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Howdy! I have heard from several breeders that Silver Fox can be gentle, calm rabbits. Hope you can find some great ones!
 
Hello and welcome. You'd come to the right place. What are those corns for?:)
 
dlynnwoiak said:
Hi from northern Wisconsin, USA. Retired, garden nut, art explorer. Want to try raising silver fox rabbits and quail. Trying to learn and set up before bring animals home. Thrilled to find this community of people willing to share. Thank you!View attachment 29260
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Welcome! You've chosen the perfect place! I raise Silver Fox and I am an "art explorer" as well. I have never heard of it described as such, but I like it! What kind of art do you explore? Do you have an online gallery so I can see? :)
 
KelleyBee said:
Welcome! You've chosen the perfect place! I raise Silver Fox and I am an "art explorer" as well. I have never heard of it described as such, but I like it! What kind of art do you explore? Do you have an online gallery so I can see? :)
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The corn is painted mountain. Lots of info out there supposedly started with 100 different heirlooms, selected over years for cool temps, short season in Montana. Up to 14 percent protein, lots of colors in both kernel and stalk. I have saved and planted the prettiest for 6 years. Advertised at 6-7" ears. I had a few shorter this year but also many10- 13". Hope the stalks will make good winter fodder? "Art explorer" is because I keep finding something new to learn my current obsession is stained glass.(and learning about rabbits, raising animals is an art too) I've done jewelry, baskets, painting, quilts, fiber art, leather, carving, pottery...kind of a spaz. but I think navigating life is an art . In the kitchen, garden, dealing with people. We are all explorers (or should be) so like I always told the special education students I used to work with " we all have something to learn and we all have something to teach" No I don't like to sell much, not good at computers, so no website. If it's ok I'll show off some recent stuff here?IMG_20211127_102319606_HDR.jpg
 
dlynnwoiak said:
The corn is painted mountain. Lots of info out there supposedly started with 100 different heirlooms, selected over years for cool temps, short season in Montana. Up to 14 percent protein, lots of colors in both kernel and stalk. I have saved and planted the prettiest for 6 years. Advertised at 6-7" ears. I had a few shorter this year but also many10- 13". Hope the stalks will make good winter fodder? "Art explorer" is because I keep finding something new to learn my current obsession is stained glass.(and learning about rabbits, raising animals is an art too) I've done jewelry, baskets, painting, quilts, fiber art, leather, carving, pottery...kind of a spaz. but I think navigating life is an art . In the kitchen, garden, dealing with people. We are all explorers (or should be) so like I always told the special education students I used to work with " we all have something to learn and we all have something to teach" No I don't like to sell much, not good at computers, so no website. If it's ok I'll show off some recent stuff here?View attachment 29299
Click to expand...

In this post @michaels4gardens talks about using corn stalks for rabbits:
https://rabbittalk.com/threads/feeding-meat-rabbits-in-extreme-cold-environments.33546/#post-329475
Thanks for sharing about the corn you are growing! I will look up that variety.
 
MuddyFarms said:
Howdy! I have heard from several breeders that Silver Fox can be gentle, calm rabbits. Hope you can find some great ones!
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They seem hard to find. Did find a breeder in Wisconsin (Rubens Rabbits) about 3 hours away. Will be my first rabbits, so will count on her to help me pick good ones. I have read they are docile, good mother's. Want to try colony raising based on a book by Dana Thompson. I'm thinking the silvering coming in may help me judge age and time to separate the young? Thinking shed and attached run for 2-3 does and a buck. And tractors to separate grow outs into.
 
dlynnwoiak said:
They seem hard to find. Did find a breeder in Wisconsin (Rubens Rabbits) about 3 hours away. Will be my first rabbits, so will count on her to help me pick good ones. I have read they are docile, good mother's. Want to try colony raising based on a book by Dana Thompson. I'm thinking the silvering coming in may help me judge age and time to separate the young? If I'm not strictly controlling breeding. Thinking shed and attached run for 2-3 does and a buck. And tractors to separate grow outs into.
Click to expand...
 
dlynnwoiak said:
They seem hard to find. Did find a breeder in Wisconsin (Rubens Rabbits) about 3 hours away. Will be my first rabbits, so will count on her to help me pick good ones. I have read they are docile, good mother's. Want to try colony raising based on a book by Dana Thompson. I'm thinking the silvering coming in may help me judge age and time to separate the young? Thinking shed and attached run for 2-3 does and a buck. And tractors to separate grow outs into.
Click to expand...

Hmmmm... I don't know when the silvering comes in on Silver Fox. Maybe some Silver Fox breeders could chime in: @KelleyBee ?
 
dlynnwoiak said:
The corn is painted mountain. Lots of info out there supposedly started with 100 different heirlooms, selected over years for cool temps, short season in Montana. Up to 14 percent protein, lots of colors in both kernel and stalk. I have saved and planted the prettiest for 6 years. Advertised at 6-7" ears. I had a few shorter this year but also many10- 13". Hope the stalks will make good winter fodder? "Art explorer" is because I keep finding something new to learn my current obsession is stained glass.(and learning about rabbits, raising animals is an art too) I've done jewelry, baskets, painting, quilts, fiber art, leather, carving, pottery...kind of a spaz. but I think navigating life is an art . In the kitchen, garden, dealing with people. We are all explorers (or should be) so like I always told the special education students I used to work with " we all have something to learn and we all have something to teach" No I don't like to sell much, not good at computers, so no website. If it's ok I'll show off some recent stuff here?
Click to expand...
Thanks for sharing your story about the corn and being an art explorer. Those are beautiful stained glass photos. Do you still do the other art stuff like painting?
 
