Tom,

Did you try Craig's list? I have 8 does and two bucks and I can assure you that rabbit manure is garden gold.

Hi BR,

Yes, all postings at CL are a good distance from St. Pete, as stated in my first post. You're the one that has me wanting to try it, I just have not been able to find any locally :-(

Tom

I'm game for that rabbit-poo also, the roses would love it... and the Black Hen I get is pricey so anything that works that is cheaper please count me in....and I'll buy the gas if someone does decide to go pick some up, but I would need a lot for my 150 roses....any takers? thanx, sally

Hi Sally,

I may make a trip up to see the guy in Brooksville 9/1. Three bucks for 75lb bags, I was thinking of buying two bags, if I do go how many bags do you want? I'll take the pickup, some wood slats and a tarp just in case of rain....

Tom

Hi Tom, do you use it straight from the bag or you need to wait a while?

Hi Tom, do you use it straight from the bag or do you need to wait a while?

I have not used it yet, from what I've read it's a "cold" manure which means you can use it right away without burning your plants. BR will be along soon I hope to clarify this issue.

Tom

As Tom said it is a cold manure so you can use it fresh. You can get a pickup truck load in Dunellon for $40 :)

Tom, we need to find a west coast commercial rabbit meat outfit.

Useful link. Already wrote the Wesley Chapel people.

Here is a link that might be useful: Fl meat rabbit suppliers

Hi Tom - Hi all---I can def. use as many bags of that stuff that would go in the back of the truck... especially if they are already shoveled and in bags, which is what it sounds like, and that price quoted is cheap compared to the $8 - $9 for a 20 lb. bag of Black Hen.... this is a great idea .... It depends on how much weight your truck can handle, Tom... but I'll gladly take whatever you can manage and fill your tank, let me know how it works for you, thanx, sally

As Tom said it is a cold manure so you can use it fresh. You can get a pickup truck load in Dunellon for $40 :)

Thanks BR, if we don't find some locally at reasonable prices I'll contact you and make the trip for all us folks down here.

Useful link. Already wrote the Wesley Chapel people.

Good catch V, I emailed them too. I said I might go to Brooksville 9/1 but my actual destination is WC :-) How serendipitous!

Sally, keep your fingers crossed that V's find pans out ;-)

Tom

The stuff in bags sounds pretty good to me, no shovelling and no smell and no mess in the back of the truck, and the bags can be stacked neat until you use them...if you put it loose in the back of the truck it has to be shoveled in and then shovelled out when you get home... unless you can shovel it into garbage-cans at the farm, or your own bags...sally

V - Any response? None on my end....

Sally - Stand by, more is better if we figure out a good system of processing.

Tom

Tom, I just got an e-mail from Zephyrhills. They have rabbit pellets at $5 for two 50 pound feed bags full. I am waiting for a response as to how many are available. I think 20 bags would be well worth the trip. It is not as close as Wesley Chapel, but maybe not much farther. It depends on what part of Zephyrhills they are located at.

No reply either.

Veronica

Shuffels, so far that's the best price I've seen anywhere that requires a road trip other than one posting in Mulberry, $2/50, but isn't currently an active post.

V - I received a response today, VERY pricy....

I am willing to sell it, i water it down often and it is FULL of great worms for the garden. $7 for a five gallon full.

Tom

Tom, this source doesn't have much more than ten bags - maybe a few more. I can use all they have. If it all works out this weekend, you can have a couple bags. If you want to go with me this weekend just let me know. It could be a good trip.

Thanks Shuffles, you take them all, I only need a few bags and Cathy's dad is coming for a visit this weekend. I'll find another source for us PC folks ;-)

Tom

I think the closest breeder to you on this link would be near Lake Wales but it may be good for future reference.

Here is a link that might be useful: Rabbit Breeders Map

Just back from a road trip to Brooksville :-) I have nine 50lb. bags of manure. I'll keep 2-3 bags and I know Sally wanted a few. Anyone else locally that wants to give er a try drop me a line, I'm off through Monday.

Tom

YES-YES-YES!!! Yes Tom, I sure do want as much as you can spare, maybe you could drop by here Monday??? and I'm glad to pay you, also do the gas-in-the-tank thing... I'll plan on being right here tomorrow (Monday)... WOW!!! my roses are going to just eat this all up!! thanx, sally

Bags are all spoken for...now comes the test!

