# Purebred or crossbred rabbits?



## mountainrabbits (Dec 29, 2010)

When starting a rabbitry with the intent of producing meat rabbits, but also being interested in showing...which is better; purebred rabbits or crossbreed mixes? What is your opinion/personal experience? What did you start out with? Which have you had the most success with selling as meat rabbits to others? Or for your own personal uses? I'm currently being faced with a conundrum of purebred, crossbred, or both? Everyone in my area has mixed breed rabbits-with a little of everything thrown in it seems-lionhead, dutch, californian and flemish giant mixes being fairly common (really who threw those rabbits together and sold them? how did they sell them?). What do you guys think?


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## Lorelai (Dec 29, 2010)

Well, we're raising purely for meat value, but we started with a breeding pair of purebred New Zealand Whites, as well as a breeding pair of purebred Californians. That way we have the option of making purebred or crossbred babies. I have a feeling that the crossbreeds will be best for meat rabbits based on how quickly they grow and how much they eat, but if we want to sell some as breeding stock, then purebred will be a better bet. But that's just our theory... we're too new at this to be "sure" about it. Does that help at all?


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## mountainrabbits (Dec 29, 2010)

Thank you Lorelai! That does actually help me  Right now I have a New Zealand/Californian cross buck, and my Fiance brought home a Satin/Lop mix doe. But I am getting a purebred Jr NZ Blue Buck and a Sr NZ White doe in February from Moonfire Rabbitry and possibly some does from another breeder I've been talking to. I'm very exited about all this  my family thinks I'm obsessed!


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## Hooligan Farm (Dec 29, 2010)

mountainrabbits said:
			
		

> Thank you Lorelai! That does actually help me  Right now I have a New Zealand/Californian cross buck, and my Fiance brought home a Satin/Lop mix doe. But I am getting a purebred Jr NZ Blue Buck and a Sr NZ White doe in February from Moonfire Rabbitry and possibly some does from another breeder I've been talking to. I'm very exited about all this  my family thinks I'm obsessed!


My family thought I was crazy at first but are slowly coming around. I'm new to this and I'm doing NZ/Rex crosses. Its just for me mainly but I have ppl interested in buying rabbits from me. I guess it all comes down to what you want and  how much you really want to sell.


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## mountainrabbits (Dec 29, 2010)

NZ/Rex crosses? Do you like them? The lady I'm getting my NZ buck and doe from has some NZ/Rex crosses, she told me her original crossed doe is an amazing mother and has really improved her meat production and offered me one of her daughters (so a 25% Rex 75% NZ) but I wasn't sure if it was a good mix. I hadn't heard of it being that common so I really don't know what to expect production wise. Have you had good experiences with them?


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## Hooligan Farm (Dec 30, 2010)

mountainrabbits said:
			
		

> NZ/Rex crosses? Do you like them? The lady I'm getting my NZ buck and doe from has some NZ/Rex crosses, she told me her original crossed doe is an amazing mother and has really improved her meat production and offered me one of her daughters (so a 25% Rex 75% NZ) but I wasn't sure if it was a good mix. I hadn't heard of it being that common so I really don't know what to expect production wise. Have you had good experiences with them?


Like I said I'm just starting out but so far so good. Along with a couple other people I started a grow out thread on BYC. They'll be a comparison between crosses and some other pure breds.
http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=432134


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## Bunnylady (Dec 30, 2010)

If you are interested in showing, you will have to have purebred _something_ to show. While most of the larger breeds are considered commercial in type, there is enough difference in some breeds that a cross between that breed and something else would be too far off from the standard to do well on a show table.


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## mountainrabbits (Dec 30, 2010)

Bunnylady said:
			
		

> If you are interested in showing, you will have to have purebred _something_ to show. While most of the larger breeds are considered commercial in type, there is enough difference in some breeds that a cross between that breed and something else would be too far off from the standard to do well on a show table.


That is what I thought, I can't imagine getting rid of my two crossbred rabbits-the buck is mine and has such a sweet loving personality everyone in my family loves him and they aren't big on rabbits-and the doe...well she has personality alright! My Fiance brought her home as his baby, she isn't nearly as sweet as my buck...But as far as I understood it if I wanted to show it had to be a purebred rabbit with a 4-6 generation pedigree. Do they also have to be registered?


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## mountainrabbits (Dec 30, 2010)

Thank you for the link to byc Hooligan! I had never been there and I must say your rabbits are gorgeous! Those spotted babies are so flashy! The only NZ/Rex cross rabbits I have seen before was an agouti doe and her opal daughter and while they are pretty they didn't look as good as yours!


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## Hooligan Farm (Dec 30, 2010)

mountainrabbits said:
			
		

> Thank you for the link to byc Hooligan! I had never been there and I must say your rabbits are gorgeous! Those spotted babies are so flashy! The only NZ/Rex cross rabbits I have seen before was an agouti doe and her opal daughter and while they are pretty they didn't look as good as yours!


