Raising Meat Rabbits

[nayeli]

I think she and the littermates rejected it because it made it to the other does cage and smelled like her. I also feel like I drowned it although I realize it may not have made it anyway...

 

[nayeli]

No more water revivals for me! I'll warm them up and use vanilla if needed and even attach for a feeding but NO MORE WATER. I feel dumb being upset because they are for meat, but I am because it didn't have a good life first and was just a baby... and it may have been my fault!

 

[nayeli]

My red has begun pulling fur out so that may have been her kit (if she only had one or ate the rest).. but more than likely she will have kits soon!

 

[nayeli]

Wow, so tough night. I went to check on the kits and found them ALL cold, upon inspection they were dead and one seems to have limbs eaten off and one is missing altogether (not in the nest box so I think she ate him).

What would make her eat her kits? There shouldn't have been any stress factors, nothing should have changed really... The only thing I can think of is we swiched her to a feeder and she didn't figure it out and was hungry?? There was lots of hay in her cage though... and I mean the kits are a few days old?

I'm gonna rebreed her and give her a second and LAST chance. I'm not okay with does that eat their young!

Any advice or anything?

 

[nayeli]

I'm quiet sure it was the doe. One of the kits had all its limbs eaten off but most of them were normal looking just dead. They are kept in the garage, and we just moved in so I think we would know about any mice etc.

The kits were 3-4 days old.

 

[SA Farm]

If some of the remaining kits were dead, but no sign of injury, there could have been a pre-existing issue that caused them to die. Does don't eat their young if they're hungry, they aren't carnivores. Death = predators, regardless of the garage, and a doe will eat them to protect herself and her environment.

 

[chiques chicks]

I'm so sorry.

I am still learning about rabbit behavior, so can't be of much help.

I would think rabbits are herbivores, so it wouldn't be a hunger thing. Mine are caged individually, so my limited experience may be different. I've left nature take it's course and don't handle the kits much when young. My experience around wild rabbits suggests they don't like a lot of interference, but I'm still learning about domestics, so that may not hold.

 

[cobb4861]

This thread has been great reading, and I'm only half way through! I'm new to the forum, but decided to join because of this thread and the one with the beautiful rabbit hutch that inspired me to build my own.

Earlier in this thread someone asked for intro's to how we got started. Well my process has been first off building a hutch and then researching breeds and deciding on American Blue's. I went with AB because they are supposed to be more heat tolerant than other breeds and good meat rabbits. My hutch is a 4 hole cage to house my buck and two does with an additional grow out cage. I built this by buying some pallets (huge ones meant for shipping cars) and ripping them down, staining with a water based uv protectant stain, and then piecing together the cages with the wire completely covering the inside. I didn't want a lot of wood that could be chewed on. The bottoms are open and made with 16 gauge 1 x 1/2" baby saver wire. The sides are 1/2" hardware cloth 19 gauge. The whole thing is 8'4" wide and over 7' tall. The individual cages are 4' x 30" x 24" tall.

The rabbits I got came from two separate breeders. I bought a pair of does (sisters) from breeder A and the buck from breeder B. I'm considering buying another unrelated doe and then building another grow out cage.

Can anyone tell me what size I might need for a grow out cage? If I plan on breeding all the does at the same time so babies hopefully are all born around the same time. Would I be able to pull the babies weaned from different does and put them in the same grow out cage? Or should they go into separate cages?


Thank you all for this great thread and the loads of information in it. I'm to page 18 so I'm going to get back to reading.

 

[cobb4861]

Wow I finally got to the end. Nayeli, I'm so sorry to hear about your red doe's kits. I hope her next litter is more successful. How are your other kits doing now?

 

[SA Farm]

@cobb4861 Your rabbits and set up look fantastic! Congratulations and welcome

.
To answer your questions, regarding space the minimum cage size guideline from ARBA:
"Rule of thumb is that minimum pen space provided should be about 3/4 of a square foot per pound of mature weight. Therefore, a 10 pound animal would require a pen at least 30" x 36" (3/4 square ft x 10 pounds = 7.5 square ft. A pen 30" x 36" = 1080 square inches = 7.5 square ft.). Naturally a larger pen is not harmful, and how much larger is at your discretion."

I usually split mine up based on gender. I usually pull the boys and put them all together and leave the girls with their mom(s) until I have a purpose for them. How many and for how long they can be together varies by temperament and age (the older they are the more likely to fight), so you'll have to trial and error with it depending on your own situation.