mandi224
Chillin' with the herd
Congrats on getting into meat rabbits! I think everyone has covered most of what I'd suggest regarding heating/cooling. Rabbits are great for people who live in the city or suburbs. If you're concerned about your neighbors, you could also put them in the corner of your garage if you have one. I have friends who raised 4-H rabbits in their garage right in a subdivision. If people are uncomfortable you can always tell them they're pets or show rabbits.
We got our first meat rabbits last fall and our 3rd litter was born yesterday. The rabbits take very little work, especially if you hang the cages or have some sort of catch-system for the manure (e.g. put plastic bins underneath). Daily feeding/watering only takes a few minutes and dumping out the manure bins once or twice a week doesn't take much longer.
To answer your question, "Do babies have any significant extra requirements?" - Not that I have experienced. Mama does usually do a great job for you, and around 6-8 weeks of age the babies are ready to be weaned and can go right onto pellet food.
The only somewhat time consuming thing for us is butchering days. We have to find a babysitter for the kids so both of us can work without disruption. We're getting better at it very time though!
I will say as your kids get older it may get harder because sometimes they get attached. Our older son (7 years old) got attached to one of our babies from our first litter so that's how we wound up with an extra buck that we didn't necessarily want to keep! Haha. We told him he can have ONE rabbit. We do find that the kids like the BABY rabbits but as they get older and are more difficult to handle, the kids lose interest and are more interested in the new babies being born. Plus, it's a good lesson in where food comes from, I think.
We got our first meat rabbits last fall and our 3rd litter was born yesterday. The rabbits take very little work, especially if you hang the cages or have some sort of catch-system for the manure (e.g. put plastic bins underneath). Daily feeding/watering only takes a few minutes and dumping out the manure bins once or twice a week doesn't take much longer.
To answer your question, "Do babies have any significant extra requirements?" - Not that I have experienced. Mama does usually do a great job for you, and around 6-8 weeks of age the babies are ready to be weaned and can go right onto pellet food.
The only somewhat time consuming thing for us is butchering days. We have to find a babysitter for the kids so both of us can work without disruption. We're getting better at it very time though!
I will say as your kids get older it may get harder because sometimes they get attached. Our older son (7 years old) got attached to one of our babies from our first litter so that's how we wound up with an extra buck that we didn't necessarily want to keep! Haha. We told him he can have ONE rabbit. We do find that the kids like the BABY rabbits but as they get older and are more difficult to handle, the kids lose interest and are more interested in the new babies being born. Plus, it's a good lesson in where food comes from, I think.
