Raising Meat Rabbits

[TroyerGal]

Ok, soon as i get this hutch finished and moved over to my house I will move Otter into his new house. Just need to go out and buy j feeders and a couple more water bottles. I completely forgot that I would need more feeders and water bottles until this morning. Good thing I am building them getting more animals, my bunny math is a little shot. Help me out please: 1 hutch for doe, 1 hutch for buck, 2 hutches for babies(boy and girl) and one hutch for extra bunny. is that correct?

Sounds great!!

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

I'd leave the nest box in the cage rather than removing it - some does can get nervous about changes when they're getting ready to kindle.

If they're in your garage, they'll be protected from drafts and windchills, so should be good to go. Hopefully, mom will kindle in the nest box and cover the kits well with fur!

 

[Raech]

^This is my big one, please ignore the mess.
My hutches, the big one, has a nest box on it, should i add a nest box in it when i am due for babies? I did the same design for all three hutches so the nest box was more or less built into it.

 

[BantamLover21]

Too much protein can make rabbits obese, which can lead to kindling problems. Thats why low protein feed is good. Look at the average rabbit today, and it is usually fat. Before pellets were 17% protein and up, fat rabbits were much more rare. The lowest % protein feed i can find is 16%,but i would go down to 14% if i could.

I agree that there are many overweight rabbits today. However, I would say that obesity is more often due to improper feeding than protein level. It is not the protein itself that makes rabbits fat, but the amount of feed fed in relation to a rabbit's workload. For example, look at your average pet rabbit fed Oxbow or other lower protein feeds typically sold at pet stores. Many of those rabbits, despite being loved by their owners, are overweight. They simply don't get enough exercise to justify the amount of pellets, whatever the protein level, that they are fed.

Then look at many show and meat rabbits fed more commercial-type feed (Purina, Kent, Pen Pals, etc.), with higher protein. I show rabbits regularly and see many different breeds from many breeders on the show tables. Yes, some of those production rabbits are overweight, but not nearly as many as the pet type rabbits I see, which are generally fed low protein pellets (if they're fed pellets at all). I've used both 16% protein and 18% protein feed in the past for my rabbits. Some gain weight more readily than others, but they can always be brought down (or up) to a more healthy weight by changing the amount of feed, not decreasing the protein level.

 

[DutchBunny03]

I agree that there are many overweight rabbits today. However, I would say that obesity is more often due to improper feeding than protein level. It is not the protein itself that makes rabbits fat, but the amount of feed fed in relation to a rabbit's workload. For example, look at your average pet rabbit fed Oxbow or other lower protein feeds typically sold at pet stores. Many of those rabbits, despite being loved by their owners, are overweight. They simply don't get enough exercise to justify the amount of pellets, whatever the protein level, that they are fed.

Then look at many show and meat rabbits fed more commercial-type feed (Purina, Kent, Pen Pals, etc.), with higher protein. I show rabbits regularly and see many different breeds from many breeders on the show tables. Yes, some of those production rabbits are overweight, but not nearly as many as the pet type rabbits I see, which are generally fed low protein pellets (if they're fed pellets at all). I've used both 16% protein and 18% protein feed in the past for my rabbits. Some gain weight more readily than others, but they can always be brought down (or up) to a more healthy weight by changing the amount of feed, not decreasing the protein level.

Yes. The amount of feed greatly influences the amount of weight gain, so does the amount of exercise. But protein does have an effect. Too much just isn't healthy. With pet rabbits, i dont know if it is really exercise that is the problem. I have a couple pet rabbits, which are a healthy weight not because of exercise, but because of amount of food. I feed them using the same rationing guidlines i would feeding an inactive breeder.I think the problem with pet rabbits is that the owners do not limit the amount of food the rabbit has.

 

[balloonflower]

So, how does weather affect weight gain? When weighing my trio yesterday to keep an eye on pregnant one (and because I just got my scale two weeks ago so am experimenting to learn how they're growing), I did find that while my pregnant doe gained a quarter pound, the other doe and buck actually lost a bit over the week. I have not changed their amount of pellets, just switched to a different hay that they didn't eat as fast, but wouldn't have guessed that just that would cause weight loss.

 

[DutchBunny03]

So, how does weather affect weight gain? When weighing my trio yesterday to keep an eye on pregnant one (and because I just got my scale two weeks ago so am experimenting to learn how they're growing), I did find that while my pregnant doe gained a quarter pound, the other doe and buck actually lost a bit over the week. I have not changed their amount of pellets, just switched to a different hay that they didn't eat as fast, but wouldn't have guessed that just that would cause weight loss.

Is it really cold where you are? Rabbits loose weight when it is really cold. You might want to increase the amount of pellets o compensate for that.

 

[balloonflower]

I'm in Denver CO 'burbs, so it is winter but we don't have subzero much. We have had a couple two-three day stretches over the last month where night lows were close to zero, one day that chilly, but mostly then we're 20's or more daytime. And then we have weeks like now with 40-50s. I'll keep an eye out going forward--it just surprised me since they're still young enough to be adding weight. I did ask the breeders when we got the buns, and they said I wouldn't need supplemental heat--I will have to worry more when summer comes with the thick silver fox coats.

 

[DutchBunny03]

I'm in Denver CO 'burbs, so it is winter but we don't have subzero much. We have had a couple two-three day stretches over the last month where night lows were close to zero, one day that chilly, but mostly then we're 20's or more daytime. And then we have weeks like now with 40-50s. I'll keep an eye out going forward--it just surprised me since they're still young enough to be adding weight. I did ask the breeders when we got the buns, and they said I wouldn't need supplemental heat--I will have to worry more when summer comes with the thick silver fox coats.

Nice. Rabbits can take temperatures of down to -40 F, as long as there are no drafts or dampness. It got down to -37 F with wind chill here a couple weeks ago, and i had to bring a few of mine inside. You don't have anything to worry about in the way of too cold. In the heat, try putting frozen bottles of water in the hutches. The rabbits lay down next to them.

 

[balloonflower]

I grew up in NE South Dakota, so I know how that much cold goes. My 7 yr old is learning now how to understand temperatures, so I now get to have fun with stories of going to school even when the actual temp was -47. We had had so many snow days that they wouldn't cancel.

I think come summer, we may have to move the cages out of the garage due to heat. Our house has a walk out basement, so we have a patio back there that is shaded by an apple tree where they could be shaded and have better airflow too. We get hot, but it's dry enough that if you're not in the mile-hi Sun it's quite tolerable.