If you knew then, what you know now, you would....

regarding starting out in rabbits.

as i said in my intro, i just started out with a "my child grew out of her rabbit" rabbit, to wanting to breed meat rabbits to feed my family, to owning 4 pedigree rabbits to start a small herd with visions/delusions of grandeur! put on the brakes a little, cut back on the coffee and everything rabbit on the internet....

I'm wondering when you were thinking of starting a rabbitry, however big and small, what do you wish you knew at the get go or would have done differently.

I just want to have nice rabbits, that I can both eat, sell for show/pet/table. And, be a reputable breeder amongst my other breeders. I'm not even talking websites or anything. just word of mouth or craigslist. idk... I was thinking start out with good stock, that way, when we move to bigger property in 2 yrs+/-, I won't have to start from scratch.

I have 2 10wk New Z's (buck and a doe), a pedigree 4mo Cal buck, an almost 6mo old pedigree steel gray Flemish Giant, and in Sept I will be acquiring a 1yr old New Z doe and a Cal doe (both pedigree and both will be carrying litters of pedigreed parents).
I admit, i went a little rabbit crazy for a second, but am gathering myself a little now.

I was thinking of crossing my nz's and cals for myself and others for meat. and also keeping good lines and learn how to breed well and keep my animals registered and what not.

I had no intention or desire to ever show my rabbits, but it seems like a thing to do if you want to continue pedigree-ing(?)and being known for having good stock.

I have thought about grow out/expansion and have enough room and cages already for that.

advice, word of warning, what you wish you knew then...?

if I knew then what I know now, I would have gone straight to these people to buy from. I bought pets and obvious mixes, hoping it would go well. I got ugly rabbits, and when realized they wouldn't work for what I wanted (meat rabbits) I found Paula, who is a wonderful lady, and got 8 purebred rabbits, and seven of them pedigreed, for $100. I spent $50 for three mutt pet rabbits, only one of which had ANY meat rabbit lineage to him. I ate him, and the only thing saving the others is my husband (oh, and momma is vienna marked!)

The only thing I would do different is that I would have a barn but that is something I wanted for other animals anyway so it's not specific to rabbits. I started out with excellent stock and my learning curve has been relatively easy compared to some others experiences. I did have the vision/delusion of grandeur and I wanted to have ten producing does. I actually almost got there but I found my garage has severe space limitations when it comes to rabbits and they truly do multiply a lot faster than you think. I"ve cut waaaay back now to four does and I don't have a very intense breeding schedule. However, if I do build or otherwise come into possession of a barn I have the cage capacity to build up to ten does producing.

I guess my lesson learned is to plan my space before getting the rabbits.

If I were able to start over, I'd trust my instincts more and the books less. I wanted a colony... accepted wisdom according to the books and forums was that it was a bad idea. So we made cages and the rabbits are still in cages even though I know now that colonies can be perfectly workable... especially small ones.

I wanted to incorporate natural foods into my rabbits' diets. This time, having a little experience with a pet rabbit when David was young, I did follow my instincts. The rabbits, which were in rather lousy condition when we got them, blossomed on dandelions, clover and plantain in addition to their pellets that first summer and we've never looked back. The interest in natural feeding has blossomed in the past five years too and I like to think I had a little something to do with that.

I would start with better stock if starting again. Our yard sale mutts did well for us and have certainly been easy care... but good stock from a reliable breeder is always a good idea. We were fairly lucky with ours.

Have to say, Maggie, The reason I am on HT and now here, is because of you I was searching for natural feeding, and the only real good stuff I was finding was your natural feeding info. I continued reading and got hooked! So you had something to do with me being interested (I have only decided to wait till I have some land to cultivate weeds on, lol)

I'm in between the rabbit crazy and realistic stages. :-D

I want some of those and aren't those cute, that breed might be useful, ooo I need some of that color... Then I remember I might be moving to a condo for a short time during the next year and cut myself off at around 5-6 rabbits with no more than 2 litters at a time and keep all the others I want in the back of my mind for future plans. Slowly I'm settling on eventually getting a pair of ND, a full herd of purebred chinchilla rabbits for meat and show, and blue, black, chocolate, and lilac mini rex with some broken. I'm halfway there with the minirex and that's where I'm stopping until we buy our own house or my landlord and I can come to a better agreement.

Currently my only regret is not quite knowing enough about how to judge various rabbit breeds before diving in. However that only really led to 1 mutt rabbit who I found a great home for and 1 pedigreed buck that I'm not sure what to do with. The rest hold promise.

