craigs list find UPDATE PICS post 16!!

[collector]

I called the ad they still have the rabbits they gave away the white one and one of the browns they still have 6 blacks and 1 brown left. It is 110 mile one way . We have about 20" of snow here and they are north of us in the snow belt area of the Idaho panhandle. I will have to take my old pickup it has 4x4 and they are out in the boonies. I hope the old truck can make the trip, its a lot further than the dump, feedstore, or hardware store, that I usually use it for.

 

[doo dah]

let us know how it goes!

 

[collector]

Well we went and got them, There are 4 bucks and 2 does. One of the bucks got torn up pretty badly by the red buck when they kept them in the same hutch overnight. His ears are chewed up and he has many bites on his body, one so bad on his back that a hunk of meat is missing. they are 9 months old how much should they weigh, they were free range. They are fairly tame and easy to handle, surprising for freerange. what should we be looking for as far as body shape and such for breeding. Not sure yet what we are going to do with them, hoping for some advice and ideas here I will try to post some pics tomorrow.

 

[DianeS]

Yay! That's so cool that you got free rabbits. I wish I could find a deal like that over here!

You ought to be able to find some photographs of rabbits who won prizes (at fairs and such) to compare body shape and size with yours. And of course be on the lookout for a rabbit that just doesn't look "right", maybe a leg is twisted out or the two sides of his body aren't identical, things like that are things you would not want to pass down to offspring.

Keep us posted.

 

[DianeS]

Wow, I found this today by accident: http://braggnrights.tripod.com/culling.html

Its an article about how NZ rabbits are judged. Points for this or that, how they should look, how the body should sit and move, fur type, etc. And references to the ARBA handbook for more information.

Hope its useful to you!

 

[collector]

Here are a couple of pics of the rabbits. one pic of the red rabbit he has some black around his face and underside. Also there is a pic of one of the black ones, all of them look the same. what do you think?

 

[mamato3]

They look healthy for free ranging. Im guessing they should weigh 8 to 10 pounds. My pure nzw weights around those weights

 

[dbunni]

This is just my experience with NZs ... broken blacks & blues... my does push the standard of 12#s.. most range in the 11-12 area. Bucks are about a pound less. Anybody in the 9-10# range is carefully watched and often culled/sold. Both for show and meat producing issues. i have found that the smaller does & bucks often produce animals that do not reach a good weight for processing by 10-11 weeks, and in turn struggle to make senior show weight. Most of my show juniors are pushing senior weight by 6 months. But, once again, this is just my experience.

 

[Bunnylady]

The color of your "red" is called Tort, Tortoise, or Tortoiseshell. It is not a color that New Zealands come in, though the color could pop up after a couple of generations of breeding Blacks and Reds together. There is also a large rabbit breed called the Cinnamon, that is actually Tort in color.

 

[Lorelai]

I'm totally new to this, but does anyone else see some Flemish Giant in the black one around the eyes and ears? I have a doe who is very likely half Flemish Giant, half New Zealand, and she looks a lot like the black bunny in the picture. She's also very friendly and just had a dozen kits with only one casualty in the first 10 days. But I digress... they do look extremely plump and healthy!