Rabbits for profit… Rabbits for fun… Rabbits for just about everyone…

It is currently Fri May 18, 2012 4:41 pm 






Reply to topic  [ 4 posts ] 

Previous topic | First unread post | Next topic 

  Print view

Author Message
 Years of membership
 Post subject: Another colony breeding question...
New postPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 12:17 pm 
User avatar

Joined: Apr 11 2011
Posts: 9
Location: NW Washington
Thanks: 0
Thanked: 0 in 0 post
Cash on hand:
70.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Offline Offline
Hi guys! I haven't quite seen the answers I'm looking for (maybe I haven't looked hard enough) but, here we go, with another colony breeding question :)

I built a small coop for my bunnys. It's 7ft long, and about 4 or 4 1/2 feet wide (I don't remember exactly) The yard has a shelf now, for a fun little upper level, and there is a house area where I keep their food & Water.

I have 3 does & a neutered male in there right now. My buck is mixed, I have a 15lb Flemish, her daughter (Flemish/mut mix) and a Californian. I would like to breed the californian, but hopefully put her back into the colony & let her birth with them. She has had babies before, if that makes any difference.

Also, I can move their water outside, food too if necessary, so there would be more nesting room in the house.

Here is inside the coop door
Image

And here is the coop as a whole. It's been finished now. The floor is finished, all the wire walls, and it has a roof over the whole thing. The shelf in their yard that I mentioned is on the long side closest to the camera (not above the bunny door)

Image


I also have this WARE (I think) double bunny hutch that my Flemish used las spring to kit. I would prefer to keep them all together. These babies will be for meat, and I really enjoy having all the buns live together. I'm worried that if I remove her, then I won't be able to get her back in there with them after the babies.
Image




And just for fun...
Image


Top
 Profile E-mail  
Post Permalink  
 Years of membership
 Post subject: Re: Another colony breeding question...
New postPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 2:24 pm 
User avatar

Joined: Aug 28 2010
Posts: 357
Images: 6
Location: Trenton Ont
Thanks: 35
Thanked: 8 in 8 posts
Country: Canada (ca)
Cash on hand:
1,705.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Offline Offline
I like to keep all the rabbits together in the colony. Even the does who are not fond of eachother have settled down. Provide lots of coverage, so everybunny can escape the unwanted attentions of the others. I have tires, boxes, wood slats and stuff all over the place so they can dodge and hide. Right now it's the does getting away from the kits and the kits running from the buck. But this doesn't happen all day, just in spurts. Your space seems a little limited, but if you could add a little more shelf space or other storage space perhaps the colony wouldn't get too crowded with a litter of kits :/
I have a shed 7feet wide by 10feet long. To add living space and storage I have a metal bunkbed to hold my hay and grain bin(top bunk)and a row of nest boxes (bottom bunk), the adults prefer to live under the bed mostly; there is also 2 dog kennels holding hay and nests for my quail stacked by the door, the rest is open.
Re-introducing the doe after a month or 2 abscence will be very stressfull, perhaps moving some of the other rabbits out of the colony so she can mother the kits longer would be a good idea? Or let everybunny stay in the colony until the kits are 8-10 weeks and then pull them out to finish growing an another cage? This would keep the stress off your adults, and by 10 weeks the kits don't need mom so much.
That's just my 2 cents. Good luck with your colony :)

_________________
Keeeesss mah BUNNEH!!


Top
 Profile E-mail  
Post Permalink  
 Years of membership
 Post subject: Re: Another colony breeding question...
New postPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 6:18 pm 
User avatar

Joined: Apr 11 2011
Posts: 9
Location: NW Washington
Thanks: 0
Thanked: 0 in 0 post
Cash on hand:
70.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Offline Offline
I could very easily add more levels in their yard area. I love the coop i built, and was estatic when everybunny started living together. I have an older doe (6+ yrs) that I just moved out. She is partially disabled. She was fine (the boss) but finally she's given up as the boss, so she's on her own now. She seems happy enough.

60mph winds took the coop off it's blocks though, so we will have to move it (it is now impossible to rake out the manure from under the yard area). We must wait until better weather though, because it's so heavy, and we will need sever people to help, and good footing in our yard (it's slippery) He wants to just build a new one (secure it on concrete cinder feet, instead of setting it on blocks like we did) so perhaps i can get him to 'allow' me to make it a bit larger. Thing I love most about my coop, is that I had to buy NONE of the wood. We had a few 2x4s laying around, and all the rest came from the scrap wood pile at my work! So it's hard for me to think of building another one. This just cost me a box of screws, chicken wire and some door hinges. lol


Top
 Profile E-mail  
Post Permalink  
 Post subject: Re: Another colony breeding question...
New postPosted: Mon Jan 02, 2012 10:21 pm 
User avatar

Joined: Nov 28 2011
Posts: 339
Images: 8
Location: Victoria, Australia
Thanks: 89
Thanked: 31 in 31 posts
Country: Australia (au)
Cash on hand:
1,777.00 BunnyBucks

Currently: Offline Offline
Personally i would only take the doe out to the buck for a few hours over a few days returning her each day to the colony and then once she has been bred leave her to it in the colony (JMO) :)

_________________
:) Hearty discussion is the sharing of knowledge = and knowledge is never a bad thing :)

:pinkbunny: http://www.minilop.webs.com :pinkbunny:


Top
 Profile E-mail Personal album  
Post Permalink  
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Reply to topic  [ 4 posts ] 


Similar topics

Ivermectin question Author: jbrabston
Forum: Random Rabbit Ramblings, 23 Replies

Does Breeding Improve Condition For Show Does? Author: Peach
Forum: Show Rabbits, 15 Replies

Just a Little Question Author: etfroxx
Forum: Pet Rabbits, 0 Replies

Prospective breeding stock: Flemish/ Cali cross Author: Diamond
Forum: Meat Rabbits, 9 Replies

More colony photos - of the Lone Ranger, too! Author: Cattle Cait
Forum: Rabbit Colonies, 2 Replies



Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 0 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:


Copyright ©2009-2012 RabbitTalk.com
Website Created by MidnightCoder.ca