My Rabbit Journey~New Pics pg 17

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Oh I do love on them!! So cute and bratty at the same time-- the H-A-T-E to be kissed and touched, especially their heads.

Makes me want to kiss and hold the all the more. I did this with my first litter as well and they turned into very friendly and relaxed rabbits.

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Been a while since I updated this thread. Since last time I posted I lost my Champagne doe to heatstroke, or at least I think that is what happened. She was out in an exercise pen, with shade and fresh water -- so were my other rabbits. She was the only one to become distressed and died within minutes if me realizing something was wrong with her.

Anyway from her first litter I kept her best doe and I just bred her for the first time to our NZ buck. I am hoping to have a nice litter in about three weeks. Tomorrow night I am picking up a four month old doe from the same breeder. I am finding I am quite partial to the Champagnes. They seem to make really nice babies with the NZ. They are very fast growing babies with very good carcass weights.

Some friends of ours were very interested in raising meat rabbits too, so we are doing a meat co-op with them. They are keeping our buck at their house and have our largest 4-room hutch. I do the breeding and raising of the babies until they are 6 weeks old. At that time they are transferred to the friend's house to grow out until 10-14 weeks of age. We then split the litter half/half. They are also going to get another hutch and a doe of their own. It is working out really well with the cost of the food split fairly evenly.

Edit: pics of the Champagne X NZ litter

Two does from that litter:

 

[stuckinthecity]

Those does are beautiful! I love the orange-ish one!

 

[kfacres]

Quote:
how many days has it been since you bred her? some women i know get pretty darn cranky when they have a little on in the oven...

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Quote:
how many days has it been since you bred her? some women i know get pretty darn cranky when they have a little on in the oven...

That was a really old post, since then I did eat her.

But she was never bred, I really didnt care for her temperament or conformation. I am regretting it though, I should have given her more time.. oh well...

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Quote:
Thank you! We butchered them today, they were both just over 4 pounds @ 16 weeks old -- that is dressed weight. We are really happy with this combination. I found it harder to kill these two pretty girls, but that's 8 more pounds of meat than we had yesterday

 

[Connorrm]

Glad it's working out so well. I wonder if they have that "hybrid vigor" you hear so much about. Though, I find most breeds of rabbits to be genetically sound (excluding peanuts in dwarf breeds and max factor in Netherland dwarfs).

Also, Jamie help me train my pup to stop jumping!

 

[Connorrm]

Jamie, I'm wondering what the fur was like on that black one? It looks longer and nicely silvered. In fact, from the picture it looks like a silver fox. Which, would be incredible if you could produce that from a nice champ doe and NZ. You said red nz buck x champ doe right?

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Quote:
The fur on the silver one was longer than her Mother (pure champagne) and longer than the father (pure broken-red NZ). It was very very silky and of a very different texture than the others in the litter. She was gorgeous and we kept the pelts of both of them. I am looking forward to this cross again. I have my young doe (daughter out of the Champagne that had this ChampagnexNZ litter). I bred her to the same NZ buck.

I will certainly get pictures of her litter if she has any -- LOL I say *if* because I only got one successful mating in two days of trying, so we'll see. I seriously thanked God outloud when he feel over in a daze. Did NOT think she'd ever lift for him...I guess we'll see.. LOL

 

[Lark Rise]

We are having trouble with breeding our rabbits. They (2 does and a buck) are pedigree NZ that we got from a breeder. They are a year old now. The buck is interested, but both does always run from him and he finally gives up. We have even left them overnight together and still nothing. Does anyone have any suggestions?