Tom

I can't wait to hear how the test goes. BR is right, the stuff really is garden gold. I wish we had enough to share, but we use every bit our rabbits produce. Hopefully our soil will eventually be rich enough from repeated applications that we won't need as much and we'll be able to share!

I was really astounded by the 'richness' of this stuff, and how much was in each bag... now we'll see what the roses have to say abt. all this activity!! and thank you Tom, you are a Prince! Anytime someone goes to get more please count me in, I could have used a lot more.. I am very grateful to Tom it was a lot of heavy lifting , I sure couldn't have done it myself... and this morning I shoveled some around the beds and there was hardly any odor at all, surprisingly hardly any smell... this is 'black gold' for sure... thanks again Tom,...sally

Can you use it on vegetables?

Absolutely. I have 7 does and 2 bucks. With the resulting offspring I get hundreds of pounds of rabbit manure a year.

Not bragging but my tomato plants get over 8 feet tall, we harvested over 400 pounds of tomatoes this year and I never spray them or use chemical fertilizers and as Lou or Audra can attest I am horrible at weeding....the plants still thrive.

I've been using manure from my one rabbit this year for the first time, I'm curious how you apply yours. I add some into my pots with the soil when I'm planting, and I make "tea" out of it and water. But how and how often do you apply?

I simply till it in to the garden before planting and that is it. On some plants I top dress with the manure..like the fruit trees. On plants that are very greedy feeders like melons I till it in and top dress. The only plants I don't give it to are my 140+ blueberry bushes as the manure is alkaline and they would not like it.

I planted 7 peach trees this spring as bareroot dime to nickel size sticks. The biggest trees are now 8+ feet tall and 10 feet wide. I just planted the sticks and did not amend the holes at all and then simply applied mulch (tree company wood chips) and a good layer of rabbit manure on top of the chips and reapplied it twice. The trees looked silly at first as they were just these sticks in the middle of a 8 foot across 12 inch thick mulch pile but it did not take them long to fill the spots. I think in this case the wood chips helped also as it kept the ground moist and cool.

Like I said I assure you it wasn't me:) While I do have a bit of a green thumb I am a lazy gardener.

Wow, thanks for sharing! I'm certainly glad I started using mine, seems like it is well worth it!

The way to make more rabbit manure available is to eat local rabbit. Rabbit is eaten all over the world. But not here very much.

The rabbitry near me in Dunellon supplies the entire Publix chain with rabbit, some 3000 fryers per month. The meat is white, very nutritious and better for you than chicken or beef.

Here's my new poop-makers we got a month ago. I forgot how much manure they provide every day!
I've just been dropping it on top of the beds, sometimes taking up the mulch first and I'm definitely noticing a difference with my pole beans and cucumbers.

Thanks for the reminder about the blueberry bushes, bamboo rabbit. I wonder what else I should avoid adding it to.

Well, talking abt. eating rabbit, here is a true story! when we lived in Ontario, in the country, during the winter my hubby went out in the woods and ran a trap-snare line, and we had rabbit all winter and put more in the freezer.. talk abt. delish., I like it better than chicken...sally

OMG that is the most vile disgusting experience I have had for a long time!!! I read this post, decided to go get some poo, and drove to Lakeland. The family was very nice, loaded my truck, and send me on my way. At home, the number of earwigs and roaches pouring out of those stinking bags oozing with foul smelling liquid in the back of the truck just gagged me. I've just unloaded the bags and I have yet to dump the contents on the veg beds. I just couldn't handle any more. Those vegetables better grow like gangbusters after that experience. YUUUUCK!!!!!

I shoveled horse manure from the pinellas park stables last night. That was a bit smelly....but I didn't have to deal with the INSECTS crawling all over me. I am not sure it's totally cooked and I may deal with a few weeds, but it's been in the summer sun for at least 2 - 3 months. I'm going to topdress the beds with it. Unless the rabbit poo works complete miracles.....it's horse poo for me from here on out!

That is not very nice all those bugs Tina, that load Tom brought was gorgeous w/no bugs, just a few earthworms... I put it around the next day to the roses and not a single problem, but I could sure use abt. 35-40 more bags!! if that horse manure is fresh it can be 'hot' and burn, is it old and composted? maybe I need to nag Calvin a bit more!!! LOL...sally

Tinae,

Sounds like the rabbit manure you got was wet. When it is err, well...dispensed from the rabbit it is dry and odorless but if it gets wet and turns anaerobic it does get smelly. I do get some earwigs around the manure but they don't last long with the ducks and hens.