Thank you.... I was shocked by all the colors. Even my 7wk litter from another doe and buck, I think are cool. Though they look black in the pic, up close and in the light they are a really dark grey. One thing I did notice with the spotted ones is that they are the smaller ones but the smallest one is the ring leader and gets everyone to jump out the nest box


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## Bunnylady (Dec 30, 2010)

mountainrabbits said:
			
		

> .But as far as I understood it if I wanted to show it had to be a purebred rabbit with a 4-6 generation pedigree. Do they also have to be registered?


I'm not sure where your information came from; every rabbit pedigree I have seen in the 20+ years that I have been breeding rabbits only has 3 generations on it (parents, grandparents, great grandparents). And truth to tell, you don't need a pedigree at all to show, nobody will check to see if the rabbit has one. I had a Harlequin buck that won 3 Grand Champion legs (including a Best of Breed), but could never be a Grand Champion because his pedigree lacked a couple of great-grandparents.

Registration is a whole different ball of wax. For a rabbit to be registered, it must have a complete 3-generation pedigree (ear number, weight, and color on all of the rabbits on the pedigree, and they must all be the same breed). It must be at least 6 months old (or whatever age that breed achieves maturity, if it takes longer), and free of disqualifications. While a rabbit doesn't have to be registered to be showable,  it must be showable to be registered (rabbits that are undersized, oversized or not a showable color cannot be registered).  You can have animals that are the wrong size or a funky color as ancestors on the pedigree, it's just the candidate for registration that has to be the correct size and color.


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## mountainrabbits (Dec 30, 2010)

Thank you so much! That really helps me!


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## Ga_goat (Jan 8, 2011)

I had a huge meat rabbit operation about 25 years ago here , but had to quit with it because I could not keep a market .  What I was useing was ,, I got 8 french lop does and bred them to a pure bred NZW ,, saved all the does out of that cross and bred them to a purebred Satin white buck , this gave me a doe with 10 teats and a weaned frier that only had to be fed  for afew  of days after weaning to reach 3 pounds . , but  There  just  wasn't a market for the live rabbits  tried to dress them  myself  but it was just too labor intensive . I was averaging  about 80 to 90 every  2 weeks out of 50 breeding does .


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## PattySh (Jan 8, 2011)

I cross NZ and Californian and think they are the fastest growing and most cost effective rabbit for the4 freezer! Pure NZ's grow slower and pure Cali's are smaller.


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## Thundrr-Chicken (Jan 9, 2011)

i just bought 4 nzw does... 2 are 7 months old.. same breeder but not sisters... 2 are 5 months old...they are sisters...

then i bought a californian buck... he is 5.5 months old... and yesterday i got a pure nzw buck... 1 year old...

im going to go ahead and breed the nzw buck to the 2 does that are 7 months old and see if it takes... i'll let the californian and other 2 nzw girls get a lil older first before i start breeding them...

how old should they be?


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## mountainrabbits (Jan 9, 2011)

Thundrr-Chicken said:
			
		

> i just bought 4 nzw does... 2 are 7 months old.. same breeder but not sisters... 2 are 5 months old...they are sisters...
> 
> then i bought a californian buck... he is 5.5 months old... and yesterday i got a pure nzw buck... 1 year old...
> 
> ...


Congratulations! New bunnies are always exiting!  I think the average age for breeding for a non-commercial meat herd is somewhere around 7-8 months old, or when they are over 8 pounds. But some do breed earlier it really depends on the breeder and I think on the rabbits-here is a link to the rabbittalk forum concerning breeding ages and what effects them: http://rabbittalk.com/breeding-age-and-what-affects-it-t1920.html are you using hutches, wire cages or a colony setting? I'm very interested in what other people are doing and how it works


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## Thundrr-Chicken (Jan 10, 2011)

originally i purchased 2 homemade wood shelving units... one 6 feet long... one 8 feet long... three shelves each... after figuring out what didnt work lol.. i decided to cut them up and put them on legs.. so.. i have two 6 feet long wood hutches...and 2 eight feet long hutches... all wood with 1/2 inch hardware cloth all the way around and the bottom.. 

i have since screwed plywood around the sides for the "winter" .. it doesnt get all that cold here.. but i want my bunnies comfortable.. and i'll unscrew all the plywood when spring hits...

since then i have built a 4 hole cage inside my chicken run... its attached to the wall studs of the chicken run... 

i believe my next set of cages will go inside the chicken run as well.. the chickens are making fast work of the rabbit droppings.. 

we also have a few stand alone cages in the garage that we can use when needed... 

i'll get some pictures and post em so you can see what i've done.. nothing fancy.. but it works for us


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## mountainrabbits (Jan 10, 2011)

Thundrr-Chicken said:
			
		

> originally i purchased 2 homemade wood shelving units... one 6 feet long... one 8 feet long... three shelves each... after figuring out what didnt work lol.. i decided to cut them up and put them on legs.. so.. i have two 6 feet long wood hutches...and 2 eight feet long hutches... all wood with 1/2 inch hardware cloth all the way around and the bottom..
> 
> i have since screwed plywood around the sides for the "winter" .. it doesnt get all that cold here.. but i want my bunnies comfortable.. and i'll unscrew all the plywood when spring hits...
> 
> ...


It sounds interesting!


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