Margali
Herd Master
Cassandra wants to start showing rabbits with her cousin Amelia. This thread will document our journey down the rabbit hole.
Griffin Wood Ranch- Rabbits
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Margali
Herd Master
Breeds:
I found the list of specialty shows for Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas state fairs to use as start my list. Then I ruled out the micro <4lbs and giant >11lb breeds. I found my ancient 2011-2015 Standards of Perfection and book marked the potential breeds. Cassandra read it BY HERSELF and fell in love with description of Rex fur.
So we are probably doing mini-Rex or Rex. I am also interested in the Havanas...
Housing:
I have a 9'x20' carport frame I will recover for the rabbitry. I am looking at 24"l x24"d cages for singles and 36"l x24"d doe cages with hang on front next boxes. The shallow depth is so Cassandra can reach.
I don't know if 18" is tall enough for a standard rex? Would there be room to add a shelf for extra floor space?
I found the list of specialty shows for Houston, San Antonio, and Dallas state fairs to use as start my list. Then I ruled out the micro <4lbs and giant >11lb breeds. I found my ancient 2011-2015 Standards of Perfection and book marked the potential breeds. Cassandra read it BY HERSELF and fell in love with description of Rex fur.
So we are probably doing mini-Rex or Rex. I am also interested in the Havanas...
Housing:
I have a 9'x20' carport frame I will recover for the rabbitry. I am looking at 24"l x24"d cages for singles and 36"l x24"d doe cages with hang on front next boxes. The shallow depth is so Cassandra can reach.
I don't know if 18" is tall enough for a standard rex? Would there be room to add a shelf for extra floor space?
Last edited:
Ridgetop
Herd Master
Cage size is ok, but don ot bothwr with mini Rex. If she does a standard Rex or California breed she can breed and enter meat pens for auction, as well as singles for the standard show. A good meat rabbit breed will raise kits to make 5 lbs at 8-10 weeks. Breed 100 days before the show date and you will have a meat pen that is right on the money as far as weights.
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Ridgetop
Herd Master
18" is plenty high. The rabbits don't need and won't climb up to an upper story. Or do you mean to double stack the cages? Use 1 x 1/2" wire for the bottoms. You can order bottom reinforcement struts from the rabbit suppliers. The manure and pee will fall through the wire bottoms. The easiest way to do a rabbitry is to hang the cages with chains or wire over a worm bed. Use 2 x 12 planks and nail them together to make a confined area under the cages to contain the manure as it falls through the cage floors. Since they will be hanging over dirt no bottom is necessary for the worm bed. You can put shavings on top of the manure and pee if there is an odor. The pee is almost 100% nitrogen and when soaked into the shavings which are a carbon component it makes perfect fertilizer. Rabbit manure is the only manure that will not burn plants when applied without aging it. Grow red worms in the manure and it is even better.
Standard cages for meat breeds are 36"w x 30"deep x 18" high for a doe and her litter. I have used 30 x 30 x 18 for bucks. I have used 24 x 24 as grower cages for individual fryers we were growing out to check for show potential. We used those sizes because they were what we had when we were running 100 cages in our barn. (We would buy sed cages from other people that were retiring from rabbits. Personally, using different size cages is a waste of time and money for a small meat operation. My suggestion is to buy the 18" high with baby saver and make all the cages out of it. The nest boxes will take up some space, so 36w x 30d is optimal. If you are worried that Cassandra won't be able to reach into the back, you can make them 24" deep but add some width to make up for the shallower depth. Cassandra will grow bigger and making the cages in 36" wide increments will make figuring out your barn space easier. BTW, put clips on the doors to prevent accidental opening. Although we had standard latching cages, I used to put a clip on the cage doors after the cage doors came open and rabbits got out.
I have some nest boxes I made out of plywood and I will make a pattern for you. They are very easy to cut out of 3/8"-1/2" plywood. We used the scraps of plywood we had so I am not sure exactly what plywood I made them out of. The rbbits dd chew on them, and I reinforced the corners with 1/2" elbows. Do not buy the metal ones with lids, since the rabbits don't like the lids and in winter the kits can freeze to the bottom if there is not sufficient bedding. Do you have ring pliers and rings to put the cages together?
Next on the agenda are feeders. Again you can buy 12" feeders for the doe and her litter and 6" for the bucks, but why? They are almost the same price so just get them all the same 12" size. By sizing the cages all the same to fit a doe and litter, and using the same 12" size for feeders, you can move rabbits around in the rabbitry without worrying about the cage size for bucks or does. Whatever size you decide to go wth, make sure they have either screen bottoms, or punched holes in the bottom. When feeding pellets the pellets will rub together and make dust, called "fines" by rabbit breeders. If you have solid bottom feeders you will have to empty the fines out of the feeders because the dust will make the rabbits cough. Just empty them into the worm pits or buy feeders with screens.
When it comes to water, just remember that without fresh water the rabbits can't eat. They will literally starve to death with food in front of them. The easiest and cheapest watering system you can use is 2 liter soda bottles. You can buy kits to convert them to drinking bottles. For now that is what I would recommend to start with. Maybe later you will want to invest in one of the automatic systems. The plastic bottles can get green algae in them so what you need to do is put 1/8 tsp of household bleach in each 2 liter bottle of water. Every other day or so you need to empty thm into the manure pits and refill them with water and the 1/8 tsp of bleach per 2 liters.
