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As I’ve mentioned before, there are a lot of self-sufficiency, survival, or homesteading books that I own. I will list each book one at a time, and will only list books that I own and consider a resource to rely upon. Some are on my Kindle, others are paper pulp, but all are worth reading for one reason or another.

I treat books like a squirrel treats acorns – something to put away during easy times to allow you to get through the leaner times, and each has the potential to grow into something great.

I actually intended to write this review earlier, since I mentioned it a few weeks ago. Better late than never, right?

Anyhow, here is today’s book:

Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits by Bob Bennett

From Amazon’s description:

Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits is as essential to the owner of pet rabbits as it is to the farmer raising rabbits for meat or fur. Breed selection, year-round care and feeding, safe housing, humane handling, and disease prevention and treatment are all addressed. This is the classic, comprehensive, essential reference for all rabbit raisers.

That is all fine and good, but what do I think about it? It’s fantastic. Mr. Bennett has proven his advice to be sound to me time and again whenever I stray from what he has suggested. Had I listened to him in 99% of his advice, I would have been better off. However, from time to time, I thought I knew better and forged on into impending failure.

I will say that a few of the things he states do not apply to my, mostly due to regional differences, particularly in regards to cold. Another is that I don’t recall him ever mentioning suspended nest boxes, something I feel is a far better option in my rabbit cages.

But for me to have found two things I didn’t agree with, I had to really dig deep. I’m not saying I’m some expert, I’m just saying that everything his book states agrees almost completely with everything I’ve learned the hard way. Save yourself the trouble of learning things the hard way, and get yourself a copy of Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits.

Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits explains all of the aspects of raising rabbits, mostly from the meat breeder’s point of view, though show and pet breeders will also benefit from this book, as he touches on those aspects also. The author has over 50 years of rabbit raising experience, mostly on a large scale, so if there were any lessons to learn, he’s been exposed to the possibility.

Covered in Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits: individual animal selection, care, housing, feeding, breeding, best breeds for each purpose, dispatching, dressing, marketing and selling, health benefits of eating rabbit, convincing children that they are eating chicken, vermicomposting, ARBA, and more.

In short, I have come across no other book that covers as much on the topic of raising rabbits as does Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits. If I were ever stranded on a desert island with a couple rabbits, THIS would be the book to have.

In fact, if I were stranded in a sub tropical state, living on a 1/4 acre, trying to raise as much of my own food as I possibly could, including rabbits, Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits would be the first rabbit book I would purchase.

And happily, it was.

Peace,
db

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