Thinking about sustainable and less energy intensive protein and disregarding insects, I am thinking about hunks of meat that a home cook can be comfortable with and are versatile.

On a total basis which would be more efficient? Rabbits and chickens both breed well, about the same size animal, chickens would mature quicker but rabbits ould breed faster. Rabbits could eat grass but I am thinking a semi intensive environment. Chickens require significant heating and cooling systems and water, not sure about rabbits but I suspect less.

Any ideas on which would be better on total inputs?

I imagine there are meat chooks and egg chooks.
There would only be meat rabbits.
Except at Easter.

Peak Warming Man said:

I imagine there are meat chooks and egg chooks.
There would only be meat rabbits.
Except at Easter.

I don’t know how the maintenance and processing costs would compare.

Peak Warming Man said:

I imagine there are meat chooks and egg chooks.
There would only be meat rabbits.
Except at Easter.

I was thinking meat. Rabbit eggs are called pellets but don’t taste very nice.

Bubblecar said:

I don’t know how the maintenance and processing costs would compare.

Cheers, but that doesn’t give you the inputs.

Chickens are also onivorous, good soil tillers, give eggs

Chickens are also onivorous, good soil tillers, give eggs

Funnily enough I did look into this once before. Chickens produce more meat but are more of a mess to for slaughtering because they require plucking, whereas a rabbit is relatively easy to skin. Also just about everybody eats chicken, not everyone likes rabbit meat.

provide feathers, are easy to contain (don’t dig), give good fertilizer…

Rabbit skins are used for all sorts of stuff.

AwesomeO said:

Bubblecar said:

I don’t know how the maintenance and processing costs would compare.

!https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/rabbit-vs-white-meat-david-saracino-1-1470847681.jpg?resize=480:*

Cheers, but that doesn’t give you the inputs.

Dozens of tables on the global rabbit industry here, might have what you’re looking for:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/t1690e/t1690e03.htm

Venezuela’s new plan to beat hunger: Breed rabbits

It doesn’t say why they chose rabbits over chickens. Although it does say “The animals are more efficient than pigs and cattle in converting protein into edible meat, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.”

Bubblecar said:

AwesomeO said:

Bubblecar said:

I don’t know how the maintenance and processing costs would compare.

!https://hips.hearstapps.com/hmg-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/images/rabbit-vs-white-meat-david-saracino-1-1470847681.jpg?resize=480:*

Cheers, but that doesn’t give you the inputs.

Dozens of tables on the global rabbit industry here, might have what you’re looking for:

http://www.fao.org/docrep/t1690e/t1690e03.htm

….that goes on for many pages, exhaustive details about commercial rabbitries. Use the arrows at the bottom.

furious said:

Venezuela’s new plan to beat hunger: Breed rabbits

It doesn’t say why they chose rabbits over chickens. Although it does say “The animals are more efficient than pigs and cattle in converting protein into edible meat, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.”

I don’t know why they don’t feed them lentils.

party_pants said:

Funnily enough I did look into this once before. Chickens produce more meat but are more of a mess to for slaughtering because they require plucking, whereas a rabbit is relatively easy to skin. Also just about everybody eats chicken, not everyone likes rabbit meat.

Pfft, a bit of a marketing plan would sort that. A week of Masterchef featuring rabbit would have it moving.

Feed conversion ratio is what you need

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_conversion_ratio

for chicken: around about 2 (1 kg of chicken meat for 2 kg of food fed to the bird )
for rabbit: around 4 on natural feeds

party_pants said:

Feed conversion ratio is what you need

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_conversion_ratio

for chicken: around about 2 (1 kg of chicken meat for 2 kg of food fed to the bird )
for rabbit: around 4 on natural feeds

For lentils? bugger all.

AwesomeO said:

party_pants said:

Funnily enough I did look into this once before. Chickens produce more meat but are more of a mess to for slaughtering because they require plucking, whereas a rabbit is relatively easy to skin. Also just about everybody eats chicken, not everyone likes rabbit meat.

