Newbie needs help choosing a Rabbit breed.

[WILLIFORD]

Hello everyone, I have recently sold all my goats with the intent of raising meat rabbits. I have not purchased my breeding stock as yet, but I am getting close. I am almost done converting my 10 1/2 ft by 8 ft. goat barn into a rabbitry. I live in an area where summer temps can get pretty hot. We usually have a few days that hit 110 degrees, but the normal summer days are mid to high 90's. However humidity is really low, so it's a dry heat. Our winters are pretty mild, we may see a couple of days where the temp drops down to 32F in the coldest part of the night, I am strongly considering Californians, or New Zealand whites. I personally prefer the Californians. I did however watch a video today that said the Rex rabbits are on par with the California as far as meat production is concerned. I had not heard that anywhere else, but the video did not go into to detail about feed conversion, nor bone structure. If would appreciate any advise on selecting the best breed with what I have described. I have raised other livestock over the years, so I am not a complete novice, but rabbits will be new for me. I am building my barn to address the heat issue in our area into addition to several other upgrades to minimize my chores. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Baymule]

Californians and New Zealand’s are the top notch meat rabbits. Since you favor the Californians, go with them.

 

[Ridgetop]

We bred both NZW and Cals in the San Fernando Valley, CA. My husband loved the NZWs until we got a couple trios for the children for 4-H. We are both Cal converts now. We had to feed out our NZWs to 9 or 10 weeks to produce a 5 lb. fryer while the Cals produced 5 lb. fryers in 8 weeks. California does also weigh 2 lbs. less that NZW does so when taking the does to the bucks to be bred that 2 lbs. can be significant as you are breeding several of them. Also we found the Cals to be quieter and more docile than the NZWs. DH intends to set up a rabbitry when we finally are moved into our new location in Texas eventually.

There are a few things you need to know about your rabbitry in the CA heat. If you decide to enclose your barn, you will have to run either AC or swamp coolers during the summer. Winters are no problem since rabbits can survive very low temps where heat can kill them. If you have an ope or pole barn situation, make sure that the western side has some protection from the sun beating in on the rabbits - eastern sun in the am is ok. Also southern exposures in our hot California summers should be avoided while northern exposures are ok. The exceptions to this is that you need to have winter protection from rain or wind blowing into the barn during the winter. I used shade cloth on the western exposures and used tarps in the winter to drop down on the side the storms came from when the wind blew in rain. You can attach the shade cloth and tarps to pieces of 1x2 or 1x4 by wrapping it around and stapling it on. Then hang the boards from hooks in the fascia boards. When you don't need the protection, the shade cloth and tarps can be rolled up and secured, or the bords removed from the outside of the pole barn and stored. I used to just tie mine up with hay ropes.

During the hottest parts of the summer, you can use misters to cool off the temps in the barn at least 10+ degrees. There low emission misters that use so little water it evaporates before hitting the ground. Or if you prefer to plant berry vines or vegetables on trellises on the south and west sides of the barn, you can use the emitters to water them. You can also use fans in the rabbit barn to help cool the rabbits.

Adult bucks will go sterile in the summer heat like rams. To keep breeding during heat spells keep a junior buck (6 months old) for summer breeding. For summer litters, empty most of the bedding out of the nest box after the kits are born to keep them cooler. Overheated kits will die. Many people do not breed for litters to be born during the worst months of July, August and September, however, with care you can keep your rabbits breeding successfully all year long.

One thing you will want to do if breeding year round is to put lights in the rabbitry to mimic longer daylight hours. You can either keep the lights on 24/7, or put them on a timer to come on several hours before dawn. Rabbits will breed all year but are sensitive to daylight length and does are less receptive to breeding when the daylight length gets shorter.

Hanging wire cages with "babysaver" wire 6" up on the bottom of the cages will help save any litters that are kindled in the wire instead of in the nest boxes. This can occasionally happen with inexperienced does, as well as experienced does if they are upset by predators (coons or possums) in the rabbitry. Hang the cages over manure pits and put shavings or shredded paper in occasionally to encourage earthworms to breed. This is great for the garden or can be sold to other gardeners.

