The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Other => Rabbits => Topic started by: Clansman on August 24, 2015, 02:00:40 pm
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Last time round my three New Zealand White does had 8 kits each.
This time I have one with 8 and this one with what I think is at least 11 :excited:
Bloomer has my third doe now and I think he had at least 6 with that one.
Anyone for rabbit? :excited:
(http://i62.tinypic.com/2q8cww9.jpg)
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Me, oh woops I already have them doh...
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I've been reading Tim Tyne's articles on rabbits in country smallholder and it does look like a good source of meat BUT the vet nurse side of me still thinks in terms of pampered pet so I just can't make up my mind
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pampered pets?
Why ever would you think such a thing? :innocent:
(http://i59.tinypic.com/29z7tde.jpg)
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:love: :bunny:
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Love that picture :thumbsup:
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I'll get a better one soon, I have about 50 here now!
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OMG!!!! Just TOO cute! :love:
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can I ask how you kill them as we used to breed rabbits and found the culling quite difficult.
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Very cute bunnies. Are they for meat or pets?
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Air pistol through the top of the head.
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For various reasons, mostly because a lot of folk nearby wanted to buy pet rabbits from us, we only recently culled some of ours. We had one in a casserole at the weekend and it was by far the best rabbit I've ever had. You didn't have to worry about it being tough like some wild rabbits but it was still full of flavour. Well worth it I think! :bunny:
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ta
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Very cute bunnies. Are they for meat or pets?
Mixture of both Caroline.
Originally I started with them for meat but prior to Christmas the first year I kept them I was asked for a couple as pets.
I stuck about 2 dozen up for sale on the local pet pages and got £20 each for them.
Now I do like eating rabbit but I'd rather have £20! :thumbsup:
So yes they are for meat, I usually maintain a breeding group of two bucks and four does which breed pretty much non stop through the warmer months, mainly so I can feed them on grass and vegetation, the smaller ones are great lawnmowers.
Big ones like to dig! :innocent:
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Shygirl, I tried the fixed hoop for dislocating their necks just by pulling but didn't like it.
You can buy rabbit stunners but expensive at around £100.
I didn't fancy hitting them with a blunt object etc so the air pistol seems the perfect solution.
No holding the rabbit at weird angles or distressing it with the air pistol, i just pick them up and place them on the grass, wait till they start eating and shoot it in the head from about 2 inches away.
best way i've found to do it, dead instantly
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thanks, love rabbit meat.
worth looking at air pistols then. any particular type as iv no clue?
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You're probably better picking up a cheap air rifle, I just use the pistol as its handier and I have a couple for target shooting anyway.
Most air rifles have more power (up to 12 ft lbs) than a pistol whereas pistols have a maximum of 6 ft lbs.
I find a .22 better than a .177
But unless you're getting something really old and weak virtually anything will do.
I have a Weihrauch 45 pistol in .22 and .177 but I also use an old Webley Tempest in .22 no problems.
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thanks that's very helpful. :thumbsup:
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I miss my bunnys I had 5 does and 2 bucks newzand and Californan , an old bloke who had a shed full (500 does ) told me no matter how meany kits she has the litter will weigh the same at 4 weeks so your best off taking some away and leving her with 6 , I hope this makes sense
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That's not one I've heard of, I'll need to have a wee weigh at mine next time.
Can't say I've noticed much difference in weight between different litter sizes, they all seem much the same at 10 weeks but maybe they catch up?
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I miss my bunnys I had 5 does and 2 bucks newzand and Californan , an old bloke who had a shed full (500 does ) told me no matter how meany kits she has the litter will weigh the same at 4 weeks so your best off taking some away and leving her with 6 , I hope this makes sense
That's reasonable at that age , taking some kits off her will not make much difference so long as you rest her for a fortnight before re breeding , so she comes back into tip top condition .
In the wild , rabbits mate" post partum " often within six hours of having the litter. The doe is extremely fertile for three or four days after giving birth .
It is the next few weeks further on from 28 days old when they are self feeding on hay and non milk food that they wack on the weight . If you can't find a market for them by 11 weeks old they will soon be costing you money for feed .... big time unless you are mainly using your own materials .
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I think he ment food to meat , and he had/ has a proper set up big shed ( to much like a factory for my liking) but he's done it a lot ov years most of his meat now goes to polish super markets
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When you say rest them for a fortnight is that after birth?
the person I learned of said to mate them again 14 days after birth as this is the best time for big litters and best fertility etc
it certainly seems to work, I usually get double figures doing it that way whereas if I leave them any longer I get 4-8 and often lose a couple around the birth time
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I used to breed commercially both for meat and the pet market .
The rest is to give the lactating doe time to adjust to the new role of mother .
If you constantly post partum mate her it will drag her vitality down by about the fifth litter . Though it can be worth while planning to do post partum mating if the doe is only into her third or fourth litter for certain events in the human yearwhen you can sell more pets /meat . like Easter , third / fourth week of the summer holidays , post crimbo week & the onset of the colder rabbit stew weather .
Most commercial breeders will cull the doe after 8 litters as that's when the fecundity drops off .
Mating just after her dropping the litter is a thing that happens all the time in nature , just like humans and for most mammals it is a time of very high fertility .
Having a doe in kit whilst she is with 14 day old plus kits is often practiced by commercial growers but you do have to be very observant of the stock for signs of stress.
If you're able to afford to be a bit laid back, giving the doe a complete 14 day rest after the kits are taken from her at 28 to 31 days is fairly productive for the big litter mothers to recover entirely .
I offer you a word of caution ..it applies to almost all of the creatures on earth .
Don't elect your breeding stock from the most prolific producing females . For some reason mother nature does not like it and the result a few generations down the line is a much weaker stock both in meat , FCR's and general health .
Perhaps it's natures way to prevent the species from over producing and starving when there is not enough feed available .
The best stock to select are from the mothers who have just one or two more than your average sized family ( keeping detailed records & a mating line log book helps tremendously ) .
My commercial breeding does were selected from third litters where the doe produced the second & third litters of 9 or 10 kits.
I used to buy in an unrelated couple of new 16 to 18 week old bucks every year and cull the old boys when they'd just attained three years old . The new bucks were not used till 19 weeks old because they were quarantined for a week in a separate quarantine building that was well away from the rabbit sheds.
The new virgin home produced does were usually mated to an older buck for the first mating at 20 to 22 week old , kept in separate cages for the last four weeks before mating to stop female to female orientation .
Much older and it often happened that the does were difficult to mate up & ended up being culled as meat for humans , raptor breeding programmes , reptiles or factory made pet food .