough. And then my sharpest sharp knife wouldn't go through his skin well, so he bled out fairly poorly.
Skinning him took a pair of scissors to separate the skin from the meat. So much for just using my fingers! And one leg was so solid I had to get bolt cutters to cut through it - the kitchen shears weren't enough.
It took 1.5 hours to go from cage to fridge. A horrendously long time.
He's soaking in brine water in the fridge right now. I don't know if that's recommended for rabbits, but I figured it wouldn't hurt. As hard as he was to process, I figure he is possibly going to be very tough and I hope to avoid that. I have the pelt in the freezer, I intend to try tanning it at a later date.
He'll be Tuesday night's dinner. I hope he's yummy! It'll be my first time cooking rabbit, too.
I intended to treat the eye, but it needed eye drops and it was simply not possible to hold him still to administer them. After just two days the infection had progressed to the eye itself. I decided to cull him, and process him for eating before the infection spread any further and made it unwise to eat the meat.
So that's what I did today. It was emotionally easier, but physically harder, than I expected. He managed to give me sets of parallel claw marks on both hands just carrying him away from his cage.
I used the "rabbit wringer" method, but with a tree on my property that has two branches with just the right shape and spaced just exactly the right distance from each other. The videos made it look so easy, but this was a tough old coot! I really had to PULL HARD to make it work, but I think I did it quickly enough. And then my sharpest sharp knife wouldn't go through his skin well, so he bled out fairly poorly.
Skinning him took a pair of scissors to separate the skin from the meat. So much for just using my fingers! And one leg was so solid I had to get bolt cutters to cut through it - the kitchen shears weren't enough.
It took 1.5 hours to go from cage to fridge. A horrendously long time.
He's soaking in brine water in the fridge right now. I don't know if that's recommended for rabbits, but I figured it wouldn't hurt. As hard as he was to process, I figure he is possibly going to be very tough and I hope to avoid that. I have the pelt in the freezer, I intend to try tanning it at a later date.
He'll be Tuesday night's dinner. I hope he's yummy! It'll be my first time cooking rabbit, too.
congrats on the success! 
Definately a recipe I'd try again, with a younger rabbit. 
we used to pick em up by the back legs and a sharp wack at the back of the ears did the trick. Is this the wrong way or just cruel ???
