Would you buy these rabbits at this price??

[Ridgetop]

Thank you.

Sometimes I am afraid I might sound like a know it all, but that is not my intention. My intention is only to pass on what I have learned over the past 40 years. Whoever reads it can take what they want from it and discard the rest. I am still always learning from other people that post on here, and from other breeders that I talk to around the country and state. You can't ever know too much about anything. LOL

I had to study and learn a lot of info about rabbits when my husband started breeding and showing. Then I had to learn a lot more about a lot of species during my 18 years as a 4-H leader. I signed up for and took our children to every seminar available There are lots of seminars put on by the different County Extension agencies on all species and on cropland and pasture as well. If you sign up at your local County extension agency you will get notices sent on line about these seminars. Most may not be of interest to everyone, but some may be of interest. Since our 4 children did every 4-H project in the book, if there was no leader I got the job. That meant I had to read up on everything before I could teach the project members. I enjoyed learning everything I could and am happy to give what I learned to anyone who is interested. With the Fair, I had to obtain a copy of the state rules each year since a lot of people did not know what the rules and it could cause problems.

 

[Tre3hugger]

Thank you.

Sometimes I am afraid I might sound like a know it all, but that is not my intention. My intention is only to pass on what I have learned over the past 40 years. Whoever reads it can take what they want from it and discard the rest. I am still always learning from other people that post on here, and from other breeders that I talk to around the country and state. You can't ever know too much about anything. LOL

I had to study and learn a lot of info about rabbits when my husband started breeding and showing. Then I had to learn a lot more about a lot of species during my 18 years as a 4-H leader. I signed up for and took our children to every seminar available There are lots of seminars put on by the different County Extension agencies on all species and on cropland and pasture as well. If you sign up at your local County extension agency you will get notices sent on line about these seminars. Most may not be of interest to everyone, but some may be of interest. Since our 4 children did every 4-H project in the book, if there was no leader I got the job. That meant I had to read up on everything before I could teach the project members. I enjoyed learning everything I could and am happy to give what I learned to anyone who is interested. With the Fair, I had to obtain a copy of the state rules each year since a lot of people did not know what the rules and it could cause problems.

Truly an invaluable resource. Thank you!

 

[Tre3hugger]

These are American Chinchillas. The buck is 9 months and the doe 11 months. They seem to be settling in nicely except so far all breeding attempts have been rebuked by the doe. I am going to let them settle in a bit more before I try again. Also, got my hanging scale in the mail today. Going to get a weight tonight or tomorrow. Can I just put them in a five gallon bucket and hang that from the scale? This is the scale I got. https://www.allthingsbunnies.com/All-Things-Bunnies-50lb-Hanging-Scale-Tape-Measu-p/ws104.htm

The doe looks nice but the buck is really short coupled. Could be the way he is stacked. What breed are these, how old and what do they weigh?

 

[Larsen Poultry Ranch]

These are American Chinchillas. The buck is 9 months and the doe 11 months. They seem to be settling in nicely except so far all breeding attempts have been rebuked by the doe. I am going to let them settle in a bit more before I try again. Also, got my hanging scale in the mail today. Going to get a weight tonight or tomorrow. Can I just put them in a five gallon bucket and hang that from the scale? This is the scale I got. https://www.allthingsbunnies.com/All-Things-Bunnies-50lb-Hanging-Scale-Tape-Measu-p/ws104.htm

Hopefully the scale has a 'tare' feature. You hang the scale with the bucket on it, and tare to reset the weight so it zeroes and doesn't weigh the bucket. Then the weight once you add the rabbit should just be the rabbit and not the bucket too.

I use a hanging fish scale I got from Bass Pro, just add a shopping bag, tare, add rabbit and it locks the weight.

 

[Ridgetop]

If the scale doesn't have the "tare" weight feature, weigh the bucket then deduct that weight from the rabbit in the bucket weight.

The doe might be a bit unwilling because of her age. Sometimes when they approach 1 year without having had a litter does can get unwilling to breed. DH used to breed Champagne D'Argents which are notorious for does that don't want to breed. He used to load them in the car and take them for a little drive around the neighborhood. When he returned he immediately put her with the buck and usually she would lift and breed. I have heard others say they have also used that trick on unwilling does as well. Worth a shot.

