Our meat rabbit journey has finally started!!!

[doc_gonzo]

woot!!!!

dawn and i scored a killer deal today. we used to raise meat rabbits a couple of yrs ago in Tn and were wanting to get back into it.... (here in arkansas) i saw an ad in a local sales rag for hutches, hmmm. turns out that they are the nice mfg. hutches, 3 high, 30 x 36 inch footprint, poop trays between each condo, splash guards, water bottles and feeders included, on casters. for a benjie a-piece. these things run for 4 bills apiece brand new, we grabbed the last 2 that they had, i was bummed that we missed the 1 that we did, coulda had all 3.....oh well. we'll build a small shed and have room for 1 buck, 3 does and 2 grow-out codos. more than enough meat for me and dawn plus a few "interested parties". just had to share our good fortune.

cheers,

doc

 

[Boogity]

KA-CHING! Great find doc, keep up the good work.

 

[Marianne]

Score!

 

[JRmom]

Score! I am having a hard time find suitable hutches... everything used I find is in sorry shape, and when searching online for new hutches they are all enclosed on 3 sides which just won't work for me in this Florida heat. Off to look at Craigslist again....

 

[doc_gonzo]

thanks y'all

funny thing was .... we ended up knowing the folks we got the hutches from. turns out he had a small engine repair shop. back when dawn and i were still running back and forth between here and tn we needed some work done on a generator and wound up at his shop. it was kinda cool catching up after 2 years.

jrmom, keep pluggig away, i've been reading that sales rag for 2years and this is the first time i called about something that wasnt sold or a piece of junk. if you are handy with tools a lot of the state colege ag depts have great plans on their web sites for all kinds of animal housing. i built all of our hutches back in tn from plans on the U Tenn web site.

cheers

doc

 

[savingdogs]

That is awesome!

We managed to make our rabbit hutches from recycled materials. I hope to hear more of your imput about raising rabbits for meat, we are working towards that. So far we are still just expecting our second set of kits. I only got three out of the first batch and I sold two of them as pets for 25 and 30, and kept the best female to breed because one of my does isn't getting preggers. So we are getting hungry to taste a little rabbit.

I would love to have more imput in this forum from another person experienced in meat rabbit breeding, keep posting!

 

[doc_gonzo]

hi savingdogs,

we also build a lot of stuff with recycled materials, but i coudn't build something this nice for twice the money. these hutches are industrial grade heavy duty. our pick up is down at the moment, a friend is going to help me get the hutches home on friday, i,ll get dawn to do some pics.

what breed are you keeping ? we plan on doing either N Z's or californians, i'd prefer N Z's i want a pretty white blanket from about 50 or 60 of those hides. dawn has been tannig some deer hides from last hunting season so it won't be much of a stretch. (no pun intended)

we've been out of breeding for over 2 years, so we're just kinda easing back into it. it'll probably a couple more months before i get the shed built for the hutches, and find suitable breeding stock. this is just a side project, now that i have the nice hutches, i can concentrate on getting our cabin done and getting us out of this cramped little 22' camper. 2 winters is enough i'd rather not do 3.

dawn told me that rob has been doing a bunch of up-grades over here, so i bet we'll have a rabbit section in no time!

cheers,

doc

 

[savingdogs]

I would love a rabbit section. Barred Buff and Tortoise both are very helpful about rabbits. Mine are Creme D' Argents. I think Barred Buff has mixed breed ones with some of the same breeds you have though. I have found BackyardHerds to be helpful regarding rabbits. Sometimes over there the focus is a little more on pet rabbits rather than meat/fiber and other things that a homesteader would be interested in, such as growing/collecting rabbit foods from nature. I did make a little rabbit tractor yesterday out of a dog kennel (one of those wire ones with a pan in the bottom, I just took the pan out and gave it a cover). So far, so good!
I didn't get my recycling materials I thought we would so I had to make a temporary shelter for my youngest doe, her mom is due to kindle Friday so it is time for her to build her bed for them, I had to get her grown daughter out of there! I'm hoping she has a lot!

 

[BarredBuff]

Thanks SD! Im really not that helpful, Im trying to learn as well. However I am getting there! My main goal is self sufficient animals. Feeding rabbits SS'ly is a bump in the road for me. But I am comin up with several new ideas.

Well I have several breeds. For my meat rabbits I have French Lops. They are large rabbits that are cold hardy and make awesome mothers! They are ready for slaughter at 12 weeks as well. Ive never done my own. Im waiting right now to get a mature lop buck. Then I will breed in August or September. I already have all the equipment to process them. And the know how. Then my sister has a velveteen ( I hate the darned thing) she cant keeep a litter and is so jittery. Then she a lop cross. Which if I dont find my buck, I will use to breed with.

Any questions just give me a hollar!

 

[Dawn419]

Hi All!

Skip and Bob (our dear neighbor/adopted dad) went and got the cages this morning! :bun We've got them stored in the soft-side shed for the time being. They were too tall to store them along the shed wall so they're laid down and stacked on top of each other.
They included all of the feeders and waterers that they had so we should be good to go in that department, I still need to count everything and make sure though.

So without further ado, I give you pictures:

Both cages (parked on a slight hill):

One of the cages with the droppings pans in place:

Future site of the rabbit shed:

We're planning on building the rabbit shed off of my "pout house", on the right hand side. The above pic is the east-facing side so the buns will get morning sun and be protected from the afternoon sun plus protection from any storms that come from the west. I'll make sure to take pix and post them when we finally start on that project.


Dawn