I though you would be interested in seeing a few photographs of my meat rabbit kits throughout the past month-and-a-half. We all could use a break to look at adorable bunnies, couldn't we?

No the brown one is not a "wild" rabbit, although he does look like one, doesn't he?


Unfortunately, although the photos were in order by date, they have since been scrambled. They're still cute, though.

I have several updates for you today. We finally got a new Silver Fox buck, I have two new litters, one of meat hybrids, although they are Leanne's(if you'll remember, Leanne is the Mini Lop-Flemish cross) with my NZW buck. My other two hybrid does have Silver Fox in their bloodlines. There are six total kits, four of them being white, the other two looking like their mother(luckily the one which looks the MOST like its mother is a buck! It would be too tempting if it were a doe.) I'm still hoping to find a NZW doe and a Californian buck. My current NZW doe had a litter, but they all died but one, which is a buck. Not that I couldn't pass the white hybrids as NZWs if I wanted to. They look THAT MUCH like purebreds.

One of our Flemish Giant bucks passed away, as well. I'm beginning to believe there's something wrong with the feed. Their symptoms pointed to a severe vitamin deficiency. He had the Ivermictin the veterinarian had given him at the same time as the Silver Fox buck, but it did no good. He died just the same way our Silver Fox buck did. There have been reports of sensitivity to Ivermictin, but I can't positively say it was the cause of the illness in our Flemish. I know it wasn't in the SF because he was ill before he was taken to the veterinarian. On the positive side, our Flemish doe appears to be healing nicely.

We have a new rabbitry! We are still in the process of setting it up, but once it is,we will be much more efficient. My hybrids and the Flemish will be kept outside in the interest of the other rabbits, but they'll still have shelter. I wouldn't have it any other way.

Questions asked, Questions answered.

I wasn't able to answer these questions I found at http://www.ihav.net/ because I was having trouble with their site. Here are some of the questions posed, however, with my answers, as I would answer them had I been able to. If they're your questions, I hope this helps. If not, maybe it'll help someday, anyway. You never know when a piece of knowledge can come in handy!

Without further ado...

Question: I want to start breeding rabbits for meat production.
Should I buy my rabbits at my local pet store, or should I drive about an hour to get to the closest rabbit farm.
Will it be cheaper to buy straight from the rabbit breeder than the pet store?Are most rabbits at pet stores already spayed?

 
My Answer(edited for clarity):Not only would the rabbit be cheaper from the breeder(that's where the pet stores get the rabbits, then  they mark them up----between 5 and 100 dollars or more!), but there is also a danger of the rabbits being "altered."
The worst problem, however, and this would be my biggest concern is the lack of knowledge. You don't know if the rabbit is truly a purebred or not. It probably doesn't have a pedigree. And some breeds are simply inappropriate or useless for meat, like the polish and the lion-head. In the pet store, you can't talk to the breeder, ask questions about the breed, ask about the breeder's breeding practices, the individual rabbits, or, especially, the rabbit's family history. If the breed you get is a "mongruel," and the pet store doesn't know the ancestry, you could be stuck with a very poor breeding rabbit and several very poor meat rabbits, indeed. Also keep in mind, most butchers WILL NOT do rabbits. Too small for their time, I guess. Are you prepared to DIY? If not, you'll have to find homes for your potentially mongruel rabbits when there aren't even enough homes for the purebreds. Think This Through Before You Do. We need more meat rabbit breeders, but avoid "rookie" mistakes. That's where the breeder really comes in handy.
***P.S. If you're planning to do this to make money, don't! You won't when working on a small scale.  If you're lucky, you'll break even!***

Question:How can you tell if a baby rabbit is a boy or girl?my rabbit had one baby and i dont know how to tell if it is a boy or girl 10 points for best answer *i need to know today!*

 
My Answer:How old is the bunny? You can't tell reliably until it's at least four weeks old. Six is better. Lay the bunny on its back. Place a finger on each side of its genitals and push gently. The bunny will probably struggle, but that's normal. The genitals will pop out for both genders. A slit in the back means a girl, a hole on the tip means a boy. Just think of how the rabbits are conceived to make that easy to remember. It has to go somewhere! And, although you're being gentle, make sure it is firm enough to make it go all the way out or it will probably be mis-sexed.
And remember, sexing takes practice, so you might want to have a breeder do it, just to be sure. Non-pros almost always mis-sex bunnies. It's just so hard to tell, sometimes.

