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A lot of rabbits will go off pellets the closer they get to their delivery date. They'll usually still eat hay and other things but something about pellets often puts them off. I would give my doe sunflower seeds to make up the difference (she LOVED them) as they have a lot of fat and I would...

I get the tiny black sunflower seeds. She eats them shell and all. But sunflwoer seeds have a lot of fat so it keeps her energy up when she's not eating much else. Assuming your doe likes them, your milage may vary.

My doe does that between the first and second week of her pregnancy. It can be challenging to keep their condition throughout the pregnancy when they're only eating hay. I will give her a big handful of sunflower seeds (she loves them, even when she's pregnant) or oats everyday. On her last...

I agree with you but like anything else I think it depends on the breed. There are certain breeds that are optomized for use as pets: dwarfs and lops being chief among them. And there are some rabbits that are optomized to use as lifestock. Most rabbits people breed for meat would not be...

Agreed. The key to linebreeding or any familial breeding is that what you keep should always be superior to their parents. That can mean a LOT of culling, but as long as you keep only the healthiest, best formed rabbits, you should be okay.

I rarely feed the rabbits hay, instead opting for the "hay cubes" they sell for horses. Mostly becuase the rabbits don't like the seedheads that are common in hay, and less of it ends up in the litter pan. Of course some still ends up in the corners to be peed on, but not nearly as much...

Not to mention rabbits would probably eat anything you put their "tractor" over. Better to spread out the pellets. more control that way. If you get a rabbit cage with a litter tray, use newspapers as litter in their special corners. the newspapers are very absorbant and it's easier to...

It's interesting how kits can reveal the color genetics of the parent. I bred a grey buck to a californian doe and got ONLY black and cali/albino kits. Meaning mister Grey has at least one gene for albinoism and Miss California is a black rabbit underneath her albino genes. If I take a black...

There's a lot to be said with where you get your rabbits too. Daughters tend to turn into their mothers. I got my Californian doe from a nationally competing show breeder. she was young and had never been bred but she did everything perfectly on her first litter. I really could not have...

Also keep in mind that you don't have to just sell rabbits for human consumption. There's a market of people who give their dogs/cats/reptiles "raw food" diets that will be happy to buy fresh rabbit meat (or in the case of reptiles, whole rabbit carcases) You'd probably want to label any...

I'm a little worried I'll jerk too hard and the head will come off. But I guess even that is preferable to not pulling hard enough. Better I freak out than the rabbit.

Boy I feel sheepish. I weighed the rabbits a few days ago and a couple have hit that 5lb mark so I'll send them to "freezer camp" later this week. But then I looked back on last year's calendar and realized they weren't 9 weeks old when I posted this, they JUST turned 8 weeks old this week...

I weaned half at 4 weeks and half at 5. I was concerned about whether there would be fighting if things got too cramped (and in hindsight it may have not been as cramped as I thought). I shouldn't have worried. Momma did a fantastic job. She actually seemed to enjoy having so many little...

I know giants aren't ideal for meat breeding, but that is his ONLY fault so far. This is my first litter and my first rabbits so I wanted animals with a good temperment. It was my doe's first litter (she's the californian) and she did a stellar job and expecting her second litter soon. But...

I had a brilliant idea to weigh my rabbits. I have this big giant cross buck that I wanted to weigh and he's just too big for most scales, and I needed something to weigh my first litter of kits (about 9 weeks old). So I bought a BABY scale and got it this week. Yesterday I finally get it out...

It can be hard to find a "meat rabbit" from a petstore. most pet rabbits tend to be smaller (dwarfs or minis) and/or "lops". It's uncommon to find anything worth raising for meat in a petstore. But a lot of people have given you some good suggestions. I hope you find one that suits you.

You should always take the doe into the buck's cage. Does are more receptive to breeding when they're in the male's territory. Let us know if that helps.

My doe was like that when I first got her. She'd back herself into her "don't touch me" corner and charge my hand if I had it too low in front of her. She'd LET me pet her if my hand was higher than her head, but she did not like it. Even when she charged my hand it was a pretty pathetic...

One day I hope to transition to American blue rabbits. They are just so beautiful! I chose my buck primarily because he so closely resembled a Blue American (but a few pounds larger) He's a giant cross mutt of some kind, but he's a great buck and the main reason I'm going to hold off getting...

There's a backorder on the rabbit wringer. I ordered mine in late October and still haven't gotten it (but they did reply to my email query so I'll give them a bit longer). You can make you own "killboard" that follows the same principal. If you look up "raising rabbits for meat" in youtube...