Rabbit manure

i have the opportunity to get a big load of rabbit manure. the contents are rabbit poop, pee and hay. this is totally fresh and not composted.

can this go directly in my bed? i will be planting my tomatoes about 24 hrs after adding manure

i can also put it in compost pile for a month or two then side dress with it

Use the search box to look; rabbit manure is apparently one of the few things you can use without composting first.

Neat rabbit muck /pellets direct form a wire bottomed cage where the rabbit is fed on a formulated peellet food are indeed fantastic for a straight cool manure .

Y2Jeffer what you have will have load of hay & weed seeds in it and these will grow in your beds .

I've done this for years when using mother earth based row gardening ...

Compost it , wet it well when you first start making the compost pile civer it with a decent tarp or water proof cover as the moisture & heat generated by bacterial action is part of the composting action .

Turn & wet the pile about once every seven days and damp it down every four inch layer . By the second or third turning the composting effect will be showing . The hay & pellets of poop will have a light grey mould haze on them , remake the pile again and leave it another week or so this time , (if there is any saw dust in the compost it will have changed colour to a nice mid brown ) the compost will now be almost ready but you'll still get the odd weed from it. Restack the pile , keep it covered with the tarp and use it in about a fortnight time .

I tried sieving the poop from the bedding but the seeds came through the sieve as well . Some were also embedded in the damper pellets of poop, so I couldn't re sieve with a smalled mesh to separate thingsw

composting it is

many thanks

Glad you stepped in plantoid! I could've messed y2jeffr up!

When I was a kid a neighbor had rabbits, lots of rabbits. I remember taking the wheel barrow over and loading it up so we could use it in our garden. I specifically remember my dad putting a scoop full in the hole when he planted tomatoes. Those were the best looking and tasting tomatoes we ever had. As I remember, the rabbit poo didn't really smell that bad either.

glad you asked this question as we too are getting a bunch of bunny poo

thank you plantoid!....for all the info on composting it....i think thats what we are going to do too.....

do you think we should toss it all in at one time or save some to add as we add other green/brown stuff to our compost?.....we wont be needing it until fall....so it can sit all summer composting.....we are getting a few Lg garbage bags full....

if we add as we go.....can we just store it in the bags or should we put it in a garbage can until we throw it into the compost pile?

thanks, hugs

rose

We also got over 500# of rabbit manure today (for $35). I'm planning on making manure tea with some, feeding some to the worms, giving some to the master composter program, and then composting the rest myself. Yippppeee!

morganfam7 wrote:We also got over 500# of rabbit manure today (for $35). I'm planning on making manure tea with some, feeding some to the worms, giving some to the master composter program, and then composting the rest myself. Yippppeee!

Wow...I can't imagine what 500# of rabbit poop looks like.

It's 5-7 50# feed bags Here ya go:

I added rabbit manure to my compost bin late last fall. I couldn't tell you how much exactly I put in. I know it was alot. Next batch of compost I get going, I want to write down everything about it.

I am going to pick up a dog food sack full of poo. I am going to assume that it is a large sack because they have Great Danes. I have one pile that i am not adding to anymore, trying to let it cook. But I have started a second pile. My question is do I add the whole sack or a little at a time and if I do what do I do with the poo that isn't on pile? I also have a pile of Alpaca poo that has just been sitting out in the elements. I am afraid that it has lost it's nutrients because of it. Can I still use it in my compost?

Thanks
Connie

You can add the whole sack at once, because eventually you will turn the pile. Alternatively, bunny poo is not super high in nitrogen so you can add it to the top of the garden. Eventually it will get turned under there too. Can you bring two sacks to get bunny poo? LOL

bumping an old thread to see how all of your gardens did with the bunny poo

hubby and i keep going back and forth on getting a few chickens or a couple of bunnies....its been two years and i really want to get on this.....we need the poo and i like the idea of feeding them scraps from the garden.....

i know there are pro's and con's to each....in the end....i think we are going to go with the bunny....hubby wants bunny....so i think we should start there and see how it goes....

any ways....would love updates

happy gardening
rose

Last Monday I went to a 'rabbitry' and got me a trailer load of bunny poo( about 2.5 yards) to amend my non MM beds. I will also use it in a major way to setup my next MM bed. Still have two shrub bushes to move before I can add my last two beds, for a total of eight 4x8x12s.
I hope this bunny poo is all it is susposed to be. My success or lack there of last year has been well documented as will this years progress.

Good luck. That bunny pop should be a big help. I know you don't need to compost it, but among other compostables it should be terrific, so if you can, compost it a couple weeks or more.

Pepper make sure you have a stepladder so you can take pictures of your plants ... rabbit muck if it is neat pellets with out hay seeds is like highly classified rocket fuel to most plants .