Question:How can I encourage my baby rabbit to eat?
Three days ago I adopted a wild baby rabbit which was found with hypothermia and shock near my home. Because they are pests here the RSPCA gave me the option to keep him because they would just have to put him down.The problem is that we are having trouble getting him to eat anything. We have tried rabbit mix from the pet shop, pet milk (a fairly generic one that is suitable for kittens and puppies), pet milk with honey, grated carrot, broccoli, grass, dandelion leaves, clover leaves and flowers, and grapes. He doesn't seem to be interested in anything - he will have a little nibble at the grass, clover flowers and dandelion but just nibbles off a tiny piece, chews it up but then doesn't want anything else.He is doing wees and a small amount of poos but I'm getting worried that he is going to starve himself to death! He is very lively, and appears happy and curious. He is quite young (the vet at RSPCA though about 4 wks old) but has thick fur and eyes open so probably weaned.

 
My Answer: I hate to break it to you, but fur just means they're more than about four days old, open eyes, a week or two. Rabbits wean at approx 4-5 weeks, so he's probably pretty close to being weaned if he's really that age.  It can be difficult to tell with wild rabbits, because there are so many variations in habitat. It's possible he's still traumatized. Rabbits have been known to be traumatized for days after being taken into captivity. In fact, you're lucky he's not older,  or he may have died from fear. DO NOT give him domesticated rabbit food. His little system is not designed for it. I'd keep giving him the stuff he's eating for now and slowly introduce more variation as time goes on. Is he getting enough water? It doesn't take much for a rabbit, especially a bunny, to die of dehydration. A few hours is all.
You say he's lively. That's good! It means he's probably going to be okay when he starts eating more. It's also possible there's so much to explore, he doesn't WANT to stop to eat! Most importantly, find a professional rabbit breeder to ask for advice. Or at least a hobbyist with experience. They can be a great source of information about raising young rabbits and can help you even when your bunny's an adult!
Congratulations on your new pet and good luck!
P.S. How fresh are the greens you're giving him? Don't forget, he's used to getting them as fresh as can be, right off the plant. You may want to consider transplanting some (rabbit safe) weeds into a small pot for him. As soon as greens are picked, they lose nutrients. Hope this helps.

Two of Sapphire's kits are definitely white. There are seven total. It looks like a couple of black ones, too, but I'd have to take them out of the nesting box to be sure and (A) It wouldn't be healthy for them to be handled more than necessary at this stage. They're too susceptible to disease and too easily injured and (B) Sapphire's dangerously protective of her kits and will bite anyone who sticks their hand into her hutch. Even to feed her! Despite the fact that we have to do it more often since she had her kits, because she keeps dumping it.

I think the problem is that when she had her first litter, like a lot of first litters do, hers died. All of them. I think she probably blames us or something. 

The first litter was an accident, anyway. Like a lot of rookie rabbit breeders, I mis-sexed one of my young bunnies and decided I had two does in the hutch. I was wrong! Imagine my surprise when I saw she had bunnies! Unfortunately, we didn't know then what we know now. It was winter, which probably didn't help. The little ones had the deck stacked against them because they were a first litter. They died within three days. They seemed healthy at first, but they must not have been.

At least we're all more experienced (especially Sapphire!)

 P.S. They all have fur, now. The white ones should sell fast to people who are looking for meat rabbits. I think the black and gray coats would make lovely pelts.

Contrary to popular belief, meat rabbit breeders are not heartless.We don't like to kill our livestock any more than anyone else. We even may get attached to some of the rabbits. But you always need to distance yourself when dealing with livestock. You can think they're cute, but they're still meat. A cow and a chicken are cute, too. There is something seriously wrong with a person who likes to butcher an animal. 
 

My neighbor mentioned to me that he didn't like butchering animals. He said as time went on, he liked it less and less. I told him that was good. There is something seriously wrong with a person who likes to kill.

So, to those who think we're out to make a quick buck or enjoy killing, we don't. 

Ever.

Besides, if the rabbits you breed pay for their own keep, you're way ahead of the game.

    Sapphire's kits are four days old and-it's hard to believe-they're hopping already! They're like little jumping beans! So cute! A couple of them, even though they don't, yet, have a lot of fur, look like they'll be white. 

    On the treat front, we've come across a little barrier. There's a new law that says you can't make livestock or pet food at home in my state. Not without a license, anyway. We don't want to break the law, so the treats will probably have to wait.

     We're still researching other products to supplement our income. Toys, perhaps? Cages?

     We'll keep you updated.

