Those of you with Rabbits for meat... *Pics Page 4*

[MissPrissy]

I recently started my meat rabbit venture. I started with 2 does and a buck. The does were bred by other bucks so the kits would be unrelated to my current buck. One doe lost hers and the other kindled last week. So far I am thrilled with them.

I purchased cages direct from a company that manufactures them. I paid $52 for a double cage with each section measuring 30x36x30 with the baby saver wire bottoms and sides. These are used for my pregnant does and her kits. I am slowly building my rabbitry nd equipment. I have 3 extra cages now and plan to purchase at least one double cage a month until I get this thing going. I don't find them eating too much or it being too expensive to feed them. Considering one doe can give your over 300 lbs of meat in a year the feed cost offset is huge.

It took me almost a year to find my californains. The californains grow a very nice thigh with delicate bones and nice meat.

If you have the chance to get started I recommend a trio with does bred to a different male if at all possible.

 

[1acrefarm]

Quote:
What is the trick to keep them from fighting?

 

[Southernbelle]

My favorite supplier is Klubertanz Equipment company- www.klubertanz.com Their cage wire is so nice and heavy and they sell it by the roll or in whatever custom increments you need. I've been buying from them since I was a teenager raising show rabbits and they are wonderful to deal with!

I'm getting my New Zealand stock this weekend. I chose New Zealands because of their availability and they have a great meat:bone ratio. I ran a search for "meat rabbits virginia" and a few farms popped up. I emailed them and one farm was kind enough to refer me to a much closer farm that I ultimately decided to buy from. I specifically wanted to know how they determine which rabbits get eaten and which are reserved for breeding stock and I liked her answer. I just didn't want it to be random leftover rabbits that got to old to butcher are now being offered as breeding stock or something. They keep babies from does that have good litter size, calmer dispositions, ease of kindling, hardiness, receptivity to breeding back, etc.

For cages I asked the breeder we got our pet Holland Lops from if she knew of anyone selling cages and she happened to be downsizing her rabbitry, so she had a 10-cage unit that she sold to me for $75 and she threw in some nest boxes for free. You should've seen us trying to load it on dh's pick-up!

 

[BantyHugger]

MissPriss, Could you share the name of the company that you bought the cages from? I'm starting with rabbits too.

 

[dangerouschicken]

Next year, I will do rabbits. People in my town are always trying to talk me into getting a few. There is one guy who has some really nice freestanding hutches... I just need to talk him down in price.

Do any of you process your own meat rabbits, or do you take them to be processed? I'm not sure I could handle killing them. They scream, right?

 

[MissPrissy]

KW Cages http://clover.forest.net/kwcages/index.html

 

[herbandteas]

okay i've got two rabbits, the new ones of course, that suddenly are having trouble with their back legs. one hops sorta fine but the back feet are together and the other one has hardly any use of one back leg, the other one works but because the other one is so bad she can't really hop. the first one i found like this i thought she hurt herself but then i found the other one that way and i'm wondering if something else isn't going on. any ideas?

I had a baby angora that was 8 weeks old and she had the same problem so when I took her back to the breeder she said that it was a parasite which I forgot what it was called.

Any time I got a new rabbit I would keep it away from my older rabbits to make sure it was healthy so after a month I would then put it in with the rest of them.

 

[Southernbelle]

Quote:
I plan to do my own processing since the meat is for our own table and I have no plans to sell to anyone else. I just don't want to pay someone else to do it - I figure I just need to get over the hump of the first few bunnies and I'll be okay.

This was a really good demonstration of a humane kill method. (I hope it's okay to post from another discussion board.)
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/showthread.php?t=258573

About screaming rabbits...maybe. I've heard them scream mostly when they're grabbed quickly from above - like you're trying to catch an escapee and you dive down quick and hard to nab them before they dart away and they'll give a really loud squeal. I hope I can kill mine without scaring them too much, but if nothing else, it will be over quick.

 

[penelope77]

rabbits fight? only kidding. alot of room is very helpful. i had two bucks that would fight each other through their cages but when i moved them to the colony they stopped. my girls get along. the one that had the dead baby didn't even get mad when one of the other girls had got in her nest. my rabbits are pretty mellow. if they were to start fighting i would stick one in a cage for timeout and then return it. if it continued then it would go to cage longer and i would try again. really i haven't had any problems with them fighing but they have a large area and i think that's the key. normal nips and such are normal but the all out brawls if they continue need attention immediately. they will rip each other to shreds if allowed. the boys will do some pretty awful stuff to each others testicles too. really you just have to watch and listen. they scream pretty loud if being hurt so you'll know.

 

[penelope77]

Quote:
i always quarantine my new ones for a month. i know the parasite your talking about but i can't remember what it is called either. they are in the house right now and the other new ones are still in quarantine.