The Bunny Chat Thread - For Bunny Owners

[Teneniel]

Anyway, I’m trying out a colony setup for the first time! I have 3 breeding does and 1 buck in about 500sf. The buck has his own 80sf run with hutch, and there are hutches, climbs, hides etc for everyone. We still put them up at night until I can get Hotwire on the fence, but it’s been SO fun to watch! The babies seem to bring joy to all the other rabbits.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Anyway, I’m trying out a colony setup for the first time! I have 3 breeding does and 1 buck in about 500sf. The buck has his own 80sf run with hutch, and there are hutches, climbs, hides etc for everyone. We still put them up at night until I can get Hotwire on the fence, but it’s been SO fun to watch! The babies seem to bring joy to all the other rabbits.

That's exciting! Smart to give the buck his own space so you can plan your litters. How are you planning on handling the digging issue? Will replacement breeder bucks stay in the same run or will you make another partition?

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Other picture drops from today; Donuts harlequin babies are 6 weeks and got sexed. The darker one (torted?) is a doe, the other a buck. They'll both be being kept, probably along with an extra large solid black one I haven't sexed yet.




And this fascinating little kit dropped in that new litter yesterday along with the really lovely looking blue next to it;



Mom is a NZW, dad is the aforementioned harlequin mini rex that we're culling. I'm thinking this has to be lynx? But probably blue tipped lynx instead of lilac unless my mini secretly carries chocolate. (No way to tell what mom has.) Really impossible to tell for sure at this age but it's very pretty.

 

[Teneniel]

That's exciting! Smart to give the buck his own space so you can plan your litters. How are you planning on handling the digging issue? Will replacement breeder bucks stay in the same run or will you make another partition?

I put galvanized welded wire 2 feet around every perimeter so hopefully that’ll keep destructive digging to a minimum. I have lots of stumps and some trees with an expiration date in the run, so for now they’re digging far away from the edges. I do want them to be able to dig.

I still have my 4 growout cages, plus an extra full sized hutch for growing out new breeders, finishing smaller stock, isolation etc. those guys get hand turned out in playpens so I’m VERY excited not to be doing that on the reg anymore!

 

[Compost King]

Other picture drops from today; Donuts harlequin babies are 6 weeks and got sexed. The darker one (torted?) is a doe, the other a buck. They'll both be being kept, probably along with an extra large solid black one I haven't sexed yet.

View attachment 2320134
View attachment 2320141

And this fascinating little kit dropped in that new litter yesterday along with the really lovely looking blue next to it;

View attachment 2320152View attachment 2320154

Mom is a NZW, dad is the aforementioned harlequin mini rex that we're culling. I'm thinking this has to be lynx? But probably blue tipped lynx instead of lilac unless my mini secretly carries chocolate. (No way to tell what mom has.) Really impossible to tell for sure at this age but it's very pretty.

the funny thing about Rabbits is that when they are born they resemble pit bulls, as they get older they start to resemble cats, then when full grown they start looking like rabbits.

 

[EverythingDucks]

These are meat rabbits on a farm, not pets. To be frank, if this boy didn't outgrow his cage he'd be going into in my freezer so I certainly hope he's outgrowing it. I'm aware of the space needs of my animals and have been keeping rabbits in a variety of capacities for over a decade now. I'm not in need of advice for my setup, thanks.

All of that was answered in the quoted thread

Oops, sorry I didn't see that! My phone has been acting weird lately and not allowing me to see everything
Sorry, I did not realize that!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

@Teneniel Yeah, I send my rabbits out in tractor pens and it's a lot to always be transporting them, huh? I had a colony setup for a little while in my garage (somewhat by accident) and it didn't end well so I ended up sticking to the cages. But I really hope this works out for you because it sounds like it's going well already and that's exciting! And for your needs it will probably be MUCH less work. I bet the bunnies like it.
I'd like to try colonies again sometime when I can make a concerted effort to building an outdoor pen for them. Right now I just don't have the space and all my does are unrelated and so would probably just try to murder one another.

@Compost King They really do a bit. XD But hey, I love pitbulls too. I think bunnies are great at any age.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

@EverythingDucks We gucci. I'm just having a long a** week and not really needing critiques right now.

Our breeders finish out into pretty big cages; 5x2.5 and 4x4 - MUCH larger than industry standard. They get thick cardboard boxes in every cage for a hiding/climbing spot, simple toys (Fruitwood sticks woven into cage bars, hanging maplewood chunks, knots of unbleached packing paper, empty TP rolls stuffed with hay and sunflower seeds, etc.), and hay bedding to dig through. They get greens and weeds from the garden regularly and I spend some time petting each one at feeding time and looking them over. I groom them as-needed, nail trims and a brushing. They get occasional bunny tractor time too. So rest assured - these are already some lap-of-luxury meat rabbits.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

You can't see it in the picture I took, but Tiny Tim (the br-red nz buck) has a maple chunk in with him he throws around and chews on. I moved it into his box to get it out of the way so I could take pictures. The rest of his toys he's ripped up already - he'll get new when he moves cages over the next couple weeks. He's only been with us for 6 weeks after all...

 

[EverythingDucks]

@EverythingDucks We gucci. I'm just having a long a** week and not really needing critiques right now.

Our breeders finish out into pretty big cages; 5x2.5 and 4x4 - MUCH larger than industry standard. They get thick cardboard boxes in every cage for a hiding/climbing spot, simple toys (Fruitwood sticks woven into cage bars, hanging maplewood chunks, knots of unbleached packing paper, empty TP rolls stuffed with hay and sunflower seeds, etc.), and hay bedding to dig through. They get greens and weeds from the garden regularly and I spend some time petting each one at feeding time and looking them over. I groom them as-needed, nail trims and a brushing. They get occasional bunny tractor time too. So rest assured - these are already some lap-of-luxury meat rabbits.

Wow, that sounds like an awesome setup!

I've just seen so many people that keep rabbits in teeny tiny cages all their lives amd neglect them, but that's far from the case here!