My Rabbit Journey~New Pics pg 17

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

My 12"x12" are large enough for even my biggest doe who is HUGE. If they lie down their body hangs off of it, but really, if they are laying on their side the wire flooring isn't hurting their feet at that time anyway. I actually had tried putting two tiles in at a time but they were more apt to urinate on it. I put the tiles right in front of the door in the middle of the hutch so they won't try and use it as their potty corner. The one tile is working out very well for me. My hutches are 36"x36".

 

[Lark Rise]

Quote:
Oh good, I'm going to get some tomorrow!

Here's their shed made of free pallets and old shower curtains.

Here are the cages hanging in the shed:

Here's one of the cuties:

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Your bunnies are gorgeous and very healthy looking.

I like your shed too.

 

[Connorrm]

Larkrise the rule of thumb for show rabbits is:


1 oz of pellets per pound of body weight -

1 cup tends to be about 8oz. Your NZ look about half grown and about 4.5 - 5 pounds so a half cup is about right. You also want to give them alllllllll the hay they want at all times. It will prevent furblock. Which believe it or not is ridiculously common.

Once they get it it's almost impossible to fix without surgery. And it's 100% avoidable. You'll know they have it if they stop drinking (not stop eating....sometimes when it's hot they just don't want to).

If they were being raised for slaughter or have litters I'd free feed - meaning unlimited access. Though with breeding bucks and does you want them to keep keep condition so sticking to the 1 oz /lb rule would be good.

Oh, and before I forget someone made the comment about feeling the spine. This reminds me of something. There is a huge difference between weight, fat, and condition. A rabbit can be over-weight and out of condition. It will have loose and flabby feel to the skin/fur. It could also be "ruff" over the spine or hips as well. This is from poor breeding or a fatty diet. It doesn't mean the rabbit is starving. You'll need to cull the rabbits in your program like this if you want to develop a good meat strain for yourself.

A rabbit that has good condition and flesh will literally be like a melon. Firm, hard, and the fur will have a luster to it. In addition when they're in SUPERIOR condition they develop something called a "prime line". It's a line in the middle of the rabbit from the hips down over the rump to the tail. It's a little edge of raised fur covering some solid muscle. Most people won't see that on a meatie though

Edit: I'd also like to give you a warning about the shed. It's nice and breezy but I'd add hardware cloth or something around the bottom. Dogs, raccoons, fox, weasels will all bite the toes off those rabbits in a heartbeat. If that isn't possible try making a box that they can at least jump up onto to get away.

 

[Lark Rise]

Connorrm,
Thanks for all the advice.

I'll add hay to their feeding. The breeder we got them from said if they stopped eating/drinking to feed them some dried pineapple (like Del Monte sells). It was difficult to find a breeder in our area. Most were raising fluffy pet bunnies. We had to drive some distance to get these. I had heard that some people cross NZs with Californians ( for hybrid vigor), but the breeder ( who had both breeds) didn't see much benefit to it, and advised us to stick with the NZs because they had larger litters and the babies grow to a good size in 8 weeks. Do you find this to be true?
The shed is a work in progress.

My DH is working on getting more pallets put up.

Thanks again!

 

[Connorrm]

As far as meat rabbits go, most NZ are still prized for their commercial abilities. The cals have really started turning into a "fancy" show breed. As does anything with a color/pattern. NZ by eight weeks usually hit 5 pounds and considering that they are 90% weight when dressed out is quite a lot of all white meat protein! So, yes I'd say he's correct in not crossing them. What you're going to want to do is save the firmest and most rapid growing youngsters from each litter - this will help you develop a commercial rapid growth line. Also, don't be afraid to line breed. I started my mini rex herd with 3 rabbits and haven't added any in over 2 years.

If you have healthy stock there is no reason they can't be linebred together. I keep a herd of 20 rabbits. I keep five bucks and 15 does, with 10 extra "grow out cages". If I can't turn it into a grand champion I don't sell it. It's culled (a 5 pound mini rex tastes just as good as a NZ). If they're cute and small I trade quite a bit of them to my feed store. They sell them for pets and I get free bags of feed or a few bales of shavings/hay. Win/Win! Keep in mind, 1 or 2 bucks and you'll be fine. They can service about 25-30 does easily between them. Except in the hot months, anything over 85 and they tend to go sterile till the temp drops again for a while.

As far as the dried pineapple goes, it's a rabbit breeder tale that I hear all the time. The problem with it is this:

1. The rabbits aren't eating - therefore how do you get them to eat anything, pineapple included.

2. Rabbits aren't apt to try new things. They can't vomit. It's why some people lose rabbits after swapping feed or a brand is discontinued. Fickle or wary rabbits just won't eat. If they ingest poison they can't yack it up.

3. The drying process and canning process dissolves the acids effectiveness at moving lumps of hair. This is true for papaya as well

4. The best thing you can do (other than all the hay they want) is get a syringe like you would use for a baby taking liquid anti-biotics and give them a mouthful of mineral oil 5x a day till they start drinking. You have to basically place it at the back of their throat but they swallow it. It worked for me I don't know how many times after 10 years of raising Jersey Woolies.

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Quote:
Is that a typo -- 90% dress out weight? Thats by far the highest dress out weight I have ever heard of any animal.

 

[Connorrm]

Nope that isn't a typo - a good quality fryer rabbit (5 pounds live weight) should dress out at 80-90% live weight. This is including the edible heart, kidneys, and liver. The percentage does go down as you grow the rabbit. I good roaster (7-9 pound live weight) you'll get about 60-65% of live weight.


Edit: This is where I start to get on my soap box! We are the only major developed nation that doesn't utilize this fantastic protein source. It's lower in fat, cholesterol, calories than any other meat (excluding fish) and is 100% white meat. We only produce and eat about .5% of the world's rabbit meat. It's quite sad. They really are a super food. Cheap to grow - consider that a NZ doe on average will produce:

7 offspring per litter to 8 weeks of age:

Excluding costs of cages/supplies and going off of feed -

28 pounds of feed through gestation to the weaning of her offspring.

The offspring by eight weeks of age will have consumed about 1 pound of feed each so seven pounds.

Total Feed - 35 pounds. I pay ~ 12 dollars for a 50 pound bag of Purina Show forumla or 14 for heinhold (my fav).

So by my rough math that's about $8.40 to raise 31.5 pounds of usable meat to slaughter - so - about 27 cents a pound.

 

[phasianidae]

Quote:
Wow...

 

[Jamie_Dog_Trainer]

Hmmm Ok.... I thought a good fryer (5 pound live weight) would give me about 2.5 pounds of edible animal.