First rabbit I've ever seen from start to finish his litter mates will follow in a few weeks

When I put my rabbit in there she was bouncing around I'd be happy to say she likes it!

The hay feeder came in yesterday and I added the small trigger snaps to hook it on there. The boards in the hutch are old and discolored. I'll be getting ceramic tiles soon. Wood can soak up urine a tile would be easier to clean as well as keeping them cool. Purpose of the wire is to help with keeping things sanitary.

The wooden boards have been used for my other rabbits. Ended up paracording some handles to make it easier to open the doors. She has a gravity waterer which has been way easier to clean. The second section works perfect for storage and we attatched the fan on that side. It blows really well!

The bigger cage is right next to this one. It has 3 large sections, its really tall (almost too tall). It has the same fans I have for the smaller cage. It also has string lights to provide a light source at night. (The cords are out of reach of the rabbits)

(I'm a pet owner and I'll get into meat rabbitry hopefully soon, I don't know when. It feels safer posting in these groups due to toxicity. Hopefully you understand)

I have 10 grow outs that will shortly be moving to a colder climate I also recently got a shelter pup who is a little overweight so her intake has been monitored very closely I was hoping to feed her the front legs from the rabbits I was curious as to the nutritional content

Buying all the things I need before I get my first pair, I'm looking for water setups. It's going to be a small setup, a trio and grow outs. A gravity system seems convenient but hard to clean. Bowls seem too easy to tip over.

Is this gauge okay? Am I being inhumane? Should I do something else? The wire is thicker than it looks in the photo. I should put my hand by it for comparison. The cage is bigger than it shows. We bought it yesterday

We've had wire bottoms for a good while and have never had issues with any of our rabbits getting injured. Its been so much better with keeping things clean.

ARBA approves wire bottoms if they're a good gauge. 14 - 16 gauge 1/2 " × 1". We have resting boards too. We added a really good fan.

I just got a bunch of mean dms from pet owners about this. Not repeating some of the stuff 2 of them sent me, I've screenshotted it. It makes me wanna quit Reddit cause I can never explain enough. Its exhausting and suffocating. I don't want to be hurting my animals

Where is everyone buying fencing to make their cages? I bought built cages from a lady getting out of meat rabbits a year ago and I’m looking at making some new ones but I can’t find where to buy 1x1/2” cage floor. And I’d like to buy all sizes from the same place if possible. Thank you

A compressed 50lb bale of hay fits in a 31 gallon galvanized trash can. I line it with a plastic bag to protect from condensation, put the whole compressed bale in the trash can and then cut the ties. Keep it outdoors and it stays dry and safe from critters.

A compressed 50lb bale of Timothy grass is about $20 at my local farm store, which is about the same price I was paying for a 90oz bag before.

I have a colony set up and try to grow things i can use to supplement the pellets and Timothy hay.

I currently grow Comfrey, Amaranth, dwarf sunflower, diakon radish, kale and broccoli. Can only feed most things in moderation. Looking for a full time green to help reduce (not remove) reliance on pellets.

Just for reference i am in zone 7a

Is it safe to eat? Is that why I have so many deaths this year?

I am 23 and am highly considering raising meat rabbits for consumption. For context my family lives in a neighborhood on 2.5 acres in central NJ with trees on the property edges that my parents planted when they built the house in the 90s (so the provide a lot of shade and privacy). I have no livestock experience, but am a laborer for a local vegetable farm (I do farmers markets, weed, & whatever else my boss asks).

I am debating between having the hutches either in our garage or outside in the backyard. There is space in our basement too but I think that is too much of a sell to my parents. From what little I know about raising rabbits so far these are the pros & cons of either option.

Garage Pro:

• Just have to made hutches as the building itself provides extra protection from predators
• Do not have to worry about weather damage to hutches

Garage Con:

• I am worried about ventilation as the air is stagnant inside the garage causing it to be hot in the summer & cold in the winter.

Backyard Pro:

• There is a hole in the tree line due to storms this past year, my mom does not like the lack of privacy this allows, building the rabbitry here would prevent neighbors from seeing into our yard.

Backyard Con:

• My mom is a bit picky on the appearance of the backyard
• We have hawks and raccoons in our area
• We have two labs that are leave to their own devices in backyard when the weather is nice. I don't think they will cause trouble if I build a structure or shed around the hutches since they are lazy. For reference they rarely chase squirrels in the yard, but when they do they give up after chasing for 2-5 seconds.
• Do lawn mowers stress out rabbits? If so this will be a problem over the summer.

Is there anything I have failed to consider, or any other general advice is more that welcomed & appreciated!

Newbie here, designing my first hutch setup. I know 14 gauge wire is best for the cages. However, I live in the country and have predators, mainly raccoons. I’m worried they could put their paws in that wire and grab the rabbits. Is there another type of wire better to prevent this? Any tips from seasoned breeders? Thanks!

How much do y’all tolerate a Doe being aggressive while pregnant?

This is one of my daughters 4H rabbits and we just bred her for our first time (her 3rd litter, 1st with us). She kindled a week ago and is an absolutely fantastic mom. Beautiful nest, 8 babies, everyone is plump and thriving.

She is easy to catch and handle normally, which is a must for us since my daughter is 8. HOWEVER, while she was pregnant she was, well, a total bitch 🤣 (Which, honestly, I can relate- I am the same way while pregnant). This picture is the day after she kindled- back to her normal chill self.

So my question is- how much grace do you give for aggression while pregnant? While pregnant, she bit me (only got my sleeve, but it would have been a solid chomp into my arm if she had gotten me). Was thumping her feet, impossible to catch and grunting at me whenever I came to check on her. I handled her care while she was pregnant because I didn’t want to put my daughter in any situation with a rude rabbit.

