# Cages



## VickieB (Jul 23, 2013)

How many rabbits do you put in a 30x36 cage for growing out? I have 7 in mine, which seemed fine at first; but now, at 11 weeks, it seems a little crowded.


----------



## P.O. in MO (Jul 24, 2013)

I start weaning at 5 weeks and pull 2 a day until they are all out.  I separate by sex and put in 30 x 30 cages for growing out.  I try to keep it at three to a cage in a 30 x 30 but have had 4 and they do ok.  You should be about ready to do some butchering and start getting some payback for all your work.


----------



## VickieB (Jul 24, 2013)

I dispatched my first rabbits 4 days ago, and tonight cooked them up. We made fried rabbit and gravy and we loved it! Looking forward to cooking it again.


----------



## Moonshine (Jul 24, 2013)

We have some that are about 10 weeks that came from a Dutches and they are the same size as the 6 week old NZ babies. My poor grandpa can't hardly stand it that the 10 week old babies aren't as big as he wants them for butcher. He can't hardly stand to wait much longer to eat rabbit! He's so funny! So impatient!! I'm trying to get him to wait just 2 more weeks till the NZs are 8 weeks and the dutches are 12 weeks and we will butcher all 14 at one time.


----------



## VickieB (Jul 24, 2013)

I was pretty impatient myself. I wanted to raise them up to 5 pounds, but they were almost 11 weeks, and I was wanting them to be fryers so I finally dispatched them at 4 1/2 pounds. 

I'm hoping my later litters will reach 5 pounds by 9 weeks which is what the rabbits I got them from were doing. I'm wondering if they're smaller because they're first litters, and because it has gotten to the dog days of summer...


----------



## Moonshine (Jul 25, 2013)

Are you keeping feed in their bowl at all times? We are and a friend looked at my rabbits and said the babies are so big and healthy. Her babies were skinny compared to mine and the only difference was we are keeping their bowls full of feed at all times.


----------



## sawfish99 (Jul 25, 2013)

Vicki - towards the end of growing, I try to limit to about 5 or 6 in a cage that size.  However, it depends on how many we have on hand and how many empty cages there are. 

Yes, the heat can slow down growth.


----------



## nawma (Jul 25, 2013)

I try to limit the numers in my 30x30 grow out cages to four bunnies. Sometimes I can have less depending on numbers and other empty cages. Have occasionally had to pull out two small temp cages to prevent overcrowding and fights till we can dispatch a few.


----------



## VickieB (Jul 25, 2013)

By 9 or 10 pm I try to see the food eaten up and gone. We started having problems with rats showing up at night. I would see 3 or 4 at a time out in the cages with the bunnies. My cages are on the back patio and I can't have rats that close to the house, so I started seeing to it that the bins were emptied by that time, and will fill them back up in the morning.


----------



## sawfish99 (Jul 25, 2013)

Do you leave hay available all the time?


----------



## VickieB (Jul 25, 2013)

I have just been feeding pellet.  The lady I had gotten my breeders from told me she started losing some of her buns and found that it was from the mold you would find sometimes in the hay, so she quit giving them hay and quit losing the buns. I do have some alfalfa that I put on the floor of my chicken coop for my bantams but I haven't given it to the rabbits.


----------



## sawfish99 (Jul 25, 2013)

All of our rabbits have grass hay (generally timothy/orchard mix) available ALL the time.  Every cage has a small hay feeder on it.  The American Chinchillas, tend to eat more hay than commercial breeds, which is one reason we chose them (less dependent on commercial pellets).


----------

