Unfortunately I had to butcher some rabbits. I still have three to do. I did okay, but I had some trouble with cutting around the anal vent. I guess I am unsure of exactly what they mean in the books. I don't have any pictures to refer to. Some of the dung closest to the tail got on some of the flesh. I just washed this stuff off. Then some other dark green stuff spilled out of somewhere onto the chest area of one. I cut that part away and buried it. I don't know if it was the gall bladder or not. Frankly I wouldn't know a gall bladder if it bit me. My questions are:

1) Is there a place on the net with pictures of this process and an innards diagram? I know some of it, but the gall bladder is unknown to me.

2) If actual poop gets on the meat is it okay just to wash it off?

3) What do you do with the skins?

4) Does anyone want to come over and do this for me?

The only way I got through it at all was because I just kept praying for the strength to do it the whole time. My dogs will surely appreciate it.....auuuggggghhhhh.

-- Doreen (animalwaitress@yahoo.com), November 10, 2001

Answers

How I would do it, if I ate rabbits which I don't. Hang it by the back feet from a nail or branch. Put the knife in at one of the hocks, holding the shin away from the flesh. Cut from one hock down to the critch area and back up to the other hock. Cut a circle around the anus and tie it off with a little piece of string, so that it won't leak poop. Cut a ring around each hock, so that the skin is all freed up, and pull the hide off like a glove, and cut the head off. I don't think you need a knife to take the guts out, if you don't use a knife you won't cut the gall bladder. It's a nasty shade of green and is by the liver. Just pull the guts out with your hands, if that bugs you, then wear rubber gloves. I would gladly come over and hlep you, but we live too far away! PS, If it's just for the dogs and you're not eating it, then don't fret so much! Just learn. :) If it's for you, then yes you will have to be more careful.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), November 10, 2001.

It is a lot easier if there is someone to help you. Here is how I do it. First I catch the rabbit. I get the hind legs in my right hand (I am right handed) and get a grip on the rabbits neck from behind with my left hand. I then hold the head firmly at my left side pushing the head down and pull up with my right hand. The rabbits back is toward my stomach, and in one quick snap the rabbit is dead.

Then I lay the rabbit on a bench in front of me and, with the animal face down I make a cut crossways in the middle of the back (at about the lowest, or smallest rib. This cut is only long enough for me to put my first two fingers of esch hand in the incision. With the hind portion on my right and the head toward my left, I put the first two fingers of my right hand into the cut and point them toward the rabbits hind (under the skin). Do the same with the left hand and point toward the head. Then pull my hands apart firmly and steadily. The skin will come off half to the rear and half to the front.

This is where the helper is needed, to catch the skinned rabbit. As the skin is pulled over the rump and down the legs I continue the pull until it is as far down the legs as I need to go and then cut the last joint of the feet off. Do the same in the front, and pull the skin to near the ears and cut the head off. Now there should be a skinned rabbit with no feet and no head on the bench. I keep the rabbit up off the bench until the skin is off (with the help of a helper) and then use a clean section of the bench to continue. Here the helper might need to clean the bench or I might use a cutting board. I then cut the length of the rabbit on the stomach (just under the skin) to remove the entrails. I cut the rib cage to the windpipe. Then I spread it open and starting at the windpipe I roll the entrails out toward the rear. The helper holds the rabbit and I work the entrails out. Near the end of this process I seperate the hind legs with the helper sperading them, and ring and remove the anus. All the rest of the entrails are already out.

Then the helper has the rabbit for a quick cold water rinse and I have the guts. I do not attempt to save the skins. Immidiately while everything is still fresh I recycle all the guts and trimmings to the chicken pen.

It takes longer to write it than it does to do it.

-- Ed Copp (OH) (edcopp@yahoo.com), November 11, 2001.

Thanks very much, folks. Shamefully, I simply can't do the neck breaking. I had to put them in a feed sack that you can kind of see through and wrap them snugly and use the 22. That took everything I had.

I believe that the gall bladder is the little thing that looks like a dark green slug that sticks to the liver on the left side of the rabbit.

I didn't know that it was okay to feed the innards to chickens. Hogs I would have figured, but chickens?? Thanks again!

-- Doreen (bisquit@here.com), November 11, 2001.

Doreen, I am sorry. I know how horrible and traumatic a bad butchering experience can be! It doesn't need to be that way. Do you have any "homestead" books that show any farm butchering? A rabbit is just kind of a small sheep. Basic butchering is pretty much the same.

With a rabbit, it may be easier for you to bop him on the head, secure his hind legs to the top of a slanted butcher board belly up then slit his throat, severing everything and letting the contents spill right into the bucket.

No matter what I am butchering, I seem to always use the smallest blade on my pocket knife. Rabbit skin is very thin. Where you sliced the neck, in the center of the throat, work a small blade under the skin, sharp edge up. and "unzip the jammies." Peel the skin away from the centerline if you want to keep it clean. Now would be a good time to peel the bunny suit up to his hind legs, but don't remove it yet.

