Rabbit Manure Opinions?

[Vulx]

I don't have any sort of experience with rabbit maneur/droppings. My questions would be:

1. If you've used it before, what was your experience with it?
2. Does it have a "best way" or "best time" to be used?
3. Is it ok to apply without composting it?

Thanks for the input!

 

[Emilya Green]

RM would be great as a starter in an actively aerated compost tea and would bring in a myriad of helpful bacteria, but I would be very afraid to add it to a soil without first composting it because any fresh manure is going to be very very hot. You also have to be careful not to cause extreme clumping of your soil by using too much manure in the mix... it can turn a container of soil into a brick of concrete... I know, I have done it, and barely saved my babies from that locked up mess. Nowadays, if I am going to use manure, I use it in the bottom layer of my containers, and it is composted steer manure. I no longer use it anywhere else in the container.

 

[Weaselcracker]

Yes I use it for all of my veg plants, and as an experiment I’m trying flowering a couple now with only bunny turds throughout.

The veg plants and the garden plants absolutely love it.

Yes you can use it without composting. I just avoid runny urine soaked manure, or stuff with straw mixed in with it, and use the regular round pellet form.

 

[Weaselcracker]

I would be very afraid to add it to a soil without first composting it because any fresh manure is going to be very very hot.

Whoops didn’t see you up there Emilya. But yes rabbit manure is one of the few that’s not hot.

 

[Van Stank]

RM would be great as a starter in an actively aerated compost tea and would bring in a myriad of helpful bacteria, but I would be very afraid to add it to a soil without first composting it because any fresh manure is going to be very very hot. You also have to be careful not to cause extreme clumping of your soil by using too much manure in the mix... it can turn a container of soil into a brick of concrete... I know, I have done it, and barely saved my babies from that locked up mess. Nowadays, if I am going to use manure, I use it in the bottom layer of my containers, and it is composted steer manure. I no longer use it anywhere else in the container.

Rabbit manure is one of the least hot manures you can use.....generally acceptable to use without any sort of composting required. Nothing wrong with playing it safe with manures of any sort but I do believe rabbit, alpaca, and sheep are all acceptable to be used right away without fears of burning. I believe its all tied to their digestive systems and its effectiveness.

I have a farmer down the road that lets me get all the sheep shit I want for my garden. I don't use a lot of it in the garden, but instead I prefer to use it in my compost as my outdoor veggie garden is no till and just add 2-3 inches of compost each season.

 

[Emilya Green]

Very good to know, thanks guys! I may just have to give some of this high class manure a second look.

 

[Vulx]

I have seen conflicting reports on the need to compost:

Bunny honey: Using rabbit manure as a fertilizer

Looking for an organic, small round, pelleted form of fertilizer? Consider using fresh rabbit manure.

www.canr.msu.edu

Animals in the Garden – ABC Project

Rabbit production and rabbit market in Romania : the most frequent breeds, half-breeds and their characterization - Blaga Bianca-Claudia <-.edu just another country

https://ucanr.edu/sites/Tuolumne_County_Master_Gardeners/files/172936.pdf

https://www.uky.edu/hort/sites/www.uky.edu.hort/files/documents/organicmanures.pdf

Outside of these sources (meaning non .edu links which I won't link out of principle), I've seen different categorizations of it as well. For the most part, they claim that it can be applied normally (albeit usually with nutrient needs of plants in mind). Some claim that it's considered cold because it breaks down quickly, and some even just decline to say if it is hot or cold at all.

--------

I've spent a while writing this comment, and I've actually found what I think to be the reason that rabbit crap is "ok" to use straight on the garden. What determines the "hotness" of organic inputs is a combination of C/N ratios, aeration, and moisture content. Rabbit manure has a "high enough" C/N ratio in addition to being fairly dry. In reality, it's not recommended to add without composting, but since enough people have done it and it works well enough, the prevailing notion is that it's not required.

In reality, the C/N ratio will absolutely create a nitrogen surplus, the question is whether or not it's manageable, and for (apparently) some additional black magic reason rabbit crap tends to work out alright. If anyone has some insight there that'd be cool.

 

[Weaselcracker]

I haven’t looked into the nitty-gritty of it that much Vulx, other than that I’ve used it for years in the veggie gardens. The plants like it so much that over time it’s become my main, usually only, fertilizer for all my potted plants. It’s only in the last year that I started skipping all other nutrients for my indoor veg room, other than calmag.
I’m growing in peat moss/perlite. I mix the bunny poo evenly throughout the medium at between roughly 1 tsp to one tablespoon per gallon, depending. I’m not growing in soil, it’s soil less which usually is more a form of hydroponics, and so I’m using the bunny turds like granulated nutrients- or wandering somewhere on the line between soil and hydro, I guess...
It’s got an NPK ratio of about N 2.4 - P 1.4 - K 0.6 along with pretty well all the micros.
For the container plants that aren’t getting regularly up-potted, like tomatoes and such in the greenhouse, I also top dress with it regularly. Definitely no burnt plants though I’ve see N overdose symptoms when I overdo it.