I also used urine guards (bent metal on the front of the cages to deflect urine into the pts instead of onto my foot. LOL And since buck rabbits spray urine like cats to mark their territory, I used privacy panels (pieces of tin attached to one side of a cage) between buck cages to avoid sticky yellow bunnies.

 

[LilTxFarmer]

I live in the Texas Hill Country and our temps can get up into the 100s as well, in the Summertime. Pretty much what Ridgetop, is right but I'm a little more simpler. I raise California Whites for meat and I have 3 pens, 5'x3', with petitions, to give me 6 pens total. The roofs of the pens are made with OSB panel, first, then black tar paper on top of that, then sheet metal, so it helps keep down the heat and cold inside the pens.
In Summertime, I put out 2 bottle waters per pen and check them out throughout the day. During the heat of the day, I get a water hose and spray them off a little, to cool them down. I do this about 3 times during the day. I'm retired, so I'm here most of the day. I've been raising rabbits for about 3 years now and have never lost a rabbit to the heat. Some people cool down tile or put frozen liter bottles in the cages, with the rabbits, to cool them off and I'm sure that works well if you have a freezer to put all of it in. The person I bought my rabbits from had a mist'er system for her huge rabbit farm. All her rabbits were in hanging pens but I noticed that she had to take out the food bowls she had for them, so the food wouldn't get wet.
I breed year-round in heat and cold and have never had a problem except with when I overdid it and had more rabbits than I could afford to feed, Lol, but they sold pretty fast on Craigslist. The pens I mentioned before, I built, were kinda expensive, so I actually found a less expensive way. I bought 2 pens/cages at Tractor Supply, one 26" and the other a 36", and built a frame around it. Frame only, and the same type roof. You can slide the cages in and out of them. So much cheaper!
In Wintertime, I use heavy-duty plastic, ( its cheaper than tarps) that I have bought on Ebay or wherever its cheaper ( I get the 20'x50' roll for my pens and cut it to fit) and cover the pens when its gonna get below freezing, especially if there are kits, in which I also add heat lamps. As far as using lights, as Ridgetop mentioned, I had never heard of that, except for chickens. As I mentioned before, I only use lights or heat lamps when it's really cold or below freezing. If it rains real hard, I do cover the pens with some old tarps, to keep the rabbits and food from getting wet, but I take them off as soon as the rain is done.
Right now I have about 12 kits, 1 1/2 months old and some newborns, just from last week, when temps were in the 20s in the morn and they did just fine. Last year, I had kits that even survived the Polar Blast that hit Texas along with the rolling brownouts. I have plenty of rabbits in the freezer, and what kits I have now, I'll sell when they're 8 weeks old. I love breeding and raising rabbits and California Whites are the best. I also love raising chickens and incubating eggs!

 

[WILLIFORD]

We bred both NZW and Cals in the San Fernando Valley, CA. My husband loved the NZWs until we got a couple trios for the children for 4-H. We are both Cal converts now. We had to feed out our NZWs to 9 or 10 weeks to produce a 5 lb. fryer while the Cals produced 5 lb. fryers in 8 weeks. California does also weigh 2 lbs. less that NZW does so when taking the does to the bucks to be bred that 2 lbs. can be significant as you are breeding several of them. Also we found the Cals to be quieter and more docile than the NZWs. DH intends to set up a rabbitry when we finally are moved into our new location in Texas eventually.