When I first started with rabbit [1989]
it was frightening. You can read the story on my website.
A neighbor gave my daughter a Rabbit that Easter. Reading
the only antiquated book I found in our tiny library told me to build
a cage 4 feet by six feet. My daughter had to climb into the cage to get the rabbit.
That cage later became two cages. I had many outside Hutches.
They served the rabbits well but I got Soaked in the Rain and frozen in the Snow.
I am very happy with my present rabbitry. For lack of a better name a Barn.
20Ft X 10 I also have a few outside cages in wood frames All cages are hung from Chain.
34 holes being used now and a few empty holes doubling as storage for feeder/Water-bottles.
I wouldn't have it any other way. I use water bottles because I like to know
if a rabbit is not drinking. An automatic water system would be nice but I wouldn't trust it.
I hand feed each rabbit every day, this gives me hands on and constant eye contact
with all the members of my herd. Not all the members are of breeding age, some are Juniors or
intermediates. Each rabbit is fed according to it's needs. Some require more feed
and some a little less feed to maintain condition. Only Does with litters are on Full-feed.
I read every book I could find on the subject, some are not worth the paper they were written on.
Others are worth their weight in gold. If you listen and read asa much as you can you will be able
to draw your own conclusions. If anyone tells you they know everything about Rabbit,
Don't walk away, RUN like the devil! You never stop learning!
I learn something new every day, if you don't, you're just not listening.
Take your time, look and listen to those who have come before you.
You will learn what you should and should not do!
What works for one does not always work for another.
Dennis, C.V.R.

You guys are really wonderful helps! I feel as though I'm on the right track. thanks entirely to this forum!

just out of curiosity... how easy/hard is it to have a website? is it costly?

not sure I would change anything from how I started out with rabbits. They all taught me lots of things. Through them I learned about the meat crowd, the raw food crowd, the show crowd, the pet crowd, and just overall the whole rabbit crowd.

They taught me about illness, isolation, health, temperament issues... why would I ever want to change that? yes.. some lessons were HARD.... losing litters to coccidia, enteritis, learning the hazards of showing (white snot on one rabbit), but now I've had a summer where I haven't lost rabbits for reasons that I don't understand, or am totally frustrated by.

I do better selling kits to the pet public, to breeders of show AND pet breeders, I do better showing, I do better maintaining good health on my rabbits, and I'm not so afraid of saying... I haven't a clue when I'm stymied, or of steering people to better quality breeders if they are looking for something more than what I have.

So I wouldn't change a thing. It's made me more sympathetic to the breeders who struggle with issues that they can't quite figure out. Made me shake my head at some of the things I hear about and breathe a sign of relief that I haven't had to deal with. it's all good in the long run.

there are alot of free website places. my personal favorite is webs.com, but play around with a few. I think that an actual, on your own website isn't TOO spendy, but I don't have actual experience with that.

One thing I would say if you have a website, keep it updated frequently, at least once a month review it, although once a week is better, IMPO.

webs.com is nice, and I've built a site on there. But for what you get for free, 110mb.com is better IMHO, and I've built a site there, too.

110mb.com is also only $10 a month for premium. I'm checking out that website now!

In Motion hosting is who I have my (non-rabbit) site with, it is $70 per year and I run it with a free download from wordpress.org. I am not at all an expert, and they (in motion) are very newbie friendly. As in, patient with my complete idiocy.

My domain name is my real name, so I will probably continue to maintain that, considering re-designing my site to reflect my broader interests--If I had called it justchickens.com and then wanted to talk about art or rabbits or....see what I mean?

Weebly.com is an amazing free-website host! I love it...and I've tried so many other free sites, but this one is definitely my favorite.

Emily

shrarvrs":2wnavfha said:

One thing I would say if you have a website,
keep it updated frequently, at least once a month review it,
although once a week is better, IMPO.

Click to expand...

Not necessarily so:
If your information is not subject to change
there is really no reason to change it.
I do make minor changes on my website,
but rather infrequently as much of the information I provide
is not subject to change. I suppose I could change the colors,
names of the herd members and perhaps add some more pictures.
My problem being that I am not as computer savvy as I would like to be.
I am hoping for some help in the near future with the revamping
of my website. When it happens I will let you know.
I would change my Barn/rabbitry to an upgraded high efficiency
automated everything. This so that I would have more time to just
play with and breed my rabbits. It seems that acts of real life
always seem to take up alot of time that you would like to be
spending doing more enjoyable tasks. :icecream:
Dennis, C.V.R.

I´m just starting... but so far one thing I´d change.. is not getting more purebred rex´s when I could... if I only knew that where I moved there are non-existant and that airlines won´t fly them.. I would´ve gotten a few more from the start...

I´m learning a lot from here.. reading about your experiences and all.. and also learning as I go.. lol..

my buns are in a spare room.. that is separate from the house.. so far only mom and dad roam free.. I recently got a cage for the older babies.. now I need a couple more to house new babies and to give mom a break from dad... that and to make my cleaning more faster/efficient..

I have a setup plan.. just need to get cages and some stuff to get it going.. the place is fab.. it´s a regular room as any of the other rooms inside the house with it´s own full bathroom.. so it has sewer and water yay!!... space... light.. it´s not cold nor hot.. has ventilation... only thing it needs is more bunnies.. lol..

I´m also trying to get pedigrees for them.. although not for show purposes.. mainly to keep records and keep track of em all..

I plan on keeping the two older babies.. and maybe 2-3 of the newer ones.. and try to get full rex´s and try make the rex breed bloom here..

hoping to keep on learning