I enjoyed rabbits when we had them. We used to have new Zealand whites. Used for meat and fur. We had hanging cages back then and a play area we could let them out in. We had a bout with ear mites and could never figure out if it came from the turn out area with foxes pass through or from a batch of hay we had gotten.
When I thought about getting back into here people mentioned some better breeds and community pens. My husband developed the alpha gal tick allergy so instead of getting back into meat rabbits (since he can't eat them) we switched to the idea of getting ducks or chickens again.

 

We used raised meat rabbits. I took a break when my kids started moving out..i needed to down size ny work to help figure things out. Any who....we did a rabbit community. I didn't like the idea of them being caged by themselves. So we built a round pen and added totes for each bunny. The buck lived in a pen within the community so he wasn't by his self. It worked out great through many seasons. If we were to do it again..I would definitely do a community again.
Pros are, easy processed, easy to maintain, meat is a blank canvas..so what ever you want..flavor it that way. Good poop for gardens. Lots of meat for your money.
Cons: they do not do well in heat..so providing shade and cool water is of course a must..but also do nothing with them during heat of the day. No breeding for summer kits...they usually don't survive... here is my thread on that with pix

we made a bunny community

I really hate the cage system...bunnies seemed so sad. : ( so I designed a pen that they can all live and bounce around...and they love it!! they are so happy : ) we have not added the bucks yet, we will when it cools down some...the bucks wont live with the does, but they will have their own...

www.thegoatspot.net

 

I love my meat rabbits. I raise Silver Fox. No, they are not truly happy in cages. I have used and currently do still use a few cages and I strongly dislike them. I am in the process of moving towards a community setup for the breeders. I put the litters in tractors at weaning age. They are very easy to process and they do well on grass/hay and minimal supplemental feed. You could move tractors over the garden during the off season or could rake up the berries after moving the tractors. They do suffer quite a bit in the heat though. When it gets hot here, I mist their ears and put ice blocks in with them to give them something cold to lay against and chew on.

 

Thank you all!
LOVE the community idea!! I think that’s great, but I’m not sure how I’d be able to take advantage of the manure that way.
Raking up after moving tractors would be a good idea if I go that route.
Maybe I’ll create a mobile community? I could enclose them in the garden areas over the off season.
@happybleats what breed/s did you have? @DDFN and @Rancho Draco what do you like about theCalifornia White and the Silver Fox?

 

I have New Zealand whites and my breeders are all in cages. We do not have the ability currently to do a community setup, and I feel like my breeders are not unhappy in their cages. We do put the litters in rabbit tractors once they are old enough, and they really seem happy when they are in there, but when we tried to give our breeders time out in the tractors, they didn't really enjoy themselves like we thought they would. They really just sat in the corner scared. Maybe they would get used to it if we did it more, but overall, it's not like our rabbits are unhappy in their cages. We bring them lots of cut grass and they have wood blocks to chew on. With our summer heat too, we think the rabbits in the wall cages are easier to keep cool. I'm sure they would be happier in a community setup, but the cages are all they've ever known. It's not like they act depressed or anything.

Our rabbits are not very easy to cuddle. I wouldn't say they are tame. While the babies are easy to cuddle just because they are small, we have to be sure to get them out in a space where they can't escape, because if given the opportunity they would do just that. The babies also have very sharp claws that are easy to accidentally get scratched by if they decide to struggle. Our breeders do not enjoy being handled much. They are okay with being pet, our buck actually is the only one that really enjoys being pet, but none of them like being picked up. I've heard that silver foxes are a lot more tame than New Zealands, and we bought our stock from someone who never handled them or bred for temperament.

I hope you figure out a way to make it work for you! 🙂

 

I’m sure they get used to whatever situation they’re brought up in. Like me being comfortable in ripped jeans and a t-shirt and the moment I’m in a dress I find myself afraid to move. Lol

I know my grandsons will want to handle the breeders and I’d rather they be able to, so I’ll start with some young ones that get used to being handled.

Breed recommendations and dispatch details are also appreciated from those who know.

 

We raised California and New Zealand

 

I love the SF for their pelts and temperament. I handle mine only very occasionally and they stay very friendly. I have known people to keep them as pets very successfully. I simply don't have time to handle them regularly but it doesn't take much to keep them friendly. Mine have also been very good mothers and raise litters of 8-11 kits.

I have some breeders that were raised in cages and are now in tractors. They tend to spend a day or two scared of the wide open world and then start to come out of their shells. They love running around and grazing on whatever is in the tractor that day. It's also easier on the feed bill. If I have a tractor with only a couple rabbits in it, they often do well with just a small amount of feed in the morning and grazing the rest of the day.

 

Learn from my horrible, heartbreaking, expensive experience and Google myxomatosis and make sure it's not prevalent in your area before you consider raising outdoor rabbits. I know it's been spreading.

 

I will check this out, thank you.

How do you preserve the fur?

 

My son would lay in the rabbit pen and bunnies would jump all over him. When babies were born he would enjoy the kits..he loved being in the pen with them. We never had him participate in the processing part since he did his part feeding and caring for them. It was very helpful having breeders friendly.