There are a few things you need to know about your rabbitry in the CA heat. If you decide to enclose your barn, you will have to run either AC or swamp coolers during the summer. Winters are no problem since rabbits can survive very low temps where heat can kill them. If you have an ope or pole barn situation, make sure that the western side has some protection from the sun beating in on the rabbits - eastern sun in the am is ok. Also southern exposures in our hot California summers should be avoided while northern exposures are ok. The exceptions to this is that you need to have winter protection from rain or wind blowing into the barn during the winter. I used shade cloth on the western exposures and used tarps in the winter to drop down on the side the storms came from when the wind blew in rain. You can attach the shade cloth and tarps to pieces of 1x2 or 1x4 by wrapping it around and stapling it on. Then hang the boards from hooks in the fascia boards. When you don't need the protection, the shade cloth and tarps can be rolled up and secured, or the bords removed from the outside of the pole barn and stored. I used to just tie mine up with hay ropes.

During the hottest parts of the summer, you can use misters to cool off the temps in the barn at least 10+ degrees. There low emission misters that use so little water it evaporates before hitting the ground. Or if you prefer to plant berry vines or vegetables on trellises on the south and west sides of the barn, you can use the emitters to water them. You can also use fans in the rabbit barn to help cool the rabbits.

Adult bucks will go sterile in the summer heat like rams. To keep breeding during heat spells keep a junior buck (6 months old) for summer breeding. For summer litters, empty most of the bedding out of the nest box after the kits are born to keep them cooler. Overheated kits will die. Many people do not breed for litters to be born during the worst months of July, August and September, however, with care you can keep your rabbits breeding successfully all year long.

One thing you will want to do if breeding year round is to put lights in the rabbitry to mimic longer daylight hours. You can either keep the lights on 24/7, or put them on a timer to come on several hours before dawn. Rabbits will breed all year but are sensitive to daylight length and does are less receptive to breeding when the daylight length gets shorter.

Hanging wire cages with "babysaver" wire 6" up on the bottom of the cages will help save any litters that are kindled in the wire instead of in the nest boxes. This can occasionally happen with inexperienced does, as well as experienced does if they are upset by predators (coons or possums) in the rabbitry. Hang the cages over manure pits and put shavings or shredded paper in occasionally to encourage earthworms to breed. This is great for the garden or can be sold to other gardeners.

I also used urine guards (bent metal on the front of the cages to deflect urine into the pts instead of onto my foot. LOL And since buck rabbits spray urine like cats to mark their territory, I used privacy panels (pieces of tin attached to one side of a cage) between buck cages to avoid sticky yellow bunnies.

I can't tell you how much I appreciate you information and wisdom.
Thank you very much

 

[WILLIFORD]

I live in the Texas Hill Country and our temps can get up into the 100s as well, in the Summertime. Pretty much what Ridgetop, is right but I'm a little more simpler. I raise California Whites for meat and I have 3 pens, 5'x3', with petitions, to give me 6 pens total. The roofs of the pens are made with OSB panel, first, then black tar paper on top of that, then sheet metal, so it helps keep down the heat and cold inside the pens.
In Summertime, I put out 2 bottle waters per pen and check them out throughout the day. During the heat of the day, I get a water hose and spray them off a little, to cool them down. I do this about 3 times during the day. I'm retired, so I'm here most of the day. I've been raising rabbits for about 3 years now and have never lost a rabbit to the heat. Some people cool down tile or put frozen liter bottles in the cages, with the rabbits, to cool them off and I'm sure that works well if you have a freezer to put all of it in. The person I bought my rabbits from had a mist'er system for her huge rabbit farm. All her rabbits were in hanging pens but I noticed that she had to take out the food bowls she had for them, so the food wouldn't get wet.
I breed year-round in heat and cold and have never had a problem except with when I overdid it and had more rabbits than I could afford to feed, Lol, but they sold pretty fast on Craigslist. The pens I mentioned before, I built, were kinda expensive, so I actually found a less expensive way. I bought 2 pens/cages at Tractor Supply, one 26" and the other a 36", and built a frame around it. Frame only, and the same type roof. You can slide the cages in and out of them. So much cheaper!
In Wintertime, I use heavy-duty plastic, ( its cheaper than tarps) that I have bought on Ebay or wherever its cheaper ( I get the 20'x50' roll for my pens and cut it to fit) and cover the pens when its gonna get below freezing, especially if there are kits, in which I also add heat lamps. As far as using lights, as Ridgetop mentioned, I had never heard of that, except for chickens. As I mentioned before, I only use lights or heat lamps when it's really cold or below freezing. If it rains real hard, I do cover the pens with some old tarps, to keep the rabbits and food from getting wet, but I take them off as soon as the rain is done.
Right now I have about 12 kits, 1 1/2 months old and some newborns, just from last week, when temps were in the 20s in the morn and they did just fine. Last year, I had kits that even survived the Polar Blast that hit Texas along with the rolling brownouts. I have plenty of rabbits in the freezer, and what kits I have now, I'll sell when they're 8 weeks old. I love breeding and raising rabbits and California Whites are the best. I also love raising chickens and incubating eggs!