 

[Tre3hugger]

If the scale doesn't have the "tare" weight feature, weigh the bucket then deduct that weight from the rabbit in the bucket weight.

The doe might be a bit unwilling because of her age. Sometimes when they approach 1 year without having had a litter does can get unwilling to breed. DH used to breed Champagne D'Argents which are notorious for does that don't want to breed. He used to load them in the car and take them for a little drive around the neighborhood. When he returned he immediately put her with the buck and usually she would lift and breed. I have heard others say they have also used that trick on unwilling does as well. Worth a shot.

The scale is analog so instead of a tare button, it has a little knob you can use to zero it out with the bucket hanging on.

I think the car ride will be the next thing I try. I have looked at her vulva the last 2 days. Yesterday was somewhat pink. I put her in with the buck and neither showed much interest. This morning I was going to try again but I checked her vulva again first and this time it was quite small and whitish. So I just put her back in her cage. Next time her parts get a little color to them, I will take her for a ride and see what happens. Appreciate the input!

 

[Tre3hugger]

@Ridgetop what can you tell me about tortoise shell NZs? Is that a thing? Hard to find much on google. Seems like they are a color, but not a showable one? I am looking at a beautiful, HUGE 5 month old "NZ" but I have never heard of this color before so I am weary. Should be just as tasty as any other color right?

 

[Tre3hugger]

I am picking her up on Monday.

Born 10/12/20

Her mom has average litters of 10 and good mothering abilities. Both parent weights look good. Hopefully she will be the meat factoyt I am hoping for. Then there will be less pressure on my shy chinchilla doe, and when she is ready she can have a litter of mostly pedigreed pets.

SHE'S SO PRETTY!

 

[Ridgetop]

As far as I know there are only 3 recognized colors in New Zealands - white (which is the long established commercial standard,) red, and black. You should never interbreed the colors because it causes fading which is a big markdown in the show standard. The show standard on fur is based n commercial marketability. Not a big concern anymore in our PETA never wear fur culture. A tortoiseshell color is fawn or orange with black coloration overlaying the coat in patches.

If some one is advertising a NZ as a tortoiseshell color, it is not pure NZ. They either do not know what they are talking about or they are - gasp! - lying.

This rabbit will not be a pure NZ nd for that reason you should not pay much. Because it is not a pure NZ, it will have been interbred with something else. You won't know what the breed was that was used to achieve this color pattern. It is probably a smaller breed because tortoiseshell is not a recognized color in the large 12 lb. meat breeds. Although you are right, it will taste the same as the standard NZs.

If you want to play around with this rabbit in a breeding situation, that is fine, and you can have fun. But you should know that probably it will reduce the size on your rabbits if you keep any breeding stock out of it. This is mainly because most registerable tortoiseshell colors only occur in smaller breeds. If you just breed terminal litters out of it you can have fun, however it may not throw this color and if it does, the color may wash out considerably. If you like the tortoiseshell color, I suggest you try to locate a breed that carries this color pattern naturally as part of the standard and then you can breed this color naturally.

Looking at this from the standpoint of a breeder with limited space and depending on your goals for your rabbitry, using this rabbit in your breeding program might be wasting cage space since you will not be keeping any replacement breeders from that rabbit.

You don't say if it is a doe or buck. If you want to play with this color, I would be more inclined to do it with a doe rather than a buck. You should only keep the best bucks you can for breeding since they are half your herd. You can't take a chance on them producing under sized fryers. You don't want to breed all your does to a tortoiseshell buck then end up with small fryers in all the litters and with no possibility of keeping replacement breeders from any of those litters. At least if you are playing with this color in one doe you are only breeding unusable breeding replacement kits in just one cage. They will only be good for the pot. Yummy! Always remember that even though rabbits are the smallest meat production unit their cages still take up space in the barn.

I hope this helps with your decision. If you are only breeding at this time for your family freezer, and if this rabbit is a doe. and if it is cheap, then go for it and have fun experimenting.

 

[Ridgetop]

Now that you posted the picture, that looks like a Cinnamon, not a tortoiseshell. It this is a Cinnamon, they are good meat rabbits. She is very nice looking.