Stormcrow's Hobby Farm

[NatJ]

Thanks! I love learning new things.. I was thinking about keeping some on wire above my compost worm bins but figured it wouldn’t work because of their need to eat things twice. I’m googling miniature rabbit now .
ETA omg the Netherland Dwarf is so cute!!!
‘looks like a kit no matter how old it gets’
And gluten free rabbit food is available here! Seriously considering this, very exciting news

If you want rabbits as pets, Netherland Dwarfs are a reasonable choice.
But if you want them to breed (for meat or to have more pets), they are not the easiest breed to start with.

In general, smaller rabbits have less bunnies per litter but more birthing troubles, as compared with larger breeds that tend to have more bunnies per litter but fewer birthing issues because the bunnies are smaller compared to the mother (even though they are bigger than small-breed bunnies, the bunnies are not as much bigger as their mother is bigger than a small-breed doe.) It is not that every small doe has trouble and every big doe is fine, just that problems are more likely for the small ones and less likely for the big ones.

There is a specific gene that causes problems for all of the small dwarf rabbits: one copy of the gene makes a dwarf rabbit, two copies make a dead bunny. So either you breed a dwarf and a non-dwarf and get bunnies where half are dwarfs and the other half are not, or you breed two dwarfs and get 1/4 not-dwarf bunnies, 1/2 dwarf bunnies, 1/4 dead bunnies. Google for "peanuts" along with the name of any dwarf rabbit breed if you want more information and probably some photos.

How long do you breed them before they are rotated out?
At this point are they too old to eat?

They are never too old to eat. You might need to cook them long and slow (like an old chicken), or you can grind them up for sausage, but they are always edible.

How long to keep them, I can't speak for what @U_Stormcrow is doing, but in general probably around 2-3 years for most good does and maybe a few years longer for good bucks. Ones that are not good will get replaced sooner.

For meat rabbits, being a "good" breeder means they produce bunnies with the right traits (health, growth, color or anything else that matters to the owner). It also means the doe gets pregnant, has a good number of bunnies, and raises them well; or the buck gets the doe pregnant with a good number of bunnies.

Even "good" rabbits might get replaced sooner if there is reason to think that some of their bunnies are even better (so a 2-year-old doe might get removed if her 1-year-old daughter is better and there is another promising bunny the owner wants to try but needs cage space to keep it.)

 

[JacinLarkwell]

My rabbits lived on wire. They were never litter trained because they weren't pets and that way they didn't have space taken up with a litter box. The wire was small enough that it caught the stuff that they ate again, because of the consistency (though they rarely ate all of it), ND the pellet poop dropped through usually

 

[Ital]

If you want rabbits as pets, Netherland Dwarfs are a reasonable choice.
But if you want them to breed (for meat or to have more pets), they are not the easiest breed to start with.

In general, smaller rabbits have less bunnies per litter but more birthing troubles, as compared with larger breeds that tend to have more bunnies per litter but fewer birthing issues because the bunnies are smaller compared to the mother (even though they are bigger than small-breed bunnies, the bunnies are not as much bigger as their mother is bigger than a small-breed doe.) It is not that every small doe has trouble and every big doe is fine, just that problems are more likely for the small ones and less likely for the big ones.

There is a specific gene that causes problems for all of the small dwarf rabbits: one copy of the gene makes a dwarf rabbit, two copies make a dead bunny. So either you breed a dwarf and a non-dwarf and get bunnies where half are dwarfs and the other half are not, or you breed two dwarfs and get 1/4 not-dwarf bunnies, 1/2 dwarf bunnies, 1/4 dead bunnies. Google for "peanuts" along with the name of any dwarf rabbit breed if you want more information and probably some photos.


They are never too old to eat. You might need to cook them long and slow (like an old chicken), or you can grind them up for sausage, but they are always edible.

How long to keep them, I can't speak for what @U_Stormcrow is doing, but in general probably around 2-3 years for most good does and maybe a few years longer for good bucks. Ones that are not good will get replaced sooner.

For meat rabbits, being a "good" breeder means they produce bunnies with the right traits (health, growth, color or anything else that matters to the owner). It also means the doe gets pregnant, has a good number of bunnies, and raises them well; or the buck gets the doe pregnant with a good number of bunnies.

Even "good" rabbits might get replaced sooner if there is reason to think that some of their bunnies are even better (so a 2-year-old doe might get removed if her 1-year-old daughter is better and there is another promising bunny the owner wants to try but needs cage space to keep it.)

It’s just their deposits I’m interested in and they seem to live ages so I’ll probably just get a couple of same sex dwarfs, thanks for all the info.
I only wanted to grow a plant and somehow ended up with quail, dubia roaches, compost worms, a mealworm farm, and now rabbits.
@JacinLarkwell do u you remember the mesh size you used?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

It’s just their deposits I’m interested in and they seem to live ages so I’ll probably just get a couple of same sex dwarfs, thanks for all the info.
I only wanted to grow a plant and somehow ended up with quail, dubia roaches, compost worms, a mealworm farm, and now rabbits.
@JacinLarkwell do u you remember the mesh size you used?

For the walls, 1x2. For the floor, I think .5x1

 

[NatJ]

For the walls, 1x2. For the floor, I think .5x1

Those measurements (in inches) match my memory of what size wire is common in rabbit cages in the USA.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Those measurements (in inches) matches my memory of what size wire is common in rabbit cages in the USA.

Oh yes, sorry, inches.

The floor *might* have been .25x.5, bit that seems awfully tiny. I can look when I get home, I have my big cages still from the NZs, I have a pair of birds in one right now

 

[Molpet]

For the walls, 1x2. For the floor, I think .5x1

you must not have been visited by mink or weasels. They get through anything bigger than half inch.

 

[NatJ]

you must not have been visited by mink or weasels. They get through anything bigger than half inch.

And dogs can chew up a rabbit's feet right through the .5" by 1" bottom wire, too. And a big dog can bend the wire and the door latches enough to get the rabbit out. And of course a raccoon can reach through 1" by 2" holes to grab rabbits.

Those kinds of wire are great for keeping the rabbits inside the cage (not escaping), but not very good at protecting the rabbits from anything. So they work best inside a fence, or a barn, or something else that protects from predators. (Details depend on what predators are in the area.) If the cages are made of just wire mesh with no solid parts, they need weather protection too (a roof, and depending on the climate maybe a few windbreaks or solid walls.)

 

[Sally PB]

How much room (square feet) does a rabbit need?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

you must not have been visited by mink or weasels. They get through anything bigger than half inch.

No, we don't have them here.