You should be looking at naked rabbit belly. The peritineum is real thin and you don't want to cut deep here either. Pinch up the membrane and nick a hole big enough for your finger and split the membrane the all the way open. Slide your hand or fingers behind the guts and toward the anus. This should give you a clear picture of what you need to cut around. After you free the rectum, pull it forward and start severing the connecting tissue that holds the guts to the back bone. The entire gut package should roll forward into the bucket in one piece.

If you give your bunny nothing but water for at least 24 hours before butchering, there shouldn't be much poop or stomach contents to make a mess.

Okay, that's how I butcher small animals all the way up to deer. anything bigger I prefer to hang. Poultry, I use the same method but hang them on a post by their feet.

If these are to feed your dogs, wouldn't it be better to just bop and cut and throw it to them whole?

-- Laura (LadybugWrangler@hotmail.com), November 11, 2001.

Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living has a few drawings and good descriptions of the whole process. We used her book the first time we butchered rabbits and it all went very well. The Have-More Plan by Ed and Carolyn Robinson has a good picture of how to cut up the rabbit (what the cuts of meat should look like). I much prefer to butcher rabbits than chickens. It is easier and goes faster (for us anyway).

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), November 16, 2001.

I helped my grandfather butcher rabbits and chickens, the easiest way he did it was.... ()Catch the rabbits, which ever you preferr is old enogh with good meat on the bones. ()Break its neck, or just simply cut it off like he did. Let the blood draina few minutes if you considering cutting head off. ()Hang the rabbit by its hind legs from wire tied around the feet. Make sure the wire is tied strong around a branch.(Doing this way, you may not need to let blood drain before hanging) ()Take a knife and cut a ring aroun deach hind leg by the joints and then close to the anus area. (DO NOT cut the anus, just around it) ()Then take both hands and strongly pull down. This should bring the hide from both back and front down to the neck area. ()Don't cut hide right yet. ()Then very carefully take a knife with the sharp end UP and cut about an inch away from the anus to the neck. ()Peel the skin off, this is the asy part. ()DO NOT use a knife to remove the guts. Just simply reach in a rip out, but not break anything open, stomach or gall bladder. ()after you have finished doing this, cut the hide off completely and then remove the hind feet by cutting. (). Them simply cut the front feet off. ()Take up to the house for a fast rinse in some hot water and then to cutting to bag and freeze.

I know there is much more to this, but I remember this from when I was 6 years old. My grandfather died when I was 11. Need help on butchering chickens? I butcher chickens, raise them, hatch them, and eat them! Of course a chicken is much easier thana rabbit. Katy PS. I hope this helps. ()

-- Katy Faulkner (dazyation@yahoo.com), February 02, 2002.

I've butchered about three rabbits and eaten one (the other two were too mangled inside to provide more than a hide for me). I simply cut off the head, cut the hide like in biology (when they did disections) in an I pattern, down the inside of each back leg up into the middle of the crotch (away from the anus) and up each front leg to the middle of the neck. I then cut a ring around each leg where I wanted to have the hide stop (usually around each "knee") . After that it was like a fruit roll-up, just peel off the skin from everything else. Then I slit the stomach and a ring around the anus, thus freeing everything inside and leaving the most meat. I removed the innards and put them in the waste pile along with the feet and then I rinsed it. Most of the blood drained out while I was bringing the rabbit home and the rest came out while I was doing all the cutting. Once everything was out and cleaned off I quartered the meat and froze it till I was hungry for fresh rabbit. The hide I nailed out on a board, tight enough that the parts inside the nails were like a drum and the parts outside the nails were somewhat loose. This stretched out the hide and made it easy to scrape off the fat. To get rid of the fat and dry the hide I covered it with salt and let it sit for 12 hours (overnight) I then scraped the salt and dried fat off with a spoon and repeated this three times. Just a note: don't scrape too hard, you can remove the skin as well as the meat if you do. Once the hide was scraped I used waterproofing for leather on it and then it was done. This was just for a hide to use for random things, it's poor quality as far as softness and rabbit is thin so it won't make good shoes or anything like that. I use it to hold my ammo when I go hunting for small game and that's about it. There are other sites (many of the native american heritage sites) that explain better ways to take care of the hide. As for the meat....there's not much you can do to screw it up, even if you get guts or gall on it, as long as you clean it off quick you'll be fine.

*note: If you live in a southern state of if you are butchering an animal in the summer or fall, CHECK THE STOMACH AND MEAT FOR WORMS AND PARASITES. The animals that are infected with these things do not die until the cold of winter freezes them, and in the south that don't happen either. A great example is a squirel. In FL you have two types of squirel. One has a bushy tail, is fat and looks like a squirel, the other has a ratty tail and is a bit thinner. Guess which one has worms. Rabbits, Racoons and other animals don't necessarily show external signs, but you can see the worms and parasites in the lungs, heart, liver and stomach. If you are raising the animals yourself you can also check their stools on a regular basis and get them de-wormed sooner by seeing the worms in their feces.

