Bunny Berries or rabbit manure is an amazing natural organic fertilizer for your garden. Plants absolutely love it! It is practically odorless and breaks down quickly, which means it doesn't burn plants like fresh chicken or cow manure would.
Rabbit manure can be added fresh as pellets (Bunny berries), partially broken down with the natural fungal mold growing on them (which is a sign of the organisms doing their job, and breaking down the manure), or fully broken down in a soil like texture.
When you go the the garden center and buy a bag of soil it will often be marked with NPK this stands for Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium. Rabbit manure is about 2% Nitrogen, 1% Phosphorus and 1% Potassium. N-2, P-1, K-1. It's nutrient value is higher then chicken, sheep and cow manure, but because it breaks down quickly it won't burn your plants! Which is why it can be used right away.
I have added rabbit manure balls (Bunny Berries) directly into the soil of my house plants to give them a boost over winter. I add our rabbit bedding to our compost pile or directly into the garden, the plants love it!
We have rabbits that live in outdoor hutches. They have a cozy shelter to escape rain, wind and cold or heat. They have and open area with a wire screen so they can socialize, get fresh air and they love to press their noses against it to say hi. We grow our rabbits for meat, and furs as well as for our garden plants. We place 20 Liter buckets underneath the hutches to collect the manure. The buckets have drainage holes to allow urine to escape. The manure is then dumped into a re-used feed bag, tied up and ready to sell. Rabbits can actually be litter trained and prefer to poop in the same spot of their enclosure which is typically in a corner. This makes collecting Bunny Berries pretty simple! When saving the manure for ourselves it is mixed with much more hay and debris. and is usually thrown into our compost pile to let the hay further break down.
Did you know rabbits poop between 200 and 300 rabbit pellets a day! That's a lot of poop. Rabbit poop is also a good indicator of your rabbits health. If the rabbits aren't pooping round balls something may be wrong and needs to be looked at quickly. There is also a different type of poop rabbits release called cecotropes. They are produced by fermentation in the rabbits gestational tract and are usually produced late at night or early in the morning. It is important and healthy for rabbits to eat these poops, as they help with digestion. Rabbits have a very sensitive digestive tract and these special poops help it to work properly and efficiently.
How to use Bunny Berries
You can plant directly into the bunny berries after they are slightly broken down. I prefer to take a scoop of about 2-3 handfuls and lay it around the base of my plants or mix it in the top layer of soil before planting. If I am planting something larger like a bush or tree I will throw a large amount in the hole before putting the tree in and burying the roots with soil.
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