For those of you that raise animals for the table, we have decided to share our little experiment with you. Rabbits are quiet and only take up a small amount of space.
We have decided to do an experiment between the Silver Fox Rabbits and our own line of Meat Rabbits. The Meat Rabbits are a combination of California, New Zealand and Rex. Both the SF doe, Amelia and the Meat Rabbit doe, Little C each have 7 live kits that were born last week. We are going to weigh them every 2 weeks and keep track of their food consumption starting when the kits are 2 weeks old. The food will be both the doe and the kits since there is no way to exclude the doe. I usually leave the doe in with the kits until they are 6 weeks old. I full feed them, meaning they always have commercial pellets in their cage. With large litters like these I will put 2 big feed hoppers in each pen when they are 3 to 4 weeks old, so that everyone gets a chance to eat.
We usually wait until the rabbits are 3 months old before we process them. Here in NC you cannot sell the kits until they are 8 weeks old. I try to sell them for a month and then who ever is left goes into the freezer. We will do a live weight and then do a weight after we are done processing to see who has the better meat to bone ratio.
Here are some pictures of them just before they delivered. And I will try to include pictures along the way for comparison too.
Silver Fox Doe, Amelia
Amelia's Litter of 7 kits...yes they are all blue!
Meat Doe, Little C
Little C's litter of 7 kits....yes they are all pink!
Should be an interesting experiment! Pull up a chair and see how the comparison works. Next post will be Oct 14 or 15 when the kits are 2 weeks old.
We have decided to do an experiment between the Silver Fox Rabbits and our own line of Meat Rabbits. The Meat Rabbits are a combination of California, New Zealand and Rex. Both the SF doe, Amelia and the Meat Rabbit doe, Little C each have 7 live kits that were born last week. We are going to weigh them every 2 weeks and keep track of their food consumption starting when the kits are 2 weeks old. The food will be both the doe and the kits since there is no way to exclude the doe. I usually leave the doe in with the kits until they are 6 weeks old. I full feed them, meaning they always have commercial pellets in their cage. With large litters like these I will put 2 big feed hoppers in each pen when they are 3 to 4 weeks old, so that everyone gets a chance to eat.
We usually wait until the rabbits are 3 months old before we process them. Here in NC you cannot sell the kits until they are 8 weeks old. I try to sell them for a month and then who ever is left goes into the freezer. We will do a live weight and then do a weight after we are done processing to see who has the better meat to bone ratio.
Here are some pictures of them just before they delivered. And I will try to include pictures along the way for comparison too.
Silver Fox Doe, Amelia
Amelia's Litter of 7 kits...yes they are all blue!
Meat Doe, Little C
Little C's litter of 7 kits....yes they are all pink!
Should be an interesting experiment! Pull up a chair and see how the comparison works. Next post will be Oct 14 or 15 when the kits are 2 weeks old.
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