Pfft, a bit of a marketing plan would sort that. A week of Masterchef featuring rabbit would have it moving.

Exactly, you could get Nigella to do a rabbit casserole in a nice off the shoulder little black number with just the hint of nipple showing.

Peak Warming Man said:

AwesomeO said:

party_pants said:

Funnily enough I did look into this once before. Chickens produce more meat but are more of a mess to for slaughtering because they require plucking, whereas a rabbit is relatively easy to skin. Also just about everybody eats chicken, not everyone likes rabbit meat.

Pfft, a bit of a marketing plan would sort that. A week of Masterchef featuring rabbit would have it moving.

Exactly, you could get Nigella to do a rabbit casserole in a nice off the shoulder little black number with just the hint of nipple showing.

Oh, could I? Where does one apply?

It’s a meat that should be more widely eaten, but the fact that it’s lower in calories and fat (very much lower than beef or pork) would probably make it less popular with mass markets used to fatty meat, despite being higher in protein.

Bubblecar said:

It’s a meat that should be more widely eaten, but the fact that it’s lower in calories and fat (very much lower than beef or pork) would probably make it less popular with mass markets used to fatty meat, despite being higher in protein.

Is it the only meat that you can die from eating exclusively?

• It’s a meat that should be more widely eaten, but the fact that it’s lower in calories and fat (very much lower than beef or pork) would probably make it less popular with mass markets used to fatty meat, despite being higher in protein.

So low in fat that it can be bad for you…

Protein poisoning

“Protein poisoning (also referred to colloquially as rabbit starvation, mal de caribou, or fat starvation) is a rare form of acute malnutrition thought to be caused by a complete absence of fat in the diet.”

In 1990 Italy was the world’s biggest producer, and Malta and Italy were the biggest consumers.

Italian restaurants ought to offer more rabbit dishes. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a pasta con coniglio or rabbit pizza in Oz.

AwesomeO said:

I was thinking meat. Rabbit eggs are called pellets but don’t taste very nice.

How do you know?

The Rev Dodgson said:

AwesomeO said:

I was thinking meat. Rabbit eggs are called pellets but don’t taste very nice.

How do you know?

You can see the young rabbits screw up their face…

AwesomeO said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

AwesomeO said:

I was thinking meat. Rabbit eggs are called pellets but don’t taste very nice.

How do you know?

You can see the young rabbits screw up their face…

OK, furry nuff.

The Rev Dodgson said:

AwesomeO said:

The Rev Dodgson said:

How do you know?

You can see the young rabbits screw up their face…

OK, furry nuff.

http://petcaretips.net/caecal-pellets.html

I garganelli al ragù di coniglio e orecchiette

(egg pasta tubes with ragù of rabbit & orecchiette mushrooms)

party_pants said:

Funnily enough I did look into this once before. Chickens produce more meat but are more of a mess to for slaughtering because they require plucking, whereas a rabbit is relatively easy to skin. Also just about everybody eats chicken, not everyone likes rabbit meat.

because they taste different… I am not a fan of rabbit

Pigeons.

You provide the dovecote. They go find their own food. You get squab.

———————————————————————————————————————————————-

Interestingly, most animals taste like what they’ve been eating. Shop-bought chook tastes like wheat. Wild shot rabbits and kangaroo taste like whatever pasture they have been on. If it’s a particularly dry season, they might well taste like the rank grasses that survive in those conditions. Crocodile tastes like chicken – because that’s what they are fed on in the crocodile farms.

Bubblecar said:

I don’t know how the maintenance and processing costs would compare.

So in nutrition terms, chicken and rabbit are very similar.

But as mentioned in the OP, chickens mature faster. Four weeks for a KFC chicken. Three months for rabbits, which is three times as long.

i saw some cited chicken fcr ~1.7