MuddyFarms said:
Hmmmm... I don't know when the silvering comes in on Silver Fox. Maybe some Silver Fox breeders could chime in: @KelleyBee ?
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Silvering comes in on most kits by 10 - 12 weeks of age, but it’s still not their adult coat and the quality of the coat definitely should not be judged at such a young age, but it can be used as a hint of what’s to come. Silver Fox kits will often get silver mustaches and cheeks which then goes away as they age into their adult coats. Typically, you judge a silver fox at 6 months age. At 4 months, you can get general ideas of how the rabbit will mature out.
 
Sounds like it might work then to remove and separate male and female kits as the silvering starts to show. One of my concerns on colony raising, and letting the male stay, was not knowing when. I'm really looking forward to the adventure.
Nibbles said:
Thanks for sharing your story about the corn and being an art explorer. Those are beautiful stained glass photos. Do you still do the other art stuff like painting?
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Thanks, I wasn't sure if that was too much sharing off topic. But was asked. I still dabble. Like to say jack of all trades, master of none. Wasn't that how life used to be? My very talented son and partner had to start working under multiple names because people thought they were just reselling. Those they dealt with in the art scene seemed to do the same thing over and over and couldn't believe the 2 of them were creating all those different things. Sorry long winded again!
Nibbles said:
Thanks for sharing your story about the corn and being an art explorer. Those are beautiful stained glass photos. Do you still do the other art stuff like painting?
Click to expand...

KelleyBee said:
Silvering comes in on most kits by 10 - 12 weeks of age, but it’s still not their adult coat and the quality of the coat definitely should not be judged at such a young age, but it can be used as a hint of what’s to come. Silver Fox kits will often get silver mustaches and cheeks which then goes away as they age into their adult coats. Typically, you judge a silver fox at 6 months age. At 4 months, you can get general ideas of how the rabbit will mature out.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the info
 
dlynnwoiak said:
The corn is painted mountain. Lots of info out there supposedly started with 100 different heirlooms, selected over years for cool temps, short season in Montana. Up to 14 percent protein, lots of colors in both kernel and stalk. I have saved and planted the prettiest for 6 years. Advertised at 6-7" ears. I had a few shorter this year but also many10- 13". Hope the stalks will make good winter fodder? "Art explorer" is because I keep finding something new to learn my current obsession is stained glass.(and learning about rabbits, raising animals is an art too) I've done jewelry, baskets, painting, quilts, fiber art, leather, carving, pottery...kind of a spaz. but I think navigating life is an art . In the kitchen, garden, dealing with people. We are all explorers (or should be) so like I always told the special education students I used to work with " we all have something to learn and we all have something to teach" No I don't like to sell much, not good at computers, so no website. If it's ok I'll show off some recent stuff here?View attachment 29299
Click to expand...
Beautiful! Looks like you've been exploring stained glass for a while or else you're a very quick study. đź’— I will need to check out that Painted Mountain corn. Our season is optimistically 80 days or so. Do you eat it green or just dried? I am also a rabbit newbie, looking to learn.
 
When buying from a breeder, just realize that they won't be selling you their best stock. They can't really, they need to keep that for themselves to breed more. However you will hopefully be able to get some good starter stock and then breed up from there. Usually, you can get a better buck than a doe since breeders will usually keep a lot more females than males. It's good to get better bucks, though, when breeding, a buck has much more impact on a herd than any particular doe may have.

We have a semi-colony setup to where there is a doe herd and individual buck spaces. Unless you're breeding for meat and just want quantity of offspring, leaving a buck in with a doe herd won't let you know when the litters are due and it will end up with all the does having offspring. The offspring can switch from one litter to another (a mum bun can't count) so even though you may have an idea who the sire of the litter is - if there's only one buck in with a doe herd - you still may not know exactly which doe is the mum bun. Makes it confusing for further generations.

Usually a doe will be retired from breeding after awhile. Either because of her age, condition or that you already have enough offspring from her. So, having the bucks separate and taking a doe to meet him in his space means you can control which does are bred, when and by whom.
 
hotzcatz said:
When buying from a breeder, just realize that they won't be selling you their best stock. They can't really, they need to keep that for themselves to breed more. However you will hopefully be able to get some good starter stock and then breed up from there. Usually, you can get a better buck than a doe since breeders will usually keep a lot more females than males. It's good to get better bucks, though, when breeding, a buck has much more impact on a herd than any particular doe may have.

We have a semi-colony setup to where there is a doe herd and individual buck spaces. Unless you're breeding for meat and just want quantity of offspring, leaving a buck in with a doe herd won't let you know when the litters are due and it will end up with all the does having offspring. The offspring can switch from one litter to another (a mum bun can't count) so even though you may have an idea who the sire of the litter is - if there's only one buck in with a doe herd - you still may not know exactly which doe is the mum bun. Makes it confusing for further generations.

Usually a doe will be retired from breeding after awhile. Either because of her age, condition or that you already have enough offspring from her. So, having the bucks separate and taking a doe to meet him in his space means you can control which does are bred, when and by whom.
Click to expand...
Do you keep each buck by itself or a buck group together? At this point I've been dreaming of silver fox for years. Couldn't seem to find them in Northern Wisconsin. Rubens sounded big enough I wouldn't be getting brother and sister. Seems genetic diversity would be important. The other one I saw selling sounded like they only had a few, asking online who she should breed next? Are there any advantages to the does being pregnant together?
 

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