Just sent for more information on pasturing rabbits. I found someone who actually knows Joel and Daniel Salatin. Well, really, a company called Acres USA. Joel Salatin is the original writer of "Pastured Poultry Profits", a book about raising chickens naturally(or as close to the way nature intended as man can emulate!) and sensibly. He's also someone whom I admire very deeply for the very principles that lead him in doing so.  They, Acres USA, has forwarded the email I've sent to the aforementioned gentlemen, and even promise to send me and article they found on the subject from March 2009! I intend to do more research before, maybe, subscribing to their magazine, though. Especially since I pretty much only specialize in rabbits, right now! I do know, however, that they seem to go above and beyond for customer service just from my brief dealings with them through email. The letter is below, in italics to differentiate it from the rest of the article.

Here's a copy of my letter and their response. My real name has been hidden because --- well, there are some crazy people out there who'd love to hurt me, or worse, my family, simply because they think I shouldn't be hurting living beings. Makes sense, huh? To understand the whole letter, you'd have to read Mr. Salatin's article, "everything I want to do is illegal" I put a link below.

http://www.mindfully.org/Farm/2003/Everything-Is-Illegal1esp03.htm
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: (bunnybabe)
Sent: Wednesday, April 07, 2010 9:55 PM
To: Info
Subject: Pastured Rabbits?

Dear Mr. Salatin, I'm sorry to hear about the government crackdown on sustainable farmers like yourself. Makes me want to move to Canada, eh? I know, bad joke.

I actually have "Pastured Poultry Profits." It saddens me that I can no longer try many of your techniques should I ever be able to afford a farm. Right now, it's just a dream I have. Even if I could afford one, I'm not sure my young but decrepit back could handle it. Okay, I'm sure I've wasted enough of your valuable time chit-chatting, so here it is. I raise rabbits for meat and.....fur. "Pastured Poultry" focused on chickens and did not say too much about rabbits. Do you have a special feed recipe for rabbits. I know you were giving them free choice grains, pellets and hay, but has anything changed on that front? Some people say you can make rabbit feed, some say you can't. I refuse to believe rabbits have been bred so they can only eat pellets and hay! Especially since the farmer next door told me he raised rabbit successfully on nothing but grains. I don't really want to do that either, though. Seems a little too much the other way to me....

I also read elsewhere that you have some of the rabbits in pens similar to your broilers. Is there a technique to that? If it makes any difference, my (meat) rabbits are all hybrids, although the my friend, Cathy, and I also breed several breeds of purebreds for sale and show.. Right now, I have a new litter of Flemish-Mini Lop-Silver Fox with another due next week. I would really appreciate your input. Thanks.I also have a blog about raising rabbits for meat and fur. Perhaps, with your permission, I could use some of your wisdom?

If there's a newsletter on this subject, I would be very interested in receiving it. If this letter does not get to Mr Salatin directly, please pass it on to him.

Thank you,
(bunnybabe),
Part Owner, Buzzy Bunnies

Greetings (bunnybabe),
Thanks for your request for more information about pastured rabbits. I have forwarded your email to the Salatins today so either Daniel or Joel can reply - but they are hugely busy at this time so it might be a while.
We have an article from the March 2009 issue that I found on raising rabbits that I can mail to you if you are willing to provide a mailing address.
Best wishes.
Anne
Anne Van Nest
Customer Service
Acres U.S.A.
(Mail) P.O. Box 91299, Austin, TX 78709
(Physical) 5321 Industrial Oaks Blvd., Ste. 128, Austin, TX 78735
Phone 512-892-4400
Fax 512-892-4448

info@acresusa.com
www.acresusa.com

Mark your calendar.... for the Acres U.S.A. annual conference, December 9-11, 2010. See you in Indianapolis, Indiana!

By the way, I sent her my mailing address, so, hopefully something good will come out of it. I'll keep you all updated.

Calling all SF breeders! Calling all SF breeders! We are in desperate need of Silver Fox rabbits! If anyone breeds SFs near the Sandy Lake, Pa area, please leave a message here! I will contact you as soon as it's received. Full pedigrees are desired, but not necessarily necessary. Please leave an email address for your rabbitry or bunny barn in the comments section. You will receive a response through email as soon as possible. Thank you!

We also need two cali bucks of any age, with or without pedigree.

P.S. we have no intention of EATING any SFs or calis we buy. Just breeding. SFs are still pretty rare and we would like to see the population grow!

Spent a big portion of my day creating a term legend to help anyone who might be confused. I'll try to keep it updated with any new terms I may use as time goes by.  If anyone has a question, please leave a comment in the comments section. Comments are anonymous and encouraged.


About Sapphire's litter, all the kits(baby bunnies) seem to be doing fine. I think they're starting to grow hair already! Of course, that could just be my wishful thinking, lol!