Once you have the cages up you can add small chunks of wood (4" long pieces of pine 2 x 4) for the bucks to chew and toss around. The does will not be interested in that once they have litters. Pieces of drywall (not green board) cut in 8"x12" pieces gives the rabbits something comfortable to sit on. The rbbits will gradually chew that piece down - just replace it. Chewing the gypsum will not hurt them. In the summer, you can cut pieces of carpet the same size, soak it in cold water, and put them in the cages instead of the gypsum board.
Lastly, rabbits are sensitive to heat but can take a lot of dry cold. I would recommend that your rabbitry not have a western exposure due to the heat of the setting sun. An eastern exposure is fine as far as sun.
One last tip when cleaning cages, use a propane torch to burn away hay and spiderwebs. Also if you buy used cages, clean them with the propane torch to sterilize them.
Any other questions just call or post.
Standard cages for meat breeds are 36"w x 30"deep x 18" high for a doe and her litter. I have used 30 x 30 x 18 for bucks. I have used 24 x 24 as grower cages for individual fryers we were growing out to check for show potential. We used those sizes because they were what we had when we were running 100 cages in our barn. (We would buy sed cages from other people that were retiring from rabbits. Personally, using different size cages is a waste of time and money for a small meat operation. My suggestion is to buy the 18" high with baby saver and make all the cages out of it. The nest boxes will take up some space, so 36w x 30d is optimal. If you are worried that Cassandra won't be able to reach into the back, you can make them 24" deep but add some width to make up for the shallower depth. Cassandra will grow bigger and making the cages in 36" wide increments will make figuring out your barn space easier. BTW, put clips on the doors to prevent accidental opening. Although we had standard latching cages, I used to put a clip on the cage doors after the cage doors came open and rabbits got out.
I have some nest boxes I made out of plywood and I will make a pattern for you. They are very easy to cut out of 3/8"-1/2" plywood. We used the scraps of plywood we had so I am not sure exactly what plywood I made them out of. The rbbits dd chew on them, and I reinforced the corners with 1/2" elbows. Do not buy the metal ones with lids, since the rabbits don't like the lids and in winter the kits can freeze to the bottom if there is not sufficient bedding. Do you have ring pliers and rings to put the cages together?
Next on the agenda are feeders. Again you can buy 12" feeders for the doe and her litter and 6" for the bucks, but why? They are almost the same price so just get them all the same 12" size. By sizing the cages all the same to fit a doe and litter, and using the same 12" size for feeders, you can move rabbits around in the rabbitry without worrying about the cage size for bucks or does. Whatever size you decide to go wth, make sure they have either screen bottoms, or punched holes in the bottom. When feeding pellets the pellets will rub together and make dust, called "fines" by rabbit breeders. If you have solid bottom feeders you will have to empty the fines out of the feeders because the dust will make the rabbits cough. Just empty them into the worm pits or buy feeders with screens.
When it comes to water, just remember that without fresh water the rabbits can't eat. They will literally starve to death with food in front of them. The easiest and cheapest watering system you can use is 2 liter soda bottles. You can buy kits to convert them to drinking bottles. For now that is what I would recommend to start with. Maybe later you will want to invest in one of the automatic systems. The plastic bottles can get green algae in them so what you need to do is put 1/8 tsp of household bleach in each 2 liter bottle of water. Every other day or so you need to empty thm into the manure pits and refill them with water and the 1/8 tsp of bleach per 2 liters.
Once you have the cages up you can add small chunks of wood (4" long pieces of pine 2 x 4) for the bucks to chew and toss around. The does will not be interested in that once they have litters. Pieces of drywall (not green board) cut in 8"x12" pieces gives the rabbits something comfortable to sit on. The rbbits will gradually chew that piece down - just replace it. Chewing the gypsum will not hurt them. In the summer, you can cut pieces of carpet the same size, soak it in cold water, and put them in the cages instead of the gypsum board.
Lastly, rabbits are sensitive to heat but can take a lot of dry cold. I would recommend that your rabbitry not have a western exposure due to the heat of the setting sun. An eastern exposure is fine as far as sun.
One last tip when cleaning cages, use a propane torch to burn away hay and spiderwebs. Also if you buy used cages, clean them with the propane torch to sterilize them.
Any other questions just call or post.
animalmom
Herd Master
I have a lot of rabbit equipment from when I shut down my operation.
Feeders, crocks, cages, can't even remember off hand what I have.
The double cages are large, like 24" x 48" x 18". I belive there are 4 double cages which would give you 8 rabbit holes.
There is 1 other cage that is 4' x 4' x 18" that I used as a grow out cage.
I have one nesting box, wire, that has never been used.
Interested? You come get and I'll give you all I have.
Feeders, crocks, cages, can't even remember off hand what I have.
The double cages are large, like 24" x 48" x 18". I belive there are 4 double cages which would give you 8 rabbit holes.
There is 1 other cage that is 4' x 4' x 18" that I used as a grow out cage.
I have one nesting box, wire, that has never been used.
Interested? You come get and I'll give you all I have.
