do u know anything about rabbits?

[boykin2010]

i am thinking of getting some rabbits. i will not be killing them and eating them but i would probably put the offspring in an auction for a low price just to basically give them away.
they would probably be kept in a large dog pen with a shelter inside it for them to sleep and get under in bad weather. i would probably only want to get 3 rabbits. and i would like them to be all different colors and breeds.
i wanted 1 buck and 2 does.
does anyone have any suggestions on breeds. I really dont want any solid black breed or predominatley black for some reason i am not sure why. I was kinda wanting a white one a black and white spotted or a brown and white spotted or a just a buff colored one.
does anyone have any suggestions on breeds.
also any important info i need to know on keeping rabbits and breeding them... is there really any money in breeding them and selling them at auctions? i dont think there will be when u subtract the money it takes to feed them. o well they are just pets anyway thank you for looking and thank you for any advice or suggestions you give.

 

[Olive Hill]

If you have no use for the offspring why in the world would you breed them to begin with? Get three of the same sex and be done with it.

 

[boykin2010]

well i want to breed them and raise the young. then i would give them away to people or sell them for a cheap price.

 

[boykin2010]

any ideas????

 

[Southernbelle]

I've been raising rabbits since I was 12 and I'm in my 30s now.

I prefer to keep rabbits in individual heavy-duty all-wire cages suspended off the ground to keep the rabbits clean and safe and it keeps the poop piled nicely for the garden. That way any breedings are intentional and carefully managed. The kids each have their favorite rabbits and will take them out to play in a wire "playpen" I made. I feed commercial rabbit pellets free-choice in drop-feeders and use water bottles, although I've recently upgraded to an automatic gravity watering system.

In colony situations, rabbits can be territorial and can hurt each other if kept all in one cage. Rabbits are also able to breed as soon as they deliver a litter, so you could potentially have each doe dropping a litter every 4 weeks. Not only is this VERY hard on the does' bodies, but your space will be overcrowded in no time and when the does are stressed they can abandon or savage their young. Not to mention, if all the rabbits have access to the does' nests, they can hurt the babies jumping in and out of the nest or soiling the nest.

If you want to sell baby rabbits, I'd stick with different colors of the same breed so you can sell the offspring as pure-bred. The most popular pets around here are the dwarf breeds. I really like Holland Lops. Mixed bred rabbits aren't worth much and most people would just take them for meat.

 

[boykin2010]

well what if i built 3 pens attached to each other. in one i kept just the females in one i kept just the males and in 1 i kept the babies. would this be okay?

 

[boykin2010]

can you post pictures of your breeding pens

 

[Southernbelle]

Quote:
I still recommend individual cages. I find if I leave sibling groups together too long (seperated males and females, of course) I find occasional injuries - bites, scratches, etc among both males and females- evidence they were fighting.

It's okay to keep a group of siblings together between the time they're weaned and the time they're sold, but I'm not a fan of raising rabbits in groups as a practice. I know there are people that do it and some may chime in here and offer another opinion, but I prefer to keep my rabbits in individual cages, unless I'm breeding them or a doe is raising her litter.

 

[Southernbelle]

Quote:
I'll have to take some pictures, so I can't post anything immediately, but I'll see about getting some tomorrow. If you click on my BYC page, you can kind've see where my rabbit cages are under an overhang on my barn.

I raise Holland Lops which are a dwarf breed. The adults are 4# or less at maturity. I sold all my New Zealand whites. My Holland Lop cages are 24x24" and 18" high. I usually breed them and let the does raise kits in their normal cages. When the kits are weaned, I put them in an adjoining cage. The New Zealands got cages 24x48.

www.klubertanz.com is a wonderful resource for heavy-duty cage wire (14 and 16 gauge), cage hangers, water bottles and feeders. Their prices are better than I can get locally and our local feedstore and Lowes don't carry cage wire or hardware cloth that heavy.

 

[Ariel301]

You might try backyardherds.com. They've got a whole section for rabbit people.

Before breeding, you need to be sure there IS a market for baby bunnies in your area. I breed goats, have some top of the line show quality goats with impressive bloodlines and good milk production, and I have a hard time finding buyers who want them, even though they are top of the line and my prices low. It would be even harder to find someone to buy a lower quality, crossbred animal.