Rabbit Questions

[Big_White]

Ok i out this up on BYH but i know we have a couple of rabbit experts on here too so i figured it couldnt hurt to try it here also



I have a couple of questions for anyone willing to answer.

Is there a good meat breed that would stand up a lil better to the heat of the south? I live in northern Alabama and it gets pretty hot down here.

Also what would be a good pet breed of rabbit? Is there a meat breed thats a good pet breed?

I was wanting to start with a buck and three does, one doe beeing of the pet or different breed. But my better girl friend suggested two bucks and two does, the pairs being same breed. Any advice on this?

I think thats all i have for now. Any help will be very appreciated and i will probably have more questions coming later.

 

[the funny farm6]

You might look at dutch rabbits. They are smaller than the "meat" breeds, but we have butchered them out before and they are a good meaty rabbit for their size. They are very friendly and come in a few different colors. They have speicific markings to look for (we got ours cheap becouse they had "off" markings) so you might check them out.

And as for heat we don't realy worry about here in iowa. When it gets hot out we freeze soda pop bottles and put them in the cages and the rabbits will lay on them. Also a fan on the shadded end of the barn.

I keep 4 females and 1 male right now. In the spring I will keep back 6-8 young does as breeder replacements and will buy 3 bucks from a different source. When the young are old enuff I will cull down to 2 bucks and breed the does then judge from the litters what 4 were the best moms and which of the bucks I liked better (color, temperment, size, ect.) Then I have my new breeders, and either sell or eat the old stock. I do this every 2 years. Males are generally cheaper so I save money by only buying bucks.

Hope this helps.

 

[pinkfox]

if your going for meat only id suggest the californian, or florida white...or a mixed meaty bred with BIG upright ears and a tight short coat (big ears help dissipate the heat)

if your going for meat and pet...
im persnally a big fan of the rexs...
even the minis for meat...rex have a high meat to bone ratio, fur to die for and GREAT perosnalities (ive yet to meet a mean rex) they also tend to make incredibly good momas and are frequently used to foster other bunns.

satins might be another good option

if your interested in getting into preservation creme d'argents, american chinchilla, and silver fox are considered great meaty/pet breeds and on the conservation list too

remember ALL rabbits are made of meat so any breed within reason could work depending on what your other wants and goals are.

 

[the funny farm6]

I had nothing but trouble with the satins... horrable mothers (when I got them to breed) small litters and not friendly.

The rex are nice and the coats are soooo soft. If you are interested in tanning the furs. We made mittens out of ours for the kids years ago. But I didn't think they held up quite as well in the heat. Where the dutch did well in the heat.

Beware of the breeds on the conservation list as they tend to be rare and therefor more expensive. There are a few breeds I want but I'm not willing to pay $60-$100 per rabbit. (English lops).

 

[BarredBuff]

Ok i out this up on BYH but i know we have a couple of rabbit experts on here too so i figured it couldnt hurt to try it here also



I have a couple of questions for anyone willing to answer.

Is there a good meat breed that would stand up a lil better to the heat of the south? I live in northern Alabama and it gets pretty hot down here.

Also what would be a good pet breed of rabbit? Is there a meat breed thats a good pet breed?

I was wanting to start with a buck and three does, one doe beeing of the pet or different breed. But my better girl friend suggested two bucks and two does, the pairs being same breed. Any advice on this?

I think thats all i have for now. Any help will be very appreciated and i will probably have more questions coming later.

I'd say that the New Zealand Meat breed would do well for meaties in the south. As far as pets these are the albino rabbits and may not be as popular for pets. As for pets I agree with funny farm, Dutches are the way to go for pets. Thats what everyone wants, or those Lionhead ones. If your going to run two different 'types' of rabbits, I'd say do what your girlfriend suggested. Just do two pairs, and then focus on building up a hutch from them. Always use that same buck though because if you keep a doe and a buck from the same litter, it causes a genetic problem. But father to daughter, son to mother is fine. Hope this helps!

 

[the funny farm6]

We have had some lionheads that were about the size of a dutch. But they are crossing them here with dwarf to bring the size down! So if you look at any, make sure you see the size of the parents! You don't want to be dressing out 2 lb rabbits!

The dutch have 6-7 babies, our lionheads had 3-4 our new zeland and new zeland mixes have 8-10

My new zeland does are mixes some still pure white some are black and white and I have 1 red with black patches (calico)...this way if I don't want to butcher, I can sell for pet type. Also when I tan hides, some are pritty. They are the ones that sell first. Look up harliquin rabbits and see the colors- they are cool. But can be hard to find. Pure harliquins do have smaller litters 6-8 but crossing them I get good litter sizes.

