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Rabbits
What is it all about?
Whether you see rabbits as soft and cuddly pets or as a business opportunity, the Rabbit project is flexible for your interest. Through hands-on activities, learn about selection, care, breeding, and more.
Grow in Your Project
Beginner
- Learn the different breeds, varieties and ideal weights
- Determine the use of your rabbit projects
- Develop a rabbit care management plan
- Identify rabbit equipment and its uses
- Locate and name parts of a rabbit
Intermediate
- Learn to judge rabbits and give oral reasons
- Discover the difference between 4 class and 6 class
- Explore the different rabbit body types and their function
- Design a plan for preparing rabbits for show
- Learn proper grooming techniques
Advanced
- Learn about rabbit breeding programs and genetics
- Manage your rabbitry
- Determine pregnancy and palpation techniques
- Design a rabbitry
- Identify bones on a skeleton
- Evaluate rabbit health
- Develop and maintain a rabbit pedigree system
Member Resources
Project Leader Resources
Rabbit Project Helper’s Guide
3 levels (grades 3-12)
PYD Media Collection
Many educational resources, including a learning lab kit.
Take Your Project Further!
- Tour a rabbit producer’s farm
- Attend a rabbit show and observe the judge and their techniques
- Design a business card or marketing brochure for your farm
- Host a rabbit skill-a-thon for your club or county
- Organize a rabbit showmanship contest
- Attend a national rabbit conference
- Learn about the different uses for rabbits; meat vs. non-meat production
Applying Project Skills to Life
Enhance Your Communication Skills
- Write an educational article about some aspect of rabbit production for your newspaper
- Design a poster on parts of the animal
- Explain the use of rabbits for meat production
- Find a rabbit pen pal and write letters to them about your rabbit experiences
Get Involved in Citizenship and Service
- Volunteer your rabbit(s) for a community activity (i.e., nursing home, ag activity, etc.)
- Volunteer to help at the county fair rabbit show
- Give a talk at your local library about what do to with rabbits found in the wild
Learn about Leadership
- Invite other 4-H members to tour your farm
- Teach others how to safely handle rabbits
- Lead a rabbit selection and feeding clinic
- Lead a tattoo clinic and project workshops
Showing What You’ve Learned
- Show your rabbit
- Make a poster on the economic value of a rabbit
- Prepare an emergency medical kit
- Display genetic variations and line-breeding
- Make a poster on feeding rations
- Do a display on preventative vaccinations
- Make a notebook showing different breeds
- Create a calendar of the daily routine in caring for animals
- Display grooming techniques
- Video interview with a rabbit producer
- Make a poster showing best care techniques for newborns
- Construct a nest box
- Make a poster on how to properly tattoo a rabbit
- Design a rabbit habitat
- Create a rabbit resource notebook
Adapted with permission from Wyoming State 4-H, Project Information Sheet, Rabbits. Retrieved from: https://www.uwyo.edu/4-h/projects/animal-science/rabbits.html.
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