RABBIT help and advice needed!

[OPIE]

WOW more great advice. Ok, how long does it take for rabbits to have there babies?(kits)
What kind of hay is good to feed? Brome, fescue, alfalfa?
Is it true you shouldnt leave the buck and doe together to long as the doe will castrate the male?

 

[Maidservant]

From breeding to birth (kindling), most rabbits take 28 days. I have one that always has them on day 27 and one that won't have them until day 33. All of the rest of mine have them right on schedule.

I'm feeding fescue right now. I have a good clean source of it and I can trade eggs from my chickens for it. Alfalfa is ok for nursing does and growing kits, if they do not have personal problems with it. Alfalfa is very rich in calcium and protein, which can cause kidney failure in high doses or prolonged exposure. I haven't tried brome yet, so I couldn't tell you about that. Many people feed timothy hay, but it doesn't grow well here in the south and it isn't economical to have it shipped.

When breeding, always take the doe to the buck. Does are territorial and will sometimes attack anything that comes into their cage, especially if they already have kits. When I breed, I put the doe in with the buck and most of my bucks know what to do and are finished within 5 minutes. If you have a new or experienced buck, leave them together for about 15 minutes so long as there is no fighting (chasing does not equal fighting). Stay and watch. You're looking for the buck to mount and fall off a few times. Sometimes they squeal when they fall off. Once you see it, you'll know what to look for. If they haven't done the deed in 15 minutes, remove the doe and try again later (I wait an hour). Keep putting them together until you see the buck fall off a few times or until the doe has had enough (she will typically try to bite the buck and will start grunting when she's had enough). This is why you need to stay and watch.

Hope this helps,
Emily in NC

 

[Skyrider]

Quote:
Hi Emily,

Your advice and thoughts are perfect. I used to raise rabbits when I was a 16 year old boy through my 21st year. They were New Zealand White's (NZW) and California breeds. I got into it because I was always interested in farming and was a professional magician since the age of 13. I needed rabbits for my hat trick (seriously), but they needed to be about two months old. Thus, I started raising them and had a constant supply. I sold the meat off and we ate a lot of it ourselves. When I sold my herd I had over three hundred animals.

I had even designed my own hutch which was the first high rise rabbit hutch in history, I think. It was six stories high and I had to have a ladder to service all the cages. I had designed a special poop section which the rabbits did learn to use most of the time. It was just the back four or five inches of each cage with the mesh wire and a slanted galvanized poop and urine slide out the back side. The smell was minimal but when it reached the right stage it was used directly but in limited supply on our lawn and garden. My hutch was behind my dad's garage in a suburban major metropolitan city.

Now, I'm in India and we need the food. We started with chickens and haven't had a lot of luck. Out of eleven we have four and I think three will become layers and one goes in the pot.

So, yesterday I got our first two rabbits. I don't know what the breed is but they look like a dukes mixture between the NZW, California and the Dutch. They are decidedly smaller than NZW or California's, but larger than the Dutch. BUT they will taste GREAT!

I asked the people I got them from what they fed them because there are no choices of alfalfa (dunno if we even have alfalfa here), and they told me to use certain green leaves with lots of cauliflower leaves and stems, etc. We certainly don't have ANY feed stores here. (WHAT's that!?)

So, I turned to BYC to see what might be known, and here we are! They might have to start another section for BYR?

Glad to be here and help any way I can and I'm glad to see the great knowledge that's already being shared. We have a vet too! Whoooopie! I'm really glad we're all here!.

Now, before anyone asks, I'll teach you how to hypnotize rabbits, but the hat trick will remain a secret.

[Bowing with cape and cane in hand] Thank you! Thank you very much, Ladies and Gentlemen.

Sky~

 

[OPIE]

Oh man thanks for all the great advice! This is an update I guess, My buch died. He stroked out. We heard him squeeling and went to him, his foot was caught in the bottom on of the cage. We got him loose and shortly therafter he was dead. Today I went and purchased another buck. This one is 3 months old and weighs 15 lbs. Nice buck. He was the only back this guy had and use him for breeding. I brought him home and let him relax for about an hour then I put my biggest doe with him. She mounted HIM!! did this for awhile, he didnt move , just set in the corner, we removed her and I decided he probably needed time to adjust and calm down after the 1 hour ride home. What do you guys think?
Oh Skyrider, wish I could help man I would send you hatchinjg eggs and everything, but I dont know if they would make the trip.

 

[Skyrider]

Quote:
Hi Opie,

I'm so sorry to learn about your buck, but just about went into a tizzy when you said your three month old replacement was about 15 pounds! Wow! We don't have anything that big over here. Everything, even the chickens are generally smaller. What breed is it, NZW?

We are finally, since I wrote this, starting to be over run with chickens, but we still need a lot more of them than we have now if we're to have meat once in a while and eggs every day. I have three hens with chicks now and I dunno if anyone has ever heard of this, but two hens are sharing seven chicks. One died leaving six. ??? The chicks run to either one of them as mother. Strange, eh? Then our third hen had eight and one died leaving seven. Her first batch only had four live out of eleven. But one of those is just about ready for the pot and hopefully the three hens will start laying all in about another month from now. Ours are all fully range animals except the rabbits which are kept caged.

Our rabbits were taken right back when I first wrote over a small misunderstanding, but we have them now again as very young buck and doe. Hopefully pretty soon they will get the rabbit habit and we'll have a meat source there.


I love BYC!

Sky~

 

[OPIE]

Ok Sky if I can help you in any way please let me know. Sounds lie you are trying to do the best you can in a tight situation. Give me your address in a PM . I will try to work on something from this end.. Never know who your friends are

 

[Southernbelle]

Quote:
Her mounting him usually means she's in heat and is letting him know she wants to get things going. The fact that he just sat there meant he didn't really know what to do. 3 months is a little young - he may not have reached his sexual maturity, yet. The larger breeeds often mature later. NZWs are usually mature by 4-5 months old and larger breeds like Flemish Giants are more like 8 months. I say give him a little time and try again.

 

[OPIE]

Thanks for that advice Southernbelle. I meant he was 13 months at 15lbs. I forgot to put the 1 in there. He is a proven breeder, I think he was just nervouse. I am going to try again tommorrow.

 

[Skyrider]

Opie,

I see you're on line. Please check your PM messages. Sent one yesterday that apparently you didn't get.

Sky~

 

[OPIE]

OOPs, missed ya sky, but I did get your message. Youve got mail