 

I feel the New Zealand whites are friendlier than California whites and a bit bigger. If I had to do it again I would probably go with sliver fox or sliver martins rabbits. I have heard wonderful things about them. The white fur was just easier to use for most people's desires.

 

We have TAMUK rabbits (TAMUK stands for Texas A&M university at Kingston). The breed is a composite breed based off of New Zealand’s, Flemish giants, and a few others in forgetting right now. They were specially bred to have large ears, tolerate the Texas heat better and have thinner hides (so not good fur rabbits but you can tan the hides). My rabbits do go heat sterile in the summer so we have our litters in the fall/spring. They have good size litters (8-12). We have hanging cages. I did tons of research when getting them and was more interested in the community idea but it just wanted possible With our space at the time. I made them oversized hanging cages and have kept some litter mates (males with males, females with females) 2 or 3 to a cage and they get along well. I have lots of human kids so the kits get handled A LOT!!! These rabbits are soooo tame! I have sold a decent amount as pets but we prefer to butcher for meat. That process is so fast and much easier than butchering chickens (no plucking!!!! I hate that part). If I’m in a hurry I can get one done from dispatch to cleaned and butchered in 10 mins. They really are so easy. I prefer them to any meats we’ve raised so far .Rabbit meat is actually one of the only meats that ALL my kids like. They love rabbit.

Our breeders are friendly and our main breeding buck is especially friendly! He comes up for pets. I would make sure to handle them frequently. They can scratch though.

 

@Calistar from my Google results, it looks like myxomatosis is on the west coast, is that where you are? I'm in the midwest and I couldn't find it here but we sure do have lots of mosquitos to carry it if it were around!

 

Yes, I am in California. Myxo halted my meat rabbit operation before it even began, and killed my English angora pair that I had flown in from Illinois to the tune of $800 (before myxo hit and I also had vet bills and necropsy bills on top of that.) This was 6 years ago. At the time, myxo had only been found in a couple of cases on the west coast. Since then I have heard it has spread across the country. There is apparently a vaccine now (there wasn't back when my rabbits got sick) but around here the vets make you sign a waiver because apparently the vaccine has a high rate of bad reactions and death.

Myxomatosis was not something I had ever even heard of before my rabbits contracted it, so I'm not trying to scare anyone, just make them aware because I sure wish I had had a warning! Prior to myxo I had had plans to start a meat rabbit program, but that hinged on me being able to keep them outside, which is no longer an option for me. I am so jealous of all of you who are raising and harvesting your own delicious rabbits!

 

If they are healthy but if you're not ready no where for them to go yet. Be sure to check ears for mites when looking at them.

 

Thank you. I will.

 

Hi,
I just built a caged rabbitry for my SilverFox rabbits. Caged is easier for me because i dont bend well, and whatever im doing needs to be at standing hight. My cages are 4sqft each for the meat rabbits and 8sqft for the breeder/nesting cages. I have hanging pine chew "toys" (blocks of wood) suspended by wire. They chew on them and "play" with em... they are as happy as any food can be. Theres lots of ways to do any one thing... and lots of opinionated people who declare there is only one way to do it... (my father in law). But do your research and whatever you decide is right for your family/finances/resources do that to the best of your ability. I am also very opinionated and am by no means saying the others are wrong but for me caged is the better option. Good luck! I look forward to seeing your rabbitry!!

Respectfuly
Vern

 

Nice 👍

 

Thank you @Vern. "As happy as food can be." That made me LOL.

I certainly can understand why you use that set up. I'm just weird about things in cages and tend to transfer how I would feel onto the animals. I really think it's a faulty mindset that I have for the most part and I work to try not to think that way, but in the end if I can have happy healthy critters...that's the goal.

Thanks for sharing your set up.

 

@Chanceosunshine i understand how you feel!
Sometimes a cage is the only way to ensure the animals safety (a little animal like a rabbit anyway). We have coyotes and so many birds of prey out here it would be impossible for me to do a rabbitry and ensure we were the ones who got to eat them.
We’ve had a cpl of pet rabbits and I made a 2 story hutch as well as dug down into the ground and lined it with big flat rocks, buried a 1/2 of a 5 gallon bucket for a tunnel, had lots of chews and toys for them… and I still ended up letting them out eventually. But after awhile I stopped seeing the white rabbit with black spots… they aren’t as camouflaged as the little brown cottontails. 🤷🏼‍♀️

 

Thank you. And I totally get it, I do. I'm sorry about your rabbit. Given the choice I'd want to die free rather than in a cage, but there I go attributing my feeling to an animal again.
I take my grandchildren to the zoo and I eww and aww and point and in a high pitched voice say, "Look at the bear!!!" And all the while I'm thinking, "You poor thing in your tiny enclosure, you should be wandering up a mountain somewhere."

 

Oh, and just to clarify, I know people need to keep their animals safe and happy in whatever means they have. I'm not judging others, it's just that for me I want to give them as much space as possible and as much freedom as is safe.