Flemish Giant Rabbits questions

[EweSheep]

A friend of mine are selling a year old buck and two six month old sisters for $30 each.

I dont know how big do they get but seeing them in person, they are much bigger than my Californian buck my sister used to have. Do they get any bigger or they are slow developing breed?

Are they good for meat?

They are pedigreed so does it really makes a difference?

Are they good with kids? She said they have not been handled much and the kids lost interest in them. So she is letting them go, along downsizing her chickens, and some of her livestock. She has some sheep, maybe some goats that I saw out int he pasture.

They want to move back in the city but they had no takers for the house because the banks could not give the buyers loans due to bad credits, etc.

 

[Bunnylady]

For show purposes, Flemish must weigh at least 13 pounds; I have seen some 20 pounders! Californians run about 8 - 10 pounds, so yeah, Flemish are a fair bit bigger than Cali's. The buck has probably achieved his maximum size, though the does may get a little bigger. Really large breeds of rabbit take a few months longer to grow up than the smaller breeds do.

Any breed of rabbit can be eaten, of course, but the best ratio of meat to bone is seen in the medium sized "commercial" breeds. You get a bit more bone on the carcass of a Flemish, but that is really only a problem for a serious meat producing operation. Some people will cross NZ's or Cali's to Flemish to try to get fryers that achieve dress-out weight faster, the resulting rabbits may not be quite as meaty as a purebred NZ or Cali, but they aren't scarecrows, either.

The pedigrees are interesting, but not necessarily a guarantee of quality. If the person writing the pedigrees didn't know or understand the breed standard, they might not know what to select for when it comes to choosing their breeding animals. Generally, though, a person who goes to the trouble of keeping records and writing pedigrees is familiar enough with the breed to produce animals that are at least close to the standard. You can show animals that don't have pedigrees, though pedigrees are required for registration (grand champions must be registered, so no pedigree = no grand championship, no matter how many legs a rabbit wins!)

Flemish are usually fairly laid-back rabbits, though younger rabbits may be a little wound up. Handled calmly and gently, most rabbits can be "good with kids," sometimes the question really should be, "how good are your kids with rabbits?" lol

 

[EweSheep]

Yes we loved the meat of our Cali/NZ crosses, they dressed out the BEST. Delicious to boot and does not take alot of time raising them.

I wanted to eat them but $30 is quite spendy and I am guessing they may be too old for the table eating. Unless my daughter wants one LOL! I personally dont know if she is ready since she kept losing her hamsters LOL!

Beautiful coat they had but I think I better pass up for some kid's pet.

 

[Orpingtons4U]

Flemish They are not really a meat breed much more for show amd breeding and pet only

 

[redhen]

Not sure about meat.. but the one i had was sooooo sweet. If i ever get another rabbit again, thats the ONLY breed i will ever get again.
But the rabbit you are talking about is older... so i dont know how it was raised/temperment wise..

 

[JustAChickenLittle&More]

I recently acquired a buck and three does from a breeder. They are about 3-4 months old and they are the sweetest rabbits I've ever owned. They are not jumpy, they stand still for petting. They are always eager to see me in the morning. They are Pedigreed Flemish, and just beautiful. The white one is probably the one that is a little bit hesistant when I'm around, but she's coming around. After acquiring these, the Flemish are the only ones I would buy from now on as well.