Newbie with 50 rabbits!

[Mikella]

So I just recently started my rabbitry with the goal of producing meat for the family. I have 5 young rexes I plan to breed when they are old enough so I haven’t raised any litters yet. Well, a friend of mine contacted me because she had heard a had gotten into rabbits and she had a proposition for me.
I come trim her goats feet and she’ll give me her whole colony of rabbits (about 50 she estimates). I guess she started with a couple rabbits and quickly thinks got completely out of hand. My question is how do I determine the age of these rabbits? I’d like to process most of not all the rabbbits right away and stock the freezer. I have a friend helping that I’ll be splitting the meat with. I also worry about young kits and finding the right mom for any nests full of young babies. I’d obviously like to let any youngsters grow to a decent size before processing. If you were in this situation what would be your plan of action? I’m a little overwhelmed but don’t want to turn this deal down. Pictures below are the pictures she sent me of her colonies. (She tried to separate males from females but failed.)

 

[Pastor Dave]

Without observation of a doe going to a nest and caring for the litter, it would be impossible to determine whose nest belongs to whom. Just the quick look at some pics, they look groomed and bright eyed. I have never had to butcher more than a dozen at a time, so cant imagine having 50 to do. It can be done, so just stagger out your processing over however many days you need.

 

[Tale of Tails Rabbitry]

I’m a little overwhelmed but don’t want to turn this deal down.

Just a little?

I have not dealt with colonies (and this is partly why) so there probably are others here that would give better answers, but if I was given this same opportunity and letting the kits grow out was a priority for me and this is a friend that will cooperate, I would do this in steps.

First thing I would do is identify sexes and remove/process the bucks, except for the ones that are obviously too young/small to breed. That will stop them from producing more while you let the little ones grow out. As you check for sexes, mark the does' ears with a marker to know which ones you have already checked.

As to telling which nest belongs to which doe, I would have no clue how to match them in that situation without 24 hours of watching them. If you really want to save all the kits to grow out, you are going to need some time.

I would assume that every doe is pregnant. So, if your friend is willing, I would keep the does there for at least another two months until all the kits are born and weaned.

Then you can process the does and move the others to grow out if you need/want to do so. I read somewhere that some people process rabbits as soon as they are weaned. They are small, one per person meals like Cornish hens, but the meat is quite tender. That is another option if your friend wants all of them gone sooner.

 

[Mikella]

Without observation of a doe going to a nest and caring for the litter, it would be impossible to determine whose nest belongs to whom. Just the quick look at some pics, they look groomed and bright eyed. I have never had to butcher more than a dozen at a time, so cant imagine having 50 to do. It can be done, so just stagger out your processing over however many days you need.

Thank you so much

 

[Mikella]

Just a little?

I have not dealt with colonies (and this is partly why) so there probably are others here that would give better answers, but if I was given this same opportunity and letting the kits grow out was a priority for me and this is a friend that will cooperate, I would do this in steps.

First thing I would do is identify sexes and remove/process the bucks, except for the ones that are obviously too young/small to breed. That will stop them from producing more while you let the little ones grow out. As you check for sexes, mark the does' ears with a marker to know which ones you have already checked.

As to telling which nest belongs to which doe, I would have no clue how to match them in that situation without 24 hours of watching them. If you really want to save all the kits to grow out, you are going to need some time.

I would assume that every doe is pregnant. So, if your friend is willing, I would keep the does there for at least another two months until all the kits are born and weaned.

Then you can process the does and move the others to grow out if you need/want to do so. I read somewhere that some people process rabbits as soon as they are weaned. They are small, one per person meals like Cornish hens, but the meat is quite tender. That is another option if your friend wants all of them gone sooner.

Thank you so much for your reply. I like this plan a lot. I’m going over there to evaluate the situation and separate the males from the females and I’ll start with the males. As the kits are weaned I’ll go over and help her sort them into grow out pens.

 

[Hens and Roos]

That's quite a group from the pictures you posted. Good luck, I hope it works well for you. Keep us posted as you can.

 

[Pastor Dave]

Tale if Tails has the right idea with processing males and saving does and Jrs. if you are wanting to use these rabbits to have your colony. Sounds like tbe right plan to me. It would be easier than processing all of them for sure.

 

[Missmonty]

I just wanted to chime in on processing a larger number of rabbits at once. The most we have processed at once was this fall we did about 30. We had a couple friends come help. My husband and my friends husband would dispatch them, gut, and skin them. Then when they'd get a few done my friend and I would take them inside and break them down further as we prefer them in smaller pieces (we mainly use the meat to raw feed the dogs).

Between the four of us it probably took us maybe 2-3 hours or so including some goofing off. Generally we aim for 10-15 at a time but we had an interesting fall and didn't get butcher at all since spring so we had more babies than normal. Another thing to keep in mind is you're going to want to make sure you have freezer space for all of these.

I do agree I'd go for the adults that you do not plan on keeping for breeding for future use. I'd aim for all the bucks first. If you plan on keeping any it'd be a good idea to separate the bucks you're keeping anyways so they stop breeding so you can get a handle on the situation. I'd then probably separate out the young weaned ones, they look pretty small so I personally wouldn't bother processing them yet as that's a lot of work with that many for not a lot of meat. I'd make them a separate grow out pen and wait a few weeks before processing them. The does I would also assume are all pregnant so I personally wouldn't process any of the adult does for a couple months. This will give them time to kindle and wean.

 

[Mikella]

Hey everyone! Long overdue update!
A couple days after I posted this thread I went over to the lady’s house and picked up all of the rabbits. It turns out after getting a headcount there were EXACTLY 50 total! I kept the rabbits separated In the two groups she had them in at her house. Luckily there were only two nests with nursing babies. One nest had 2 that were in pretty bad shape and one nest had 7 that were about 2 weeks old and really healthy. We ended up putting the 2 down because they were in such bad shape. I found the momma of the other nest and she took her babies back right away and I’m still raising them up today. The day after I picked them up I took the 24 bigger rabbits to my friends and we spent the whole day processing... talk about a CRASH COURSE in meat rabbit butchering! After that I sold the juveniles as “Valentine’s Day Bunnies” for $10 each. So when I was said and done
2 - put down
24 - butchered
16 - sold
8 - momma and babies I still have

Whew! I’m happy to have had that experience before butchering my own rabbits. I know now what to expect when that time comes. Also I learned that we LOVE rabbit meat!

 

[Tale of Tails Rabbitry]

So glad it went well!

I am really surprised that there were only two nests...and I am wondering how many there would have been if they had another month in the colony. Some of the does must have been pregnant. In fact, the mother of the kindle you kept might be pregnant also.