You'll have some amazing flowers & fruits too if you use it in flower beds and as a thin mulch for six feet or so around the base of fruit 7 nut trees before spring and as top ups over the areas once ever four months or so as it is not too high nitrogen or useful phospates .
( That's why we can direct apply it un composted ...It also make an excellent liquid feed applied to the ground and not leaves or fruits )

Typical NPK analysis of pure rabbit droppings with protein from fallen hair fibres ...no bedding or bits of feed..

N 2.4 % , P 0.5 % & K 0.05 P

Thanks to you both

Some of it is pellets and most is from a huge pile probally self composted. I know it was smoking(steam really) when it got scooped up by the tractor bucket to be loaded.
I hope this will 'fix' the "natures mix" dirt I got for cheap last year. The stuff is plenty 'friable', I believe is the corect term, loose in other words and does not clump; much like MM. It grew good looking vegies, they were just way too small. This "rocket fuel" should be the needed trick.

what do you all feed your rabbits?

and how do you cut down on the smell from the urine inside the cages?....does the urine seep into any of the wood parts of the cage/hutch.....

hubby was thinking about building a composting bin underneath the bunny hutch to catch the muck and then add straw/wood chips/lawn clippings and keep it mixed up.....has anyone tried that?

happy gardening
rose

FamilyGardening wrote:what do you all feed your rabbits?

and how do you cut down on the smell from the urine inside the cages?....does the urine seep into any of the wood parts of the cage/hutch.....

hubby was thinking about building a composting bin underneath the bunny hutch to catch the muck and then add straw/wood chips/lawn clippings and keep it mixed up.....has anyone tried that?

happy gardening
rose

Josh has something set up like that for his rabbits. There is an old thread about is somewhere.

I used to have rabbits, now I want them again... Do rabbits and chickens get along??

I love my rabbits. I show them as well, and have angoras since I spin. There is nothing more relaxing than my bunnies, especially when they are right off my garden!

I feed rabbit pellets, hay, and veggies. I use wire cages which are protected in front by a cedar fence (we built it for the rabbits) and has a solid top, back and sides. Since it is mild here, that works well. Droppings fall through and once a month in bad weather, or every 2 weeks in good weather I scrape it out and truck it to the garden. I put the bunny berries directly on it. The last load, is normally more fallen hay, and I take that and put it into a non-used garden bed, or else onto the compost heap. Their berries are pure gold, I love them. I figure between all my rabbits, I get the equivalent of 4 bags of compost a month, straight, not mixed with peat. It pays for their food right off the bat.

They are very low maintenance, I think they're easier than chickens, but YMMV. I am also planning on adding ducks who will eat slugs.

FamilyGardening wrote:what do you all feed your rabbits?

and how do you cut down on the smell from the urine inside the cages?....does the urine seep into any of the wood parts of the cage/hutch.....

hubby was thinking about building a composting bin underneath the bunny hutch to catch the muck and then add straw/wood chips/lawn clippings and keep it mixed up.....has anyone tried that?

happy gardening
rose

Before we became large scale small mammal farmers with mezzanine type floors for the wire cages ( housed in sealed shed controlled environment sheds) , our domestic pet rabbit was housed down the garden in a 4x3x4 1" thick pine packing crate laid on its side . Made up a drop in framed front that allowed open access 24/7 to the removeable floor and pee tray , it also had a door set in it so we could feed and water without having to remove the whole front .

The bed area 14x14 inches (internal) box with a nine inch access hole in the middle with a hinged lid for cleaning was a de mountable pod set about three inches up from the floor , I inserted a 4x4 stainless steel framed grid of 1/4 " thich rods spaced 1/2 apart on wooden bearer strips . ( Bit like large strong heavy duty custom made cake cooling tray )
Under this directly on the face that was now the new floor I had a stainless steel Pee & droppings tray ( raised slightly at the back for drainage )
The front edge of the tray was proud of the hutch by about 1&1/2 " and one corner was given a small open gutter/spout so any excess pee could run out into a bucket covered with a bit of nylon insect mesh

Every other day I'd slip the soil tray out tip the contents into the compost bin and wash & disinfect with a very weak mild disinfectant and then wash it off with water again .
When this cleaning was done as far as possible Baylen would be put out in his portable collapsable wire enclosure on the lawn . I'd also then take the mesh floor out and hose and brush that clean , disinfect and rinse off then reassemble the hutch . Often this enclosure was also attached to or channeled to the open door of the cage so if he felt like it could get in and out to the grass.

cheyannarach wrote:I used to have rabbits, now I want them again... Do rabbits and chickens get along??

Yes .....so long as there is enough carrots and onions in the pot

Seriously ......usually yes they do but make sure that the rabbits have some play toys , some fresh apple or plum wood to chew on and some sort of long pipe /tunnel so they can escape any spitefull chook that feels like a bit of rabbit fur.