Raising Meat Rabbits

[SingingTomato]

that is a good idea. i will probably sell a few to a young gal at our church. she came over today and bought some ducks from me. after i thin my herd i will start on a new bloodline. i have googled "top 10 meat rabbits" and can not make up my mind which to get, yet,
what do you raise? and why? just trying to learn from you.
i am enjoying our rabbits, probably too much, they are so cute and becoming comfortable w/me. luckily i will not be doing the culling. my dh does the deed, bit i will help w/the rest.
thanks

P.S. we eat about 1 rabbit a month, and about 2-3 chickens a month, beef about 3-4 x's a week, pork 2-4 x's a month, & fish about 4 x's a month.
and 1 rabbit takes us 2-3 nights to eat, same w/1 chicken. etc.

ETA: text

More and more my family is substituting rabbits and muscovy ducks for chicken in our diet. Their grow-out times and overall yield are amazing, and the meat quality is excellent. I just can't seem to match it with chickens.

But one potentially easy way to get rid of extra rabbits is to see if you can find someone locally who feeds their dogs a diet of raw meat. They're a fanatical crowd, so if you find someone you'll likely have a very reliable customer. You'll probably get a bit less $ per pound, but you won't have to fully process them either, since they'll typically feed the dog everything but the guts.

 

[CyndiD]

S.T. thanks for the idea, again. i will ck around for anyone who may feed raw meat to their dogs.. maybe i will add to my CL ad also. and someone mentioned people w/large snakes who feed rabbits.
thanks

 

[CyndiD]

I have 6 kits together that i recently acquired... i sold their doe w/2 males. my Q is when should i seperate these kits, they are all from the same litter and they are male and female. I dont want them to breed. these kits are about 2.5 months old, give or take...

 

[Bunnylady]

I have 6 kits together that i recently acquired... i sold their doe w/2 males. my Q is when should i seperate these kits, they are all from the same litter and they are male and female. I dont want them to breed. these kits are about 2.5 months old, give or take...

Separate them NOW. 8 to 10 weeks is usually your safe zone, but some rabbits are capable of breeding as early as 12 weeks (yes, I know, lots of folks will tell you they had 4 month olds together and nothing happened, but why risk it?)

 

[CyndiD]

ok, thanks. i will do it tomorrow. i need to fix up/referbish an old cage that they came in. this is all i have for them. thanks.

 

[CyndiD]

@Bunnylady one more Q. i have 3 does in the same cage, that are 3.5mo, could i put the 2.5 old female kits w/them . well, i mean do you think they will fight? will the 3.5 mo kill the younger ones?

ETA: text... this would be for a few days until i fix up a cage for them. i have to go sex the 6 kits, i know for sure i have at least 1 male out of the 6.

 

[CyndiD]

hi i went out and sexed all my 6 kits and it looks like they are all males... could that be? im 99% sure i saw the right parts? they looked like boys to me. any suggestions?

 

[Bunnylady]

It's possible - I can remember one litter of 5 Jersey Woolies that were all male.

Six all of one gender is rather unlikely, but it is certainly possible. Sexing young rabbits can be tricky, but when people make mistakes, it's more often the other way - thinking that a young buck is actually a doe.

 

[cassie]

This has nothing to do with rabbits, but once I got a dozen hatching eggs from a neighbor. I put them under a broody. They all hatched. They were all roosters. All twelve of them. So anything is possible.

 

[CyndiD]

ii have been watching youtube videos on sexing rabbits, AGAIN, and i am doing it correct and i am seeing all males in my 6 kits. i will try it again to make sure.