What Rabbits Do You Have? Show Off Your Rabbits Here!

[chicken farmer]

I'm wanting to build a hutch soon and get a buck and doe but still thinking on gettin netherland dwarfs,new zealand whites,and I'm still lookin around at other breeds and I've read a lot on the internet and watched some Youtube videos and I know a lot about them but I'm wanting to know if you guys have any tips or anything a beginner should know thanks a lot

 

[kacklinkelly]

Great sharing going on here. I always appreciate different perspectives. I am wondering if feeding my rabbits weeds that I'm pulling from my yard is OK? No pesticides.

 

[Bunnylady]

Great sharing going on here. I always appreciate different perspectives. I am wondering if feeding my rabbits weeds that I'm pulling from my yard is OK? No pesticides.

Only if you can identify the weed, and know that it is OK for rabbits to eat. Some weeds, like dandelions, are fine, but others can be toxic. Like any plant food, you want them fresh when you give them to the rabbits, and you want to remove them before they get all wilted and nasty.

 

[PrimroseMom1]

Only if you can identify the weed, and know that it is OK for rabbits to eat. Some weeds, like dandelions, are fine, but others can be toxic. Like any plant food, you want them fresh when you give them to the rabbits, and you want to remove them before they get all wilted and nasty.

I pick dandelions for the bunnies and chickens. They love it and it is super fresh.

 

[APDoxies]

Well we have had some disappointment. Our litter of 9 is now down to 6. We still have the 2 from the litter of 3 - thankfully it seems all are doing well now. We have also had some excitement - my mini rex had 5 babies Sunday night.
Here are some pics!

Sparkles' babies and 3 from Georgia that she's fostering. Sparkles babies are 1 week & 1 day old. Georgia's are 1 week old.

Here are Georgia's babies that she is taking care of.

Here are the newest arrivals - mini rex bunnies!

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Chicken farmer... The biggest suggestion I can give is be prepared for dead kits and culling for the good of the herd. Get ready for them now. They're gonna happen no matter how much work and love and effort you put in. Someday a rabbit won't be producing right, will get sick, will turn aggressive, will be injured, etc. and a litter will be on the wire all dead, a kit will freeze to death, fall out of the cage, get crushed... It WILL happen and it's part of raising animals. You WILL experience it, if you breed probably more often than you like, and if you don't learn to accept it you will just crumple under it. Just look at any rabbit breeder's posts... "We lost X many kits" "X kits, all on the wire", my own "mom chewed one in half"... This is life with rabbits sometimes and that's just how it is. Death happens, especially in livestock, there's just nothing you can do sometimes so you have to be ready for it when it does happen and be ready to take the next step forward for the good of your herd.

Well, update on my over-cleaned litter. They managed to get a meal it looks like but when the temps started falling outside so did theirs. I came out to find 5 chilly kits and one chilled to death. So I decided to do what some people do with their rabbit litters in the winter and I brought them inside for the night. I have a brooder for chicks due to hatch in 2-3 days set up in my basement... So I just put them under the big brooder lamp a little. The temps in the nest should shoot up to 70-85*F judging by where I put the nest. The far end under all the hay and fur should be in the 70's and the closer part out in the open directly under the light should be 85ish so they can pick their spot. This is kind of a last-ditch effort on my part. The kits were all small, skinny, weak and didn't get cleaned or warm or fed right away when born... I tried warming them up against my skin tonight and it just wasn't working. Their skin and some muscle were warming up but their insides weren't following suit. Interestingly Earless is the one who has been maintaining the best body temp.

If they are still around tomorrow (fingers crossed but no expectations of survival, TBH) I will take them out to try to get a morning snack. We'll see how that goes.

 

[Kelsykin]

My DH has decided that we need to concentrate on New Zealand Whites, Blacks and Reds, Beverens, Flemish Giants and Harlequins. He will be culling all of the crosses we have. He has a few people that want the crosses we have, so hopefully it will be soon that they are all gone.

 

[kacklinkelly]

Chocolate - how are the kits?

 

[ChocolateMouse]

Well, three of the five did not make it overnight, unfortunately. Incredibly, Earless is one of the intrepid survivors. Mom is not cleaning them much as they are pooing, but all over themselves. I ended up having to wash them off as one was gunked up so bad its legs were stuck together. They appear to be getting food when I take them out for their 1-3 hour time outdoors seeing as they are still alive and warm and not having sunken tummies or really bony like the unfed kits I have dealt with in the past.

I have another litter due this weekend. Earless and the other kit will probably be fostered into that litter if it goes well. It is another first time mom and it may be that her kits get fostered into THIS litter since it looks like the first mom is feeding them at least and that might not happen with the other litter. You never know! Either way I should end up with one litter of kits and one doe to re breed almost immediately.

 

[APDoxies]

We lost one of the mini rex kits last night. Poor thing was drug out of the nest & froze. :'(