There are quite a few discussions of bunny poo and bunny digestive systems and other random bunny related topics in my current journal, though they’re scattered and you’d have to sift through various other weird stuff to find them.

FEE32256-695E-4677-81EC-72AEC428A74A.jpeg

• Weaselcracker
• Aug 22, 2019
• 1

Tut on bunny poo

• Weaselcracker
• Aug 4, 2019

 

[Van Stank]

Since this is your thread Vulx, tell me more about your product. I am a soil guy, make my own LOS/super soil which works extremely well for me. But I am always looking for things that can improve it.

 

[Vulx]

Since this is your thread Vulx, tell me more about your product. I am a soil guy, make my own LOS/super soil which works extremely well for me. But I am always looking for things that can improve it.

I'll send you a DM so we can keep it on topic here bc I genuinely want to learn more about rabbit crap. Ha!

 

[Van Stank]

Its good stuff. There is another grower on here @beez0404 that uses rabbit poop in his grows and he grows some gorgeous plants.

I have considered getting some rabbits for food and for fertilizer. Gotta get my chickens going first though.

Poop generally gets a bad rap. It stinks, it attracts insects, it ain't purdy! But from the right species, its really some top notch fertilizer.

 

[Weaselcracker]

want to learn more about rabbit crap

Why have you become interested in this, have you acquired a rabbit crap manufacturer ?

 

[Vulx]

Why have you become interested in this, have you acquired a rabbit crap manufacturer ?

For a couple of reasons, actually. I've really been into learning more about no-till and living soil, and rabbit crap is one of those things that comes up infrequently enough that I can't find a ton of info on it.

I was also approached by someone making this crap (well, packaging this crap) about combining our products and I'm trying to see how it would be a good fit. Vulx is not effective, to my knowledge, in an example application wherein enough rabbit crap to treat a couple gallons of soil is tossed in Vulx. That wouldn't be enough to really do much, though I suppose it would make whatever is coming out of the crap more available - but I'm not sure that's how I want Vulx to be "seen." So maybe as a transplant mixer if it was 375g of Vulx and some crap that would be pretty neat for a single 5 gallon bucket. But rabbit crap is supposed to be cheap so I'm not sure someone would see it in a package for $17 or more and say "oh yeah that makes sense."

So it's kind of a lot of moving pieces, and I don't understand crap well enough to make a decision about it and it's been something I've been meaning to look into anyway.

If the crap was my product I would have been a lot more straightforward from the beginning and just said "would you buy Vulx crap" - you all should know I'm a straight-shooter by now, or at least I try to be!

 

[Weaselcracker]

The idea of a veg transplant boost product sounds promising. The plants really do take on a lovely glow of health on the rabbit crap diet.

I doubt it will be the right NPK for all of flowering, but I’m still hopeful and giving it a try with a few plants. .

I can’t speak to whether rabbit crap is cheap or not since I live in the middle of nowhere. It’s cheap for me- but probably takes work to acquire for most people. And obviously many people are willing to pay for the peace of mind they get from products that are packaged, measured, labelled, explained, etc.

 

[Blew Hiller]

I don't understand crap well enough

Buy Rodale's Book of Composting...they have used hardcovers on Zon for $5...it is one of the OG organic farming references and a pleasure to read. 40 years old and all of it still applies...

 

[bobrown14]

yes rabbit manure is one of the few that’s not hot.

I use it fresh and also add it in to my vermi-compost bins. It can be used fresh. Be mindful of what was used as bedding if its mixed in then it needs to compost.

Most rabbits are in a cage that lets the droppings fall thru and they clean them out regularly so all there is are the droppings.

Rabbit poop, alpaca poop and Llama poop these are the manures that can be used without composting.

Most rabbits are fed alfalfa so the rabbits do the composting of the alfalfa meal for us. Win win.

As with everything, a little is good and there's always too much of a good thing so start off slow and watch how the plants grow.

I've been very liberal with the use of rabbit pellets both indoors and out side gardens.

Edit: I've been using rabbit pellets for years. I don't have rabbits. In the states rabbits are a 4H hobby thing and lots of folks grow them for food too. It's not just a pet thing.

Anyways you can contact your local County Extension Service. They will have a list of folks that grow rabbits and will give you the poop free. Lots of people that grow rabbits have so much they throw it in the garbage which is a huge waste and its better off in a garden somewhere than in a garbage dump.

 

[pointer80]

I found a rabbit breeder on facebook marketplace that had rabbit manure for free, I also feed it to my worms.

 

[bobrown14]

bingo

Can also check with your local County Extension Service and email them. They will have a list of local rabbit people as well and most will give the poop away.

It's processed organic alfalfa basically. Worms and plants love it.