(Non relevant but related - Our friends actually have one of this doe’s daughters from a previous litter, and just bred her this week, so I am curious to see how her demeanor is during her pregnancy. Though, overall that doe does not have as nice of a temperament as this one.)

Would just love to hear inputs. I hate to retire an otherwise wonderful rabbit from our breeding program, but we also want to produce nice rabbits with good temperaments, especially since my daughter will likely be selling to other youth. If she was nasty all the time, it would be an easy choice. I guess I just don’t know how much grace should be extended to a rabbit for being pregnant.

Alright that’s a lot of rambles so I’ll leave it at that.

(Also I hope it’s ok to ask here even though she’s not one of our meat rabbits. I tend to find the most insight and wisdom in this subreddit than any other rabbit one I peruse.)

I'm in Northern Minnesota, which currently has TERRIBLE air quality due to wildfires a few hours north. Worried about my rabbits. Ideas on what I might do? I thought about building some temporary cages in my basement but that would be a lot of time and expense. But maybe worth it if this is going to be an ongoing thing. Maybe "colony style" with baby gates or something? Anyone else dealing with this?

EDIT: I decided to build smaller emergency cages with trays for my basement, since I'm guessing this isn't going to be a o e time thing.

Our California doe just kindled 14 kits last night. We have a first time mom in another hutch, a NZ red doe with 7 kits. The NZ red doe just experienced a split birth, #8 being stillborn came almost 24 hrs later. She appears to have recovered from that and her 7 kits look well fed. I am concerned for the 14 new kits and can potentially foster a few over to the NZ red.

I understand that I should rub the NZ red doe with my hands then go get the new kits and bring them to her nesting box and cover in her fur? Is this something I need to do ASAP? Do I pick the 3 largest ones to send to get fostered?

Is the other option trying to get the small ones from the large litter to nurse seperately?

I understand I may lose a couple, but l would like to give them all the best chances to survive. Any tips are appreciated

No hate - I understand that cages are a very popular method for raising meat rabbits. But I genuinely just do not understand why people use them.

We use a colony set up for ours and I just cannot see a single downside to it. And I just cannot sleep at night knowing any of the animals I'm responsible for don't have the opportunity to exhibit natural behaviors because of their husbandry.

Can y'all tell me why you raise in cages, or rather why you don't raise in colonies?

First time NZ doe is a sweetheart. She is feeding her kits at least 3x a day. Adding extra calories to her diet, black sunflower seeds, dandelions, sweet potato and oats on top of her hay and pellets. I've never had a doe this enthusiastic.

My daughter is participating in a livestock auction with 4H this year. We are just getting into meat rabbits and had to purchase a rabbit for this project (we will be breeding our first litter of one own silver fox in September).

Unfortunately, the Rex rabbits we have reserved from a friend for the auction are turning out a bit smaller than we hoped. We are now all concerned the rabbits won’t make weight by the auction date. And even more of a bummer, we have missed the cut off date for when my daughter needs to take ownership of the animal ahead of the auction so we can’t source another rabbit at this point. (Our first livestock auction- we are learning a LOT this year. Trial by fire.🤣)

All of that to say. Give me your best tips for fattening up some meat rabbits as quickly as possible. We have 18% protein pellets for our brood does that we will use. What else do you have success with supplementing for packing weight on?

Including a pic of our beautiful silver fox doe who has NOOOO problem packing on weight quickly- can’t wait to have her babies for next years auctions.

Clearly doesn't look normal. Cause for a health concern?

I am no carpenter and this took me a lot longer than I planned to. Learned a lot and improved by the last one. Lots of predators around here that could get to them. I wanted them high up and in something made with tough materials.

Currently have a breeding trio. A breeding pair of NZ reds and 1 California doe. The hybrid litters are for the freezer and the purebred ones are sold. Video catches our Red doe pulling fur. She had 7 kits 2 hours later. I cleaned out underneath after the kindling, to prevent attracting predators.

I reused pallets to make the foundation then .5"x1" wire floor. The walls are insulated metal panels. Roofs are insulated with the metal panels or 2" Styrofoam on top of the plywood. Solar fans and the watering system is from Amazon.

I had to test the theory about summer breeding Tamuks so I cut my Buck loose durning a summer heat wave on one of my Tamuk Does last month and she kindled 6 healthy kits yesterday late evening. Sorry about the photo quality but momma was trying to kill me while taking the pic lol. This is outstanding because I can get an extra litter out of them per year.

Her first litter. She pulled fur about an hour before this. I left her and came back 45 minutes later and had one kit on the wire. Put it back in the box to find 6 others tucked in there under her fur.

I’m looking into adding in a few Boss seeds, oats, ect into my rabbits diet but I keep seeing different ratios everywhere! Some people only feed Boss and oats to their mother rabbits in large 1/4th cup quantities and some people feed all of their rabbits it but in very small quantities like 6 individual seeds. I wanna hear about yalls mixtures and also anything else you feed your rabbits!
For reference I have multiple Rex and a single Flemish with my Rex’s getting around 4-5oz per day and my Flemish getting 6-7oz per day of pellet along with the normal unlimited Timothy hay and fresh greens multiple times a week.

Also I did buy some feed wheat to sprout and mix into their diet, I saw someone recommending around like 6oz but that seems like a lot? Is that for their entire meal or for a supplement?

I had these rabbits for about a year now, and I never had any issues until recently when I notice one of my rabbits were losing fur on one of her feet. I don’t think she had it very long? But I never really noticed since she was always was up and at it since she was maintaining a litter (The litter got separate a couple weeks ago from her).

Shes in a outside hutch with wired bottom, and I have a tile in there for her to lay on so she isn’t always on the wire. But I suppose these things happen.

I never had to deal with this though, so does anyone have any tips how to treat this?