I got some meat rabbits!

[coffeenutdesign]

Just another stepping stone towards my, "screw the world" lifestyle I found an ad on CL for a guy getting out of his meat rabbit venture and ended up with 3 bred Californian does, 1 younger Cali doe, a Cali buck, and 3 younger NZ cross does.

My original plan was a Cali trio and a NZW trio, but the lady I am getting my NZs from won't have my babies for another couple of months. I jumped on this deal figuring it would get me started and any I don't like I can cull and keep a few to breed until I can get better breeding stock, but these girls look good. However, one of the does was bred sooner than he told us and kindled the 2nd night we had them...on the wire. I managed to save 2. So in less than 48 hours I went from 0 rabbits to 8 rabbits to 10 rabbits...and I still have to get my NZs!

Rabbits seem to be a lot more work than chickens, for sure, but I think it will be sooo worth it!

 

[animalsRawesome]

OOOOH! I love my rabbits and I know you will love yours too! Congratulations on your new purchase. Have you had rabbits before? I would be happy to help if you have any questions. I don't know all the answers, but I would love to help if I can.

 

[bwahk]

Thats awesome we are just starting our rabbits too. So farm have a Flemish giant female and a regular housepet sized small male. I believe the female is pregnant. Excited to get this all going.

 

[animalsRawesome]

bwahk: Congrats on your new rabbits too! Do you know when your flemish is due? Make sure you have a nest box in there for her a few days before she is due otherwise she will have them on the wire of the cage and they probably won't live bc their little feet get stuck in the wire and they will be cold too (I'm assuming she's in a wire-floor cage). Also, with flemish make sure you keep an eye on her; you don't want her getting sore hocks. I keep a resting board in all my flemish pens to help prevent sore hocks. Sorry if you already knew all that and I seem rude/out of place for answering questions that weren't asked...

I

 

[bwahk]

Oh no not at all I welcome all advice as I am totally new to rabbits. I am totally addicted though, my Neffy (Flemish) is soo sweet.

Actually I made her a full sized pen, directly opposite my chicken coop/pen in my barn. She was in a small wire cage when I bought her and totally loves the freedom. She runs around and kicks up her heels all the time. I have straw down over the concrete floor, and she has several boxes and various hidey-places to choose from.

We just bought the little "man" about five days ago. They had a long romp together, and in the days since she seems to be very sleep... I'm thinking she's pregnant although I definitely could be wrong. I've upped her food just to be sure.

 

[erinszoo]

Congrats! Glad you have rabbits that are already bred ... the one thing we've learned is that the saying "they breed like rabbits" isn't quite true in reality. We've had meat rabbits for over a year now and only had one liter from them. We are hoping that our does are now pregnant again as we watched them breed again two days ago. Ours stay in the barn, girls in one cage, boys in the other. We were told our boys would fight if we kept them together but they never have. We let them out to run in the sunshine on the grass every day that we can that it's not too cold or too hot. They love to run and jump around and chase each other endlessly. They also love to dig in the dirt. At one point they had an outdoor pen but one of them was an escape artist and would get out and run around the neighborhood. It would be gone almost every morning and then show again in the evening when we would feed them. Have no idea how it stayed away from all the dogs running loose around here.

 

[bwahk]

How fun! We let our chickens our in the afternoon and Neffy has considered coming out, she peeks out the door but hasn't decided to make the plunge yet.

Our plan is to get one more boy (a flemish) and a couple more girls probably small ones. I have the boy in a raised hutch in the barn for now, still have to build a cage for him LOL. He seems to enjoy it though. He hates my rooster, if they're around each other he chases the poor roo round and round. My roo (named Gaston) is not very friendly so I don't feel too bad.

 

[coffeenutdesign]

well, the 2 babies died. I am hoping to have better luck with the other two does that are pregnant. One of them has had a litter before and was a really good mother. Rabbits are definitely a little more work than chickens, but I am hoping to someday have some really good breeding stock to at least feed us on a regular basis.

 

[bwahk]

That is exactly our goal too. Yea I think it ill take awhile....

I'm sorry to hear about the babies. I've heard the first litter or two can be rough. A friend was cautioning me that occasionally the does can kill the babies. I'm not all that worried about Neffy though, she's a sweetie.

 

[bilder]

We got our first rabbits last week too!

Got three freebies off CL. Two does and a buck, all are Silver Fox/English Spotted mix. Not the greatest mix for meat, but free is a good price. They are young and will not reach breeding age for another two months.

Got another doe yesterday that is a NZ/Cali mix and she is pregnant and due on the 26th. Now to secure a mature NZ or California buck and we will be on our way.

Spent this afternoon fixing up a freebie three hole cage to use as a grow out pen. Looking forward to lots of rabbit meat to add to the chickens and veggies from the garden.