Well, this post has sure grown in my absence.

The stuff I picked up was wet, I watched him shovel it up from underneath the cages...mild odor but virtually no critters. For what I kept I just spread a tarp on the driveway, spread out the poo and let it dry - covered it when rain was coming and put it in 18 gallon totes when relatively dry. Now I'm using it like gold dust ;-)

Tom

Last night I put the rabbit poo on the veggie beds while it was cloudy and stormy....trying to take advantage of the storm breeze. I left it in piles. This morning it is covered in white mold. Then my nieghbor said "isn't that where you grow your carrots and lettuce? Aren't you worried about e. coli?" So I googled it and found this article by the CSC. Problem is I can't really decipher it. It seems rabbits are infected with some strains, but maybe not the cow strain that usually makes people sick, yet the last line says "In summary, our findings indicate that rabbits are a newly recognized reservoir host of EHEC that poses a zoonotic risk to humans. These findings also provide an opportunity to develop a rabbit model to study the pathogenesis of EHEC-induced disease and HUS in a naturally susceptible reservoir host." I am totally confused. The horse manure composted for enough time it should be okay.....but the rabbit worries me a bit. Have I gone and shot myself in the foot?

Here is a link that might be useful: rabbits and e. coli by CDC

BTW - Sally when I go back to Orlando next I will visit this guy and grab you all the poo you want. What I can't do for you is spread the poo, I'll unload it for you....but then I just can't do any more. My stomach is just not strong enough! It will have to be a Calvin job. Anyway....when he takes you to the rose meeting next month you should call this guy as it isn't much further I don't think. If it helps, his rabbits looked well cared for. He had bagged the poo for me the day before and left them unsealed. The insects gathered and partied all night in the bags. Plus It probably rained there in the last couple of days. And since you don't eat your roses...you won't have to worry about e. coli.

From the same article....

Cattle are considered the primary reservoir host of O157 and non-O157 EHEC (13). Human infections have been linked to the presence of these bacteria in undercooked ground beef. In a recent study, the prevalence of non-O157 EHEC strains on beef carcasses was >50%. Some isolates in that study also belonged to serotypes O153 and O145 (13). In addition, a study investigating the prevalence of non-O157 EHEC from human diarrheal samples in the United States demonstrated that non-O157 serotypes are at least as prevalent as serotype O157 (14). Serotype O145 has been isolated from diarrheic children in the United States and is a common non-O157 EHEC serotype isolated from HUS case-patients in Europe (15,16). Indeed, non-O157 serotypes are a leading cause of HUS in Germany (17).

But, I deal with E.coli and MRSA every day at work so I'm desensitized to this subject....

Tom

So Tom should I worry about it or not? Do I wait a few months just to play safe?

Tina,

This problem is always possible for ANY crops hugging the ground when ANY animal fertilizer is used, bacteria freely colonize soil.... If you have concerns about appropriately washing your root crops, leafy edibles or ground bearing veggies/fruit I would not use ANY animal fertilizer on crops not kept well off the ground.

Tom

Tom, does that include Black Kow and/or Black Hen ? sally

I don't think so Sally, never heard of any problems with these dilute aged soil mixes.

Tom

Have you guys had good experiences buying from the Brooksville source? Have any of you used the source in Masaryktown (just south of Brooksville) that produces Worm Compost/Manure made from rabbit manure? I am in Spring Hill and trying to figure out which source I should use...

Thanks!

- Brian

I know this is an old post, but I was on craigslist this morning and found this - 450 lbs of rabbit manure for $25 - seems like an unbeatable price, though i've never purchased from this seller before.
http://tampa.craigslist.org/hdo/grd/3930413228.html

NVM. Looks like people have already discussed this Brooksville source. Anyone got info on the quality of this product. Also would this be good for vermicomposting?

NVM. Looks like people have already discussed this Brooksville source. Anyone got info on the quality of this product. Also would this be good for vermicomposting?

NVM. Looks like people have already discussed this Brooksville source. Anyone got info on the quality of this product. Also would this be good for vermicomposting?

Sorry about the double and triple postings - it told me that the message was rejected, so I submitted again and again, but apparently it all posted