Farm Critters - got rabbits!

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• 3equines Posted : 3/12/2012 5:19:36 AM My husband and I have just started a new adventure raising meat rabbits. He spent the weekend making cages out of 1/2" x 2" wire and I ran a CL ad for breeding stock rabbits. Ended up with 2 beautiful does who are from separate litters, they are California x New Zealand mixed breed. The oldest doe is 10 months and weighs in at 10 pound, 4 ounces! Just picked up a buck tonight, he is a very mellow and pretty New Zealand x (California/ (plus unknown) cross - he's a proven breeder who has sired healthy, fast-growing litters with lots of color! My young friend who rides the horses with me has done rabbits in 4-H so she is my assistant rabbit manager. She's pretty excited about them and allready named the does "Diamond" and "Rose". LIKE 16 REPLIES 6821 VIEWS LAST POST DOLPHIN Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• hunterseat Posted : 3/12/2012 11:32:52 AM NOOOO! They're not cute if they're food!!  [] My sitter who practically raised me, had rabbits.  Every now and then one would "escape" and then we ate ham salad sandwiches. [] LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• Connie Posted : 3/12/2012 2:02:24 PM Love rabbits.  I hope your assistant is aware of this, but in case she isn't, ALWAYS take the doe to the buck.  Does can get very territorial and sometimes attempt to kill or castrate the buck if he comes to her "house". Florida Whites and Havana's and other rabbits of that build make fryers at 3 months.  I used to raise some for a guy who supplied a cooking school...this helped offset the feed bill for the show rabbits.  He liked the smaller breeds and that is the way we went. LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• 3equines Posted : 3/12/2012 4:43:33 PM These are the breeding stock, I hope to pick up 2 more does, so they get names : ) I raised rabbits about 10 years ago, walked into it without knowing much and learned some things the hard way. Taking a more scientific approach to it this time around. Keeping track of expenses, weighing feed, going to weigh the litters and keep notes on how productive the breeding stock are. Definitely plan on taking the girls to "His" place... no castration!!!! My husband is building more double-wide hutches today, so each doe can have a double cage to herself (right now the two does are sharing one double cage with the divider in the middle) We'll probably set a couple of the larger kits from each litter aside to mature to full market weight, but the majority will be 'fryers' for nice lean dinners. LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• hunterseat Posted : 3/13/2012 1:45:54 AM I've heard that if you nothing but rabbit you'd starve to death. Ever heard such? LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• 3equines Posted : 3/13/2012 6:54:28 AM Yeah, its an old wive's tail. Rabbits are a complete protein but very lean - almost no fat. Anyone who eats ONLY meat (and nothing else) will starve/ get sick. Hence the Atkins diet and several other meat-only or meat-based fad diets. Biologically, we also need fats in our diet to stay healthy. Along with carbohydrates and fiber. LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• DaneHaven Posted : 3/14/2012 1:49:36 AM Pilot used to raise meat rabbits. He said the only problem was the butchering and having to eat all the rabbits himself.[8D] LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• Dolphin Posted : 3/14/2012 2:03:27 PM Raising rabbits is a fun hobby. I have raised them for years and have enjoyed every minute of it. We (me, my sister and my aunt) have rasied many breeds in our years with rabbits. Yes, we raised them for meat, to be sold as pets or for show rabbits. All our rabbits are purebred, but we do cross our rabbits when we need meat rabbits. Right now, we raise Standard Rex, Mini Rex, New Zealand Reds, Holland Lops, Flemish Giants, and Dutch. We have raise Mini Lops, Cals, Florida Whites, Jeresy Woolies, Satins, Checker Giants, French Lops, Netherland Dwarfs and Champagne D'Argents!  Your rabbits and cages look great 3equnies! You look like you are starting off right. Be careful not to interbreed your rabbits, lots of people do, but we have always found that when you breed too close, bad trouble comes from it. Lots of luck.....[] LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• 3equines Posted : 3/15/2012 4:10:40 PM I'd like to know more about the Flemish Giant and how they would turn out as meat producers. I would like to have one Flemish doe to cross with either California or New Zealand buck but wonder if the offspring would take longer to reach market size, or if they would actually have more meat than the Cali or NZ rabbits. Also hear lots about not breeding does in the summertime because they don't take the heat. I don't remember having this trouble in the past, but I lived where summer never got above 85* and that was the exception. LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• Dolphin Posted : 3/16/2012 5:47:31 PM We breed our rabbits year round. We try not to have any litters born in July (the hottest month). No rabbit really likes heat, they perfer the cold . However, they can handle the heat with a little extra help from their owners. When the temps go above 85 or when the humidity makes it feel like it's 85, we turn our fans on for the rabbits that live in the barn and we put frozen 16oz pop bottles in the cages of the rabbits that live outside. I like to freeze 2 liter bottles of water too, because a bigger bottle works great in a bunny pen were say 8-10 bunnies are growing. The Flemish Giants too like the bigger bottles. They lay next to them and it actually helps keep them cool. Since we started using the frozen bottles, we have not lost a single rabbit to the heat []  A Flemish crossed with a Cal or a NZ does very well for meat. I don't think it takes longer to raise a cross litter for meat. We feed our rabbits, breeding stock, growing bunnies, moms and the litters, a mostly hay diet, with rabbits pellets several times a week, but not everyday. The rabbit pellets in our area are anywhere between $15 and $18 for a 50 pound bag. Not cheap when you are feeding over 50 breeding stock and all the bunnies. The hay we feed is a second cutting clover/timothy/alafalfa, but first is good too. Becareful not to feed hay that is straight alafalfa, as this will make the rabbits and bunnies sick. It is too rich for their systems. I know this to be true, so don't believe it if you read it on line or in a book. LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• hunterseat Posted : 3/16/2012 11:55:02 PM Dolphin's the bunny queen. []  too cool!  LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• 3equines Posted : 3/17/2012 12:23:32 PM thanks dolphin! I've found my does are crazy over the timothy grass hay I feed the horses. The buck doesn't go nuts over it so much. Rabbit pellets aren't any cheaper here. 10 years ago I had raised a few rabbits but I was young and not paying much attention, however I did discover that alfalfa pellets could be fed to them and were cheaper than the commercial rabbit feed. LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• Dolphin Posted : 3/19/2012 2:57:17 PM [] Thanks Hunter.....  3equines, looks like your buck is spoiled. His pic is gorgeous!!! I've never substituted rabbit pellets for alfalfa pellets, but if you have done it before....... not sure if you knew this or not, but when you are raising rabbit from breeding, the does need to have at least 4-5 litters a year. Our does have 4 litters. If you don't breed them to have at least 4, when you go to breed them, they may not take for you. Just a little tip...... LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• 3equines Posted : 3/19/2012 7:36:51 PM Thanks again, Dolphin! I am planning to breed each doe every 3rd month, so that would make about 4 litters a year. All the does I got are just hitting breeding age: 10 months, 9 months, 8 months. The New Zealand doe I just bought is a nice, solid 10 pounds, 12 ounces! She is 9 months old, I will breed her in a couple weeks (just bred the large California cross doe and I want to space out the litters.) My husband just finished making 3 of the double cages, so now each doe has a double cage to herself. The last two he made ar3 60" x 24" x 18" (height). We have an unused greenhouse shed that we plan to remodel - replace a lot of the glass with plywood, put an insulated roof on it and set up a fan system to make an air-conditioned rabbit barn for the summer. that's the New Zealand doe, she is pedigreed so we may eventually get a pedigreed buck to breed her with. LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login
• Dolphin Posted : 3/19/2012 9:18:40 PM She looks like a nice doe too. What's her name?   One other little tip 3quines, whenever I breed my rabbits, I always breed 2 does on the same day. That way, if for some reason you lose a doe, you can always foster her litter to the other mom. It is too hard and not very successful to hand raise a litter of bunnies. Just thought I would share that with you...  I love the converting a greenhouse into a rabbitry idea! Sounds like your rabbits have landed in 3quineheaven!!!! Good luck [] LIKE Like Share You have posted to a forum that requires a moderator to approve posts before they are publicly available. Hey, it's way more fun when you sign up or log in Connect With Connect With Sign Up Login