I live in the Texas Hill Country and our temps can get up into the 100s as well, in the Summertime. Pretty much what Ridgetop, is right but I'm a little more simpler. I raise California Whites for meat and I have 3 pens, 5'x3', with petitions, to give me 6 pens total. The roofs of the pens are made with OSB panel, first, then black tar paper on top of that, then sheet metal, so it helps keep down the heat and cold inside the pens.
In Summertime, I put out 2 bottle waters per pen and check them out throughout the day. During the heat of the day, I get a water hose and spray them off a little, to cool them down. I do this about 3 times during the day. I'm retired, so I'm here most of the day. I've been raising rabbits for about 3 years now and have never lost a rabbit to the heat. Some people cool down tile or put frozen liter bottles in the cages, with the rabbits, to cool them off and I'm sure that works well if you have a freezer to put all of it in. The person I bought my rabbits from had a mist'er system for her huge rabbit farm. All her rabbits were in hanging pens but I noticed that she had to take out the food bowls she had for them, so the food wouldn't get wet.
I breed year-round in heat and cold and have never had a problem except with when I overdid it and had more rabbits than I could afford to feed, Lol, but they sold pretty fast on Craigslist. The pens I mentioned before, I built, were kinda expensive, so I actually found a less expensive way. I bought 2 pens/cages at Tractor Supply, one 26" and the other a 36", and built a frame around it. Frame only, and the same type roof. You can slide the cages in and out of them. So much cheaper!
In Wintertime, I use heavy-duty plastic, ( its cheaper than tarps) that I have bought on Ebay or wherever its cheaper ( I get the 20'x50' roll for my pens and cut it to fit) and cover the pens when its gonna get below freezing, especially if there are kits, in which I also add heat lamps. As far as using lights, as Ridgetop mentioned, I had never heard of that, except for chickens. As I mentioned before, I only use lights or heat lamps when it's really cold or below freezing. If it rains real hard, I do cover the pens with some old tarps, to keep the rabbits and food from getting wet, but I take them off as soon as the rain is done.
Right now I have about 12 kits, 1 1/2 months old and some newborns, just from last week, when temps were in the 20s in the morn and they did just fine. Last year, I had kits that even survived the Polar Blast that hit Texas along with the rolling brownouts. I have plenty of rabbits in the freezer, and what kits I have now, I'll sell when they're 8 weeks old. I love breeding and raising rabbits and California Whites are the best. I also love raising chickens and incubating eggs!

Between the information you and Ridgetop provided, I feel much more prepared. I was also pleased to hear you both favor the Californians. That is the breed I really would like to have, but I was prepared to purchase whichever would do best in my climate. So Californians it will be.
Thank you very much.

 

[WILLIFORD]

Californians and New Zealand’s are the top notch meat rabbits. Since you favor the Californians, go with them.

Yep, Californians it will be. I have to do some modifications to my existing barn before I purchase my stock, I want to make sure I have everything the way I want it, before bring animals home. With my current work schedule, I am at least a month away from being ready.
Thank you for your input