Getting rabbits this spring

[Trying2keepitReal]

Doing some research and planning out cages for rabbits and breeding. going to start small with 1 buck and 2 does---will then keep from first couple litters from each doe to keep growing. Thinking about starting with Californians and/or New Zealand.

Couple questions--
How many does can I house together realistically, so that I can build more than needed now without having to expand immediately? (I am not sure that Google isn't always the best for realistic answers)

I read/heard that you can give your chickens rabbit manure as it is full of nutrients, bugs, etc that they can benefit from--true?

For those of you in the North/Winter climates, any advice on the best direction to face the open side of cages? Am thinking of doing 3 solid sides with wire front, wrapped in hardware cloth around bottom half.

 

[Medicine Woman]

Okay I am not the one really should be responding but if you didn’t set it up yet, can I maybe suggest you research colony raising your herd? I live in a very warm climate and I have a fan aimed at our cages. Still I would love to set up a colony instead of the cages. I think if I can use the principals if setting up a raised bed and sink a few 5 gallon buckets down for the nests and keep a supply of hay in a fenced in area and constant water supply that the does will have a very nice survival rate. You won’t have to keep track of breeding dates but you might want to take some notes. I am suggesting this because the ground will provide a more consistent temperature than cage raised rabbits and the ammonia in the urine will rust out the bottom of the wire. Even in my area we lose babies in the winter if we not on top of things.

 

[Trying2keepitReal]

I have been doing colony vs cage raising. Thank you for your input. I was also looking into kindling and cooling totes partially underground with runs.

 

[Medicine Woman]

Well in both of our cases I think deep under would be great but for different reasons. I just have to make sure I create something high up in case of flooding. If you too close to the surface and you have a hard freeze it would harm your colony. But if you can also have it covered with a sorta coop maybe you can get away with just 2 feet. It’s more of a natural habitat for them and I heard a a certain man (like maybe I called him Daddy) who trapped wild rabbits out of the corn field. The bucks were immediately dispatched and eaten. The does were mixed with a larger buck in a colony situation. In 1970 we had a hurricane and someone ratted him out but it actually was a good thing because the local wildlife had suffered great loses so the wildlife & fisheries gave him $5/rabbit which was excellent money in 1970. I think he sold 13 and all pregnant. 3 years later they opened rabbit season and the men who went hunting claimed the rabbits were the biggest they had ever seen. You can’t hardly do anything like that if you use cages though. Note…Daddy did this when we came home from a few months living in Australia, which I believe is popular for colony raising.

 

[tortoise]

I would suggest colony also, unless you want controlled breeding. I think it's more humane. Rabbits can't express their natural behaviors in a wire-bottomed cage!

 

[Rammy]

You cant house two does together as they are very territorial. I would put them in seperate cages.
I currently raise NZW and just processed two bucks I was unable to sell.
If you do a colony set up understand that a doe can be bred again within days after birthing her kits. So you will have continual litters every 30 to 31 days while nursing her first litter. Thats very draining on a doe who is gestating a litter and feeding one. Unless you keep the buck out of the colony and not let him breed the females until the litter is 6 to 8 weeks old, plan on never ending bunnies.
I keep my does in thier own seperate hanging cages when they are close to thier due date. Usually about a week out. When the kits are 6 weeks I will take out 2 at a time depending on litter size to slowly wean them off. Doing them all at the same time can cause whats called weaning enteritis. I learned the hardway. Take the kits ftom the mother, not the mother from the kits.
I will give my does a couple weeks after the last kit is gone to recuperate if Im going to breed her again.
If I dont breed again, she goes back out to her hutch for some downtime.
Make sure to feed a good quality hay like timothy ir orchard grass. Do NOT feed alfalfa as this will cause a condition called sludge, which is basically the urine thickening and they cant pee. Most pellets already have alfalfa in them and has all the nutrients for a balanced diet. Giving them alfalfa hay ontop of that is not good.
Get together a good bunny emergency kit.
You can find lists online as to what to get just in case.

