How much rabbit manure for 100 square feet of vegetable bed?

[DWSmith]

I found an inexpensive source for good rabbit manure but I don't know the rate to apply it? Since I don't think it will burn up plants I doubt overdoing it can hurt too much but I want to do it right.

I'll need to measure again but let's say I have about 1500 square feet for the vegetable bed. What would you recommend?

[fishpond]

As much as you can lay your paws on----you can always stack any leftover--but sorry, I do not know the NPK values.
Look out for the odd Carrot springing up

[Jimny14]

Found this if it helps. Manure Matters: How Manures Measure Up
Its got some rough numbers on it, if it were me though I'd just bang it on

[DWSmith]

Looked at the site. Rabbit poo looks pretty good on the N-P-K levels. Dad used to pile it on straight from the rabbit hutch without letting it rot. Never seemed to hurt anything and I've read in places that it's safe to use that way.

I'll probably put some on the bed this fall/winter and dig it in next spring.

Probably wouldn't hurt to get more than I had originally guessed.

Thanks all!

[roitelet]

I keep rabbits and put the cleaning stuff straight on the beds straw and all.makes a really good mulch and never seems to do any harm.

[KevinM67]

How big is your rabbit, and how much do you feed it ?

[veggiechicken]

About this big?

[DWSmith]

Need a herd of rabbits the size of Harvey in the Jimmy Stewart movie.

The lady I've been talking to today has a barn for 6,000 rabbits. She told me I could come in the barn this afternoon, shut the door, and start shoveling the stuff into my truck. I told her I'd have to wait a bit. Wish I could have gotten a pickup truck load this afternoon and another this weekend.

[roitelet]

How big is your rabbit, and how much do you feed it ?

I have two at the moment each weighing 8 kilos+ they have free access to food all the time. This is not many rabbits for me I often have 8-10 all big

[lottieguy]

Hi Ya, Some rabbit there. I would be tempted to compost alot of it and building a big heap would allow the heat to build right up. 6,000 rabbits eh, they must like them or are they professional breeders? My only concern would any seed heads from the straw or hay or food that has been fed to them. I add the rabbit bedding to my compost bin and mix it in it's good stuff. I have been offered chicken poo from an egg farm but the quantities are a bit ott for me to deal with. Still it's good stuff

[ESBkevin]

Is this neat droppings or is there sawdust/woodchip/straw bedding mixed in? This will effect the situation to a large degree.

Assuming the latter, I think if you are laying on as a surface mulch over winter it would be hard to over do it and 2-3" would be sound. Even if you are digging it in now ready for next spring there would be little cause for concern (avoiding root crops might be wise for the first sowing, interestingly it seems to make no difference in no dig beds for root crops so pile it on).

After that gather all the extra loads you can and make a compost pile, you can never have too much compost.

[DWSmith]

6,000 rabbits eh, they must like them or are they professional breeders?

She raises meat rabbits commercially. She needs to get rid of the manure because like she said to me, "They're always making raisins."

Is this neat droppings or is there sawdust/woodchip/straw bedding mixed in? This will effect the situation to a large degree.

I assume she's using cages with the wire mesh bottoms. I know we did when I was growing up. Much easier to clean but yes, wood shaving deplete nitrogen when breaking down so I'll be careful with that.


I'd like to keep a pile of the stuff around for other plantings too but I have dogs and dogs find rabbit dropping mighty tasty. I'll have to put up some sort of barrier. The vegetable plot is basically fenced so that's okay.