Raising Meat Rabbits

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@Athena2344 At 10 lbs, your rabbits sound much too small to be Checkered Giant/Flemish crosses. While not every Flemish will make the minimum show weight of 13 lbs, they are huge animals with big frames. The Checkered Giant weighs at least 11 lbs, and they are rangy, slender rabbits, with a lot of daylight under them:
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At 10 lbs, it is likely that your animals are a New Zealand or other meat breed cross. For your purposes, that's much better than being any type of giant cross; the giant breeds have big frames, which means less meat and more waste in each carcass.
 
@Athena2344 At 10 lbs, your rabbits sound much too small to be Checkered Giant/Flemish crosses. While not every Flemish will make the minimum show weight of 13 lbs, they are huge animals with big frames. The Checkered Giant weighs at least 11 lbs, and they are rangy, slender rabbits, with a lot of daylight under them:
16_263618.jpg


At 10 lbs, it is likely that your animals are a New Zealand or other meat breed cross. For your purposes, that's much better than being any type of giant cross; the giant breeds have big frames, which means less meat and more waste in each carcass.
If i could post picks i would, I'm rounding to about 10 lbs, because my kitchen scale weighs only up to 7lbs, and the mark goes past that for the doe, and my buck is heavier than her. I believe there is also lionhead on the mom's side, as she has a "wool tuft" and one the doe kit i'm keeping has a wool tuft, a 2 in or so mane, and a skirt. Both parents and all kits have colored ears, eyeliner, colored noses, spine stripe (some spotted stripes, but stripes nontheless) Mom has spotted patches and spotted tail as well as 3 of the kits. 2 are white with colored ears, eyeliner, and colored noses, no other spotting. I weighed 2 nights ago, one is 2 1/2 lbs, one is 2 3/4 lbs, two are 2 7/8 lbs, and one is 3 lbs
 
Their heads are also more rounded and smoother like a flemish, not like the chekered above, they might be new zealand crosses, i'll try to post pics tonight and see what you and others think. I appreciate it, thank you
 
Both parents and all kits have colored ears, eyeliner, colored noses, spine stripe (some spotted stripes, but stripes nontheless) Mom has spotted patches and spotted tail as well as 3 of the kits. 2 are white with colored ears, eyeliner, and colored noses, no other spotting.

The broken gene sets the stage for white appearing on a colored animal, but there are other genes (called modifiers) that determine just how much white there is. The Mini Rex baby that is my avatar was what is known as a "booted" broken. He had a little bit of white on his face, his feet, his belly, and his chest; all the rest of his fur was colored. At the other extreme are breeds like the Blanc de Hotot, which has color around the eyes, and that's it.

Since both your buck and your doe are brokens, the two with almost no color may be "Charlies." "Charlie" is a nickname people came up with for rabbits that inherit the gene for the broken pattern from both parents. Unfortunately for the Charlie, the broken gene doesn't just affect the color of the rabbit's coat, it also plays a part in the development of the digestive system. Charlies have sluggish digestive systems, and have a hard time absorbing the nutrients in their food. Since you are breeding brokens together and tracking the weight of the kits, you may find that your Charlies grow slower than their siblings. When you slaughter them, you will most likely find that the Charlies have a condition known as megacolon, where at least part of the large intestine is abnormally large. Rabbits with megacolon typically experience painful episodes of gastrointestinal stasis (periods when the digestive system shuts down entirely), and may even die as a result. Because of these digestive issues in Charlies, many breeders don't breed broken patterned rabbits together.
 
I did notice that one of the almost whites is smaller than the others, but i just chalked it up to being the runt. The other one is gaining as well as the other and is 3 lbs, the same as one of the spotted kits. The other two are 3 lbs 4oz and 3lbs 6oz.
 
Not every lightly-marked broken is a Charlie. Even with two broken parents, you can get animals with a single copy of the broken gene that have modifiers for very little color. These two Netherland Dwarf kits are both single-copy brokens, but look at the difference:
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anyone here raise meat rabbits in a colony setting?

am thinking about looking into it. but really not a fan of the cage system. i have read the story's guide to raising rabbits and some articles on them. and think they could be a good source of meat, (have eaten both wild and domestic rabbit and think its awesome)
 

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