The Bunny Chat Thread - For Bunny Owners

[LapisLazuli]

I would like to breed rabbits and sell the babies and maybe keep a few for meat. What do you think is the best breed and setup for my goal? Thanks!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I would like to breed rabbits and sell the babies and maybe keep a few for meat. What do you think is the best breed and setup for my goal? Thanks!

Well, an old mentor once said to me all rabbits are made out of rabbit, so get a breed you like.

For feed to meat efficiency, nothing will beat New Zealand Whites or Californians. Not even other colors of New Zealand. You can also do hybrids like Altex who are 1/2 californian 1/2 Flemish Giant over 1/2 NZW 1/2 californian. Or just cross NZW and cali. Cross breeds grow like crazy but cross breeds are harder to sell.

On the small end, mini rex and florida white have a good FCR and shape for minis.
More medium, dutch are hardy, palominos are nice.
Big size rabbits I know do well are New Zealand, standard Rex, Californian, and American. French Angora has a commercial body type too.

Don't raise anything giant unless you're going to cross them with something smaller and/or give them special accommodations. They're all bone and have special needs. Most of the larger commercial body type rabbits will give you a good carcass quality. But the above ones are the best of the best. Many of the others have issues in supply, demand, litter sizes, growth rates, etc.

But again, all rabbits are made out of rabbit.

https://www.raising-rabbits.com/types-of-rabbits.html

 

[FortCluck]

@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.

I’ve had the same type of week. My truck stranded me an hour from home today

 

[FortCluck]

Well, an old mentor once said to me all rabbits are made out of rabbit, so get a breed you like.

For feed to meat efficiency, nothing will beat New Zealand Whites or Californians. Not even other colors of New Zealand. You can also do hybrids like Altex who are 1/2 californian 1/2 Flemish Giant over 1/2 NZW 1/2 californian. Or just cross NZW and cali. Cross breeds grow like crazy but cross breeds are harder to sell.

On the small end, mini rex and florida white have a good FCR and shape for minis.
More medium, dutch are hardy, palominos are nice.
Big size rabbits I know do well are New Zealand, standard Rex, Californian, and American. French Angora has a commercial body type too.

Don't raise anything giant unless you're going to cross them with something smaller and/or give them special accommodations. They're all bone and have special needs. Most of the larger commercial body type rabbits will give you a good carcass quality. But the above ones are the best of the best. Many of the others have issues in supply, demand, litter sizes, growth rates, etc.

But again, all rabbits are made out of rabbit.

https://www.raising-rabbits.com/types-of-rabbits.html

Do you do all the butchering yourself?

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Do you do all the butchering yourself?

I do. It's remarkably easy, easier than chickens.

Sorry you've been having a long week too!

 

[FortCluck]

I do. It's remarkably easy, easier than chickens.

Sorry you've been having a long week too!

I want to try breeding them for meat maybe someday

 

[LapisLazuli]

Well, an old mentor once said to me all rabbits are made out of rabbit, so get a breed you like.

For feed to meat efficiency, nothing will beat New Zealand Whites or Californians. Not even other colors of New Zealand. You can also do hybrids like Altex who are 1/2 californian 1/2 Flemish Giant over 1/2 NZW 1/2 californian. Or just cross NZW and cali. Cross breeds grow like crazy but cross breeds are harder to sell.

On the small end, mini rex and florida white have a good FCR and shape for minis.
More medium, dutch are hardy, palominos are nice.
Big size rabbits I know do well are New Zealand, standard Rex, Californian, and American. French Angora has a commercial body type too.

Don't raise anything giant unless you're going to cross them with something smaller and/or give them special accommodations. They're all bone and have special needs. Most of the larger commercial body type rabbits will give you a good carcass quality. But the above ones are the best of the best. Many of the others have issues in supply, demand, litter sizes, growth rates, etc.

But again, all rabbits are made out of rabbit.

https://www.raising-rabbits.com/types-of-rabbits.html

Thanks, I will probably get New Zealand Whites.

 

[featherhead007]

I’ve had the same type of week. My truck stranded me an hour from home today

Sorry for your bad day!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

I want to try breeding them for meat maybe someday

Honestly? The best part about breeding IMO is getting so many cute fun babies to hold and working towards a solid breeding goal. The second best part is the meat.

I'd be happy to send you the videos I learned to butcher from. Some butchering info under the spoiler tag.

Spoiler

We do cervical dislocation for them and it takes about a count to three from application of pressure to completely severing the spinal cord - VERY fast, hard to mess up, uses your whole body so even old ladies can do it. And the rest of it is done with a good pair of kitchen scissors, so it's hard to accidentally make to wrong cut and split the organs or something. Plus, bunny poop is hard and dry, not an awful cesspool like chicken poop, so contamination risk is tiny.

 

[Compost King]

I would like to breed rabbits and sell the babies and maybe keep a few for meat. What do you think is the best breed and setup for my goal? Thanks!

New Zealand Whites are the best for meat if you are selling meat for a profit because they have the best Feed Conversion Ratio. People often breed them with other rabbits for more hybrid vigor but I suggest waiting until you know exactly what you are doing before you get that far unless its just convenient to buy a California Male after you bought a New Zealand female. Since Meat is likely not your top concern here and you want to sell some as pets, New Zealand Whites are not the best breed for selling pet rabbits because they eat a lot and pets do not need to be so meaty. People actually will not pay a lot for New Zealand Whites as pets because meat rabbit folks sell them for $10 a rabbit around here. I am in your boat and I choose Rex Rabbits because they have pet value, meat value and fur value. If one area fails me I have others to fall back on. However Rex Rabbits have their downfall, I really can not raise a standard rex on wire flooring because sore hocks are more likely although many people do raise them on wire floor with no problems. I just want to play it safe because sore hocks in a rabbit will depress me.
If I liked spinning Yarn I would get Angora Rabbits, I actually wish I knew someone who wanted rabbit wool to spin into yarn because I like the idea of combing rabbits for their fur than killing them for fur.