-- Alexander Piccione (UCNCLLMEAL@aol.com), June 06, 2002.

this aquestion how odl should bunnysbe before the are butchered and how long do you kool them before eatting them?

-- hilda pollock (hpollock_2000@yahoo.com), November 24, 2002.

I'm thinking of selling rabbit meat, skins, clothing or blankets from skins. I'd like to know how many rabbits I should plan on for a small back yard set-up. What's the most economic and conveinent set- up for me and the bunnies?

-- tracy (mamaduck@highstream.com), January 09, 2003.

I think you should not have too many rabbits for a small backyard, certainly not more than 100. Make sure that you butcher them often. Use boots and gloves becouse it does get messy. maria

-- maria (pop@techemail.com), March 25, 2003.

I am a rabbit person and rabbits are nice people too. When will you horrible butchers learn that: Lass mich deine Trane reiten Was tust du Was fuhlst du Was bist du Doch nur ein Tier

Yours Always: Nice fluffy person.

-- My Name Is Not Important (worlds_biggest_boot_king@hotmail.com), May 07, 2003.

Why don't you just buy the dogs some Alpo and let me around another day?

-- Joe T Bunny (JoeBunny@yahoo.com), May 13, 2003.

This was very helpful, well for my husband who does all the butchering. I'd just like to ask the people who just had to comment "leave the little bunnies alone" if they eat steak because suprise...it used to be cow, a much smarter creature than any little rodent. And what do you think they put in dog food? Certianly not lettuce. To the person who wanted to set up the rabbitry...you might want to check state regulations before you sell any meat, to avoid fines. I'm pretty sure if your just using their hides, it wouldn't matter too much. just try to keep males seperated because they'll pull out each others fur and spray on each other, very nasty!

-- Angie Clark (Briar-rose2713@yahoo.com), November 21, 2003.

Bunnies aren't rodents! And no, I'm not from PETA, and yes, rabbits are smart, compared to cows I have no idea, but whatever. I know people who have a rabbitry, not for food, but when a Jersey Wooly (really neat breed. I have one, they're so docile!) has to be put down for whatever reason, they just put it in a box with lots of hay and wait for it to get comfortable and the just shoot them between the ears.

-- Alexandra Neufeld (woolykeeper@hotmail.com), November 24, 2003.

Hello there,

I have just butchered my first rabbit in the UK. I shot mine in the wild on a hunt with a .22 rifle at night.

I made an incision from the throat right down to about an inch above the anus on the belly side while holding it onto a work bench with my left hand. I didnt cut too deeply in order to avoid cutting any digestive tract. I reached inside and removed the entire contents with one movement with my right hand.

I cut off the head with my hunting knife and managed to slip my fingers under the skin and just work it all the way off, occasionally having to use my knife to get through any stubborn bits. Once I had peeled the skin all the lower half of the legs, i removed each foot with my knife and then just yanked the skin off each leg just like a sock. This left me with a totally skinned and gutted rabbit.

From one first-timer to another, I can offer the following humble advice:

1) To actually kill a rabbit, I prefer to shoot it in the back of the head. I'm sure that there are other instant methods, but I would probably be too squeamish to cut a live rabbits throat. Don't feel bad, at last its not being ripped part by a fox! I like to use as much of each animal I kill as possible, otherwise I feel that it has been a waste of a little life. Call me what you like, but I like to say a little thank you to the little thing when I have finished!

2) Use the sharpest knife you have. Believe me, it will make the whole process a lot easier and quicker.

Right. I'm off to fry my rabbit with baby onions, garlic, mushrooms and red wine!

Hope I have been of help.

Dan

-- Dan Ames (dan@awsd.net), December 27, 2003.

you people are sick...I own a rabbit..and he is such a blessing to me...I can't believe you can sit there and butcher them...there is no reason for your inhumane actions!!!!!! I hope that you realize that these are beautiful creatures..and they don't deserve to be skinned and butchered into little pieces! I will continue to fight you people for as long as I live..This is WRONG!

-- Christi- - - (harliek18@hotmail.com), February 03, 2004.

I just killed my first rabbit with a 12 guage. I was about 20 ft. away and blew half her head off. Perfect shot! I have a bunch of 'em running around my yard and brushy field next door. I'm trying to get in touch with my hunter/gatherer roots. Dressing and cleaning started out to be pretty gruesome, but after I chopped off the head, tail and feet and skined and gutted it, it just looked like a piece of meat from the store. I used a sharp hatchet and a sharp pearing knife. I removed each leg and chopped off the ribs and everything's soaking in saltwater right now. I'm not sure if I want to make a stew or fry this hare. Decisions, decisions...

-- Elmer Fudd wannabe (are_you_threatening_me@hotmail.com), April 08, 2004.