How Much Can You Sell Rabbit Manure For and How to Sell It?

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What do rabbit owners who are self-employed do? Try to make money on their pet rabbits! Our family has been self-employed for over 15 years, and we’ve had rabbits for that entire time. Recently, we started looking into selling rabbit manure, and here is what we learned.

Rabbit manure can be sold as premium garden fertilizer for anywhere between $5 and $15 a pound. It can be sold on Facebook, eBay, Craigslist, at a local farmers market, or garden supply store.

Why is Rabbit Manure so expensive?

Rabbit manure can be sold for so much because it has extremely high nitrogen and phosphorus contents and does not have to be composted before use. 

Rabbit manure is more expensive than other types of natural fertilizer because of it’s outstanding nutrient profile. Rabbit manure is roughly 2% nitrogen, 1% phosphorus, and 1% potassium which makes it a premium plant fertilizer. In addition, rabbit manure is one of the few manures that can be placed directly on garden beds without first being composted.

Nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) just happen to be the two of the nutrients required in the highest quantities by vegetables. Of all the nutrients required by a gardener, nearly all are available in the soil, except for nitrogen and phosphorus { See The Research >> }.

Because rabbit poop breaks down so quickly as long as it’s applied appropriately and you don’t bury the roots or base of your plants with bunny pellets, there is little chance of burning your vegetables or flowers.

Rabbit manure is also easy to procure and prepare for the rabbit wranglers as it is pooped out in nice little round pellets. 

The major drawback for production and perhaps the reason that prices stay so high is a simple truth: rabbits are small in size. 

While rabbits do eat a lot for their body weight they don’t weigh much and therefore don’t poop much.

How much manure does one rabbit produce?

The amount of manure varies widely based on two things.

#1 – The size of the rabbit greatly affects the amount of poop.

Small adult rabbits can weigh as little as 2.5 pounds, and the giant breeds can be top 22 pounds! As you can guess, that kind of size difference will greatly vary the output.

An average meat rabbit falls in between the mini rabbits and giant rabbits, weighing about 11 pounds, and will produce between half a pound and a pound of manure a day.

A mini rabbit will produce about a quarter a pound of manure a day and a giant up to 3 pounds.

Second, the amount of poop produced varies greatly based upon what they are eating?

The numbers shared above, are based upon a standard diet of pellets and hay.  

However, if your rabbits eating more actual fresh grass, the volume of manure produced will drop. A rabbit that is eating exclusively grass, will produce about half the volume of manure.

Why Does Manure Price Vary So Much?

The price of rabbit manure varies depending on a few factors. 

First, are you selling retail or wholesale? That is selling to the end consumer vs selling to a store that will then resell your product.

The advantage of selling retail is that you keep all the profit and don’t split it with a retail ‘middleman’.  If you are selling wholesale, the retailer will normally ask for a 30-60% discount off of the price they charge their customers.  

You also don’t have to produce as much manure most likely as you will probably just be selling to small gardeners.

If you sell wholesale you will sell your rabbit poop for 40-70% of what you could sell it retail, but you will be selling to more reliable customers that will buy more from you.

The final factor that has an impact on manure cost is the quality of life your rabbits are living.

If your rabbits are grass-fed, or eating exclusively organic feed, and have a very spacious cage you can charge more, the same way free-range chicken is more expensive. 

With a little marketing practice, you’ll be able to charge a 20-50% premium for your Organic Free Range All Natural Bunny Fertilizer.

The difference is mostly perceived by the consumer, but perception is a powerful thing.

Finally, price varies based upon how big of package your selling.

A small package sold to a neighborhood flower gardener at the local farmer’s market will fetch a premium price of $15 or more a pound.

On the other end of the size spectrum, a truckload of Bunny Manure sold to a local market farmer would sell at wholesale prices or less but is so much less labor-intensive. 

Selling Rabbit Manure on eBay

Selling rabbit manure on eBay allows you to access a larger market than you could by other means, but you will have more competition. 

Manure seems to be selling at significantly higher prices than it would in other venues. However, keep in mind that the price is somewhat of an illusion because of shipping prices which are very high because manure is heavy. 

EBay might be the option for you if you don’t live near a farmers market and/or you don’t have enough rabbits for it to be economical to go to a farmers market or sell wholesale.

I would recommend using eBay if you live in an area with lots of competition and you would like to access a larger market. Or if you don’t have very much rabbit manure. 

Selling Rabbit Manure on Craigslist

In many ways selling rabbit manure on Craigslist is similar to selling on eBay, but there are a few key differences.

The largest difference between eBay and Craigslist is that you can advertise your fertilizer to a local market. So you get the advantage of cheap or free advertising but will be selling to local gardeners and avoid the shipping costs.

Overall though, selling on eBay and Craigslist are similar enough that for at least a little bit it makes sense to use both until a clear winner is found, or continue to use both for the foreseeable future.

Selling Rabbit Manure at a Farmers Market

If you are looking for a more local solution where you can make customers instead of just finding them a farmers market might be for you. eBay and Craigslist require that your customers already know how incredible rabbit manure is, but at a farmers market, people see you without looking for you.

Farmers’ markets carry all of the upsides and downsides of selling locally that Craigslist has. To recap a local market has less competition, but also less demand and you don’t have to pay high shipping costs.

A major disadvantage of farmers’ markets is that you will have to have more rabbits and thus more manure for it to make sense to go. Though you could choose to only go in the spring or fall when gardens are being fertilized and stockpile the rest of the year if you don’t have many rabbits. 

You also might not be close to a farmers market, which might make the costs outway the benefits.

Selling Rabbit Manure to a Local Garden Supply Store

If you have lots of rabbits and are looking for a hands-free approach to selling rabbit poop you might want to sell to sell wholesale to a local store. The major downside is that the store will dramatically reduce your profits by 30-60%, but they will do all the selling for you.

While there is a chance that your local garden will immediately be interested in buying rabbit manure, but often they will be skeptical. In this case, I would suggest consignment so the store doesn’t lose anything in a trial run.

Summary

In the end anyway you want to sell rabbit manure you can make a profit, different options just bring their own unique advantages and disadvantages.

If you are just starting to raise rabbits and don’t have many, try selling on eBay and Craigslist, possibly at a local farmers market. When and if you have more rabbits try selling to a local garden supply store. 

If your rabbits are grass-fed and not pellet fed you might be able to charge a premium.

~Evander