Rabbit breeder's thread!

[Wendy'sChicksRock]

Hello, I'm new to this rabbit breeding and have a question. We have two mini rex rabbits we got to breed so we had some to show at fair this july. When should we breed them in order for them to be shown as junior buc or does in july? I mean what's the best age to show them ?

Any help would be great.

Wendy

 

[dmiravalle]

Wow, looks like you have the harlequin gene hiding in your NZ's. Way cool.

As for an all wire nest box, personally I wouldn't. At least what I am picturing in my head. Little feeties might get caught, momma, might catch a nail and rip it off. In the summer, if I have a litter, I make sure I use a nest with good ventilation, like a hole in the back up towards the top and just a little bit of shavings, then I clean it often, keeping momma's hair, (I will usually throw a lot of it away if the doe piled it up in there) and change the shavings often. I also check for deads daily.

There is also drop boxes. Which is an open top box that hangs down out of the bottom of the cage, so you would have to cut a hole in your wire. I also use a swamp cooler in the summer if I have litters and it is really hot.

 

[Louise's Country Closet]

Yep, I think so too! When I first bred her I was surprised considering I thought I was going to get some whites. Nice though, they're pretty

About nest boxes, I don't do anything differently for them during the summer than I do the cold months as far as the actual box goes. I stuff a lot of hay to make it comfy in there and then stash away the doe's fur she's pulled for the colder months leaving just enough for the babies to have a soft fur bed to lay ON not to lay underneath.

 

[dmiravalle]

Yup, Pretty much.

I use metal boxes with wood bottoms, cuz the metals easy to steralize and the wood is replacable. I just change how much, shavings and straw I use. For the velveteens, I do use the fake fur in the winter since they don't have an extremely heavy coat like a NZ. But I only have to supplement a little.

My nest box's have a small circular hole on the back side towards the top. That is pretty much it, used them from Cali's to Angora's to netherlands, etc.... They work great and last a long time.

 

[Louise's Country Closet]

That's pretty much what I use to!

I only just recently started to switch to homemade nest boxes from wood using the pegboard for the bottoms since they're easy to toss away and replace when they get dirty. I have some metal ones still too it was just that the wood ones were easier for me to get them exactly the way I like. I'm picky, lol

 

[NoelTate]

Perfect time to add a rabbit thread! Back in high school I raised and showed mini lops and a few Dutch. I've had a couple of rabbits on and off in the years since then, but have not raised them to any degree since. A few months back, I got my first Holland Lops-a tort buck, blue doe, chocolate doe, and tort broken doe. Unfortunately, my chocolate doe died quite young. The tort broken has not cooperated with breeding at all, but the blue doe had her first litter today! She had 6, but she had them in a pile of hay out on the wire rather than in the box, and 2 had gotten out onto the wire and died. I put her nest and the other 4 babies in the box, so hopefully she will raise them. Keeping my fingers crossed! If they make it I will have to post some pics

Mine will be for pets, definitely not meat...not sure if I will show again or not. I'm toying with the idea, but not sure I want to go to the trouble. I really just want nice, high quality Hollands that I can enjoy for myself and sell a few for pets. The manure is great for my plants, too!

 

[Louise's Country Closet]

Quote:
Yes! I love that part of the rabbits! Our garden was SO much bigger last year because we tilled a bunch down into the dirt. Yummm big tomatoes

 

[dmiravalle]

Wendy'sChicksRock :

Hello, I'm new to this rabbit breeding and have a question. We have two mini rex rabbits we got to breed so we had some to show at fair this july. When should we breed them in order for them to be shown as junior buc or does in july? I mean what's the best age to show them ?

Any help would be great.

Wendy

Sorry Wendy,

It really depends on your bloodlines, some lines show better as JR's and some as SR's. Generally showing an older JR will do better than a lot of the younger stock, it really depends on the quality of your rabbits. I never show a baby before 4 months. You can bump up a class if your JR is heavy, but it will have a hard time competing against a well put together SR.

Hope that helps.​

 

[1Chick Magnet]

Quote:
love the photos! the babies are so pretty. Did you build the cages? Hubby needs to build me some cages. where did you find that guage wire? I looked at lowes. they had hardware cloth or cheap floppy wire.

 

[1Chick Magnet]

Quote:
I will take a photo of a nest box and you can tell me if it is ok. I am so afraid I am going to do something wrong.