My rabbits are mixed with new zeland X harliquin mixes. My last buck (current herd sire) is pure new zeland. I have pure harliquin bucks as soon as he breeds this spring.

I quess i should ask, what are your goals?? Do you want the meat? Do you want to tan hides? Do you want to sell bunnies? Ect...

 

[Beekissed]

Is there a meat breed thats a good pet breed?

Standard Rex, not mini, would be good for this want, as stated by Pink Fox. I've known a few people who kept Rex's in their homes and one had the same rabbit for many years much like keeping a cat or dog. They are much more docile and friendly than the NZ or Dutch that I've had.

When her Rex finally died I gave her one that I had and it adapted so quickly to indoor living that I was amazed. She reported the rabbit would sit on her son's back while he laid on the floor watching TV or playing video games and would stay there and watch the screen also. That always made me laugh!

When I see a Rex I always picture Watership Down for some reason. They get to be a fair size, have compact bodies, the fur is to die for and isn't so long that they would suffer in the heat anymore than other breeds and they seem to be fairly hardy. I've never raised them in a production setting so I don't know anything about their production capabilities.

 

[Big_White]

Thanks so much for all the feed back. To clarify my goals, right now I am looking for a good meat breed to eat and batrer with, that i can also sell as a pet breed. But if not one I was gonna have one meat pair and one pet pair. Also I was planning on tanning the hides of any i could not sell or barter off, to try and make money on that way. so a little bit of everything. I think that I will go with a rex buck and two rex does based on what ya'll explained to me, and i wanna try a dutch doe mixed in there as well for my fourth bun. Thanks and if anyone else has advice I am still open to hear it, I'm not gonna be gettin em for a while still.

 

[the funny farm6]

The rex are a good rabbit. They come in all different colors- including my favorite- the calico! Also spotted, and solid. The one thing about rex is that you will want to teach them to have their nails trimmed, for some reason their nails seem to grow fast. When the heat hits just make sure you have your water bottles frozen. But I would say that for any breed.

In fact I was asked last week if I would adopt 2 brown/white spotted mini rex babies. A friend of mine got a bunny at the pet store and guess what?? She was pregnant when they got her. Don't know if I will keep them though.

 

[pinkfox]

in terms of the rex..be warned, finding true standards can be hard...
i have 2 does and am looking for a couple of standard bucks and it looks like im going to be doing some traveling to get them when alls said and done.
in many areas they are HARD to find!
youll also pay good money for good rex stock (though the same can be said of any breed your more likley going to pay more for any standard even if its not the best example of the breed...

however, minis are incredibly popular as a pet breed (and mini rex will give you a good meaty stew bunny, useless as fryers but if you wiling to ait youll get more meat from a mini rex than from similar sized rabbits of other breeds do to a high meat to bone ratio) and because of alot of "pet" breeding you can find some minis that are as big as a small standard...
so dont automatically pass up a nice mini just because of its size...
take a gander at the parents and see how big they are.
an adult mini rex should be 4 - 4 1/2 lbs, where as an adult standard is generally in the 6-9lb range...and ive seen MANY minis pushing the 6lb mark that would be easily breed up to a larger rex.

(right now my standard does are bred (hopefully it took) to a slightly larger than average mini rex...the combi shoudl give me a nice litter who will still be small enough to sell as "pets" to people not wanting a 10lb rabbit, but big enough to butcher out.

Rex, even standards do take longer to reach bitcher size, where as a NZ or cali might hit butcher weight at 10 weeks a standards going to take at least 12-14 weeks to reach that same weight...but if your into fur, you cant beat the rex...its LUXURY! (and people wll pay more for good tanned rex pelts than normal rabbit) that being said the best quality pelt is going to be off your OLDER bunnines, fryers will give you a soft plus pelt but they dont get their adult coat untill about 9 months of age and thats the true dense rex pelt...
my personal plan is to split litters, ill sell as many as i can as pets before 10 weeks old, any that dont sell as pets will then be tractored as meaties...
ill keep the nicest marked, best colors ect for butcher at a later date so i can make the most out of the best pelts while still getting some stew meat out of them...the ones with not so fancy pelts will go as fryers at 12-14 weeks and those pelts will also be kept and tanned but will obviously not sell for as much to the craft market.

something else about the rex is they get sore hocks very eaisly, if raising them on wire LOTS of resting boards. i personaly prefer to raise rabbits on a solid floor but this is especially true for rex/mini rex. they need to be able to get off the wire easily as they dont have the extra coverage that a normal furred rabbit has. and yes, the nails do grow faster than other breeds.