mysunwolf's Kindling Thread

[Hens and Roos]

Congrats!

 

[VickieB]

Congratulations!

 

[mysunwolf]

Thanks everyone, I am so excited!!

We have ducklings hatching tomorrow, chicks in the yard, lambs on the way, and so with the addition of all these baby bunnies it feels like springtime heaven around here

 

[happy acres]

I'm jealous! Must get rabbits!

 

[mysunwolf]

Rabbits are definitely worth having around. And once you find a reliable momma, they start multiplying like crazy...

 

[mysunwolf]

Evie's kits are coming up on 7 weeks and are now in our "bunny tractor." We had a mishap while I was out of town and they all escaped... but I caught all but one kit (who was killed by the neighbor's cat that night) and put them back. They are loving the grass. This is a big experiment, so we'll see how it goes. Currently their diet is mostly fresh grass with a little bit of pellets supplemented at the end of the day. I've heard they grow slower purely on grass, so the pellets (corn-based, not alfalfa-based like the ones I feed my breeders) are an attempt to keep them growing at a good rate. Hoping to use a whole grain mixture in the future.

For genetic references...

chesnut doe X pointed white buck =

chestnut
chestnut
black
black
black
blue/lilac
blue/lilac
gold-tipped black
gold-tipped black


While trying to breed Evie back when the kits were 4 weeks old, my Flemish X buck failed at mating. He has done this multiple times since then. We decided to wait a few more weeks as Evie didn't seem ready to breed yet. Well, just recently she started getting aggressive again. This is how she lets us know she is ready to be bred! I put her in with my Californian and he bred her in a heartbeat.

Snow's kits are now about 2 weeks old, so I decided to breed her back as well so that her and Evie would kindle back-to-back. She was definitely ready, and the buck got his job done fast. He is a great guy to have around--I will have to remember to save one of his lilac/blue male kits to retain as a breeder.

More genetic info...

broken black doe X pointed white buck =

black
blue/lilac
REW
broken black
broken black
broken blue
broken ? (possibly blue agouti)

I'll get some photos of the 2 week old kits to post. There's one with the strangest coloring.

 

[mysunwolf]

I've got two of them colored like this:

Is this color just broken blue tortoiseshell?

And here is mom with the kit that looks like her:

 

[HoneyDreameMomma]

Adorable! Makes me want more bunnies than the single one we have. He's a neutered male...so, no baby bunnies for me.

How is the grass/pasture raising going? I've wondered about doing that, and I've read arguments on both sides. Given all the happy, healthy wild cottontails we have around our house, pasture raised rabbit seems like a more natural option.

How soon can you put out the babies? How do you transition a rabbit from straight pellets to grass? Do you have issues with them digging out? I'd love to actually hear from someone with first hand experience.

 

[mysunwolf]

Adorable! Makes me want more bunnies than the single one we have. He's a neutered male...so, no baby bunnies for me.

How is the grass/pasture raising going? I've wondered about doing that, and I've read arguments on both sides. Given all the happy, healthy wild cottontails we have around our house, pasture raised rabbit seems like a more natural option.

How soon can you put out the babies? How do you transition a rabbit from straight pellets to grass? Do you have issues with them digging out? I'd love to actually hear from someone with first hand experience.

Brace yourself for a long post

I think it's always worth breeding meat rabbits! Easy, economical, etc.

The pasture raising is going really well, but it is most definitely a work in progress. They are essentially in my backyard, since we have predators galore out in the "real" pasture.

Starting at 4 weeks, when the weather was nice, the kits went on "pasture field trips" where they could jump around in a pen and explore the grass. They didn't eat much grass at first. I only took them out a few times. They also received a lot of fresh grass that I picked and put in their raised cage w/mom. The kits went out full-time to the pen at 5 weeks old (and they handled below freezing temps with no problem). I kept a large supply of good-quality hay in there with them for the first week, as well as feeding the same alfalfa pellets they had always eaten. I switched to corn/alfalfa mix pellets recently with no transition and they have been fine. It's easy to watch the poops to make sure they're handling diet adjustments.

This is the bunny tractor:

Originally, we used it for ducks, but I got tired of ducks. At first it was open bottomed, but then we figured out that if there was even a hole just 3" wide along the bottom (example, where the ground isn't perfectly flat), they would all figure out how to escape. Now, there's 2" x 4" garden fencing nailed to the bottom. There's not much digging going on as we move it every day. They can still access the grass pretty well through the fencing (they are currently mowing my lawn for me). It's a little heavy with all that wood, but I like that because it's more predator proof. Dimensions are 2' x 8', which means it can grow out two full litters at a time with lots of room. They do, however, eat a LOT of grass. They like it to be moved 2-3x per day, otherwise they eat down the grass and there is too much poop.

This method feels just as clean as them being in a raised wire cage. But, if there are rabbits on my soil for any length of time, parasites (including the dreaded coccidia, blehck) may start to build up. For most animals, a good 3-6 months rest on the soil is good, but I don't know if I can achieve that if I just keep them on the lawn. I may see trouble in the future that isn't showing up now. I think this is what people mean when they say that you "just can't pasture raise rabbits." However, I know a woman who has raised rabbits for 5+ years who just had an outbreak of cocci in her raised cage rabbits, so it happens on wire too. Not too sure about worms--my hope is that the rabbits will be slaughtered by 12 weeks anyway, so the worms will not have a chance to kill them by then. If I choose to save breeders from these batches of pasture-raised babies, I'm not sure what kind of effect it will have on them in the long term. That's why this is an experiment

The other important thing for me was that I started with backyard mutts. I bought rabbits from local people specifically breeding for meat--presumably, this meant they were also breeding for general health and good mothering instincts.

I have to say that I've been too chicken to put my adult breeders on pasture since they are so valuable to me, but I do bring them handfuls of fresh grass when it's available. In the future, maybe I can get everyone out on pasture.

There's my WAY too long post

 

[Hens and Roos]

very interesting, please keep updating and tell us how this is all working.