 

[tortoise]

I housed my does in pairs in cages or small colony-ish groups. I separated does from kindling to weaning and never had an issue reintroducing them back to their cagemate. My cages were 3 to 4x larger than recommended for the size of the rabbits. The breed of rabbit may have been a factor? IDK. Some wild rabbits are social and live in groups up to 20, but other wild rabbits are nearly solitary - so there must be a genetic factor. I had dwarf breeds for the pet/show markets.

My colony-ish groups were in approximately 4 foot by 6 foot pens. The had deep litter over cement and were indoors (in my barn. I commandeered lambing pens, lol) I kept 4 - 5 mini does in each. I also had cages to use for bucks or if I needed to separate. Sometimes I used cages more and the colony pen was for exercise.

If I add rabbits again I would do it similarly with indoor colony + cage backup.

I liked the colony pens best in winter. I would put straw and hay in the pen 2 - 3 feet deep and they burrowed in it. I felt MUCH better about their welfare this way in winter versus in wire cages.

A downside of keeping rabbits on the ground/floor was a rat problem. I didn't cage does for kindling because I wanted them to be able to build a natural nest however they wanted (I put a variety of nest boxes in the pens). Rats ate all the litters. I didn't figure out what was going on until months after I gave up on raising rabbits - there was a HUGE rat nest and burrow in the hardpack litter of the sheep pen adjacent to the rabbit pens.

 

[Medicine Woman]

Thanks Tortoise for the inspiration. I believe in setting up a Coop Knox for poultry so possibly Warren Knox too. Here is the idea you helped conceive in me…Warren set up , followed by various Coop Knox projects all around Warren Knox so before rats get to rabbits they have to make it past chickens and GUINEAS.

 

[Medicine Woman]

I don’t recall who I am supposed to give credit to this idea for but I read or heard to put the original breeders in spray painted green or orange and then later when white or brown/grey…whatever bunnies emerge and you want to identify them as being of another age, block off nests when you are feeding the rabbits and all are out eating. Corner all but the breeders and spray paint another color. In a few weeks more bunnies should appear with their natural colors. Maybe remove the first batch and place in cages with just water. Could be the main feeding area might be a cage to make capture easier. Continue to let breeders go and darken the spray paint as needed. Continue to manage herd as such. One buck can have as many as 8 does in a colony. They will mate often and yeah it could be taxing on the does but I understand that frequent breeding would also occur in cages if properly managed. Momma told me it sounds bad to mate a doe immediately after she loses a litter but if not it could be months before she is ready again and she could have otherwise had 2 or 3 litters in that time. I mean if you want to consider that supposedly a trio can provide a family with 200 pounds of meat a year (which I still am skeptical on), they must have several litters, each a year.
I don’t know exactly how many rabbits we have but I think it’s about 19. DH doesn’t seem to believe in just having a trio. I want to colony raise a few. So far they all in cages. He had been over feeding them and threatened their lives. Was planning on slaughtering them. It might be about 10 days they are all on a diet so perhaps we can breed some but I really think I want to be active in this. I pushed for the diet and now I think I should keep records of breeding because DH juggles too much. If we know several does were successfully bred I think he will be happy to make a few nesting boxes.
I had wanted to cut some ragweed for the goat but DH asked me not to because one of our neighbors collects it for his rabbits. When DH was a little younger and more successful with his herd, he used to boast about feeding them ragweed twice a week and sometimes giving them a starvation day. And he had really big rabbits.
Daylight approaches and the coffee is good. Maybe we can go outside together and I can discover which rabbits are our bucks. I have to go to New Orleans today and I have an old buck promised to me from an old man within route. Truly with the size herd we have, we have no excuse not to have lots of meat in the freezer.

 

[Chic Rustler]

idk anything about colonies. but rabbits in cages need to be separated before sexual maturity. grow outs can all stay together until butcher.