Newbie- comments on plan plz

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margali

margali

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Dec 26, 2010
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SE Iowa
I am planning on raising rabbit for meat. Nice fur color and feel will be useful for my craft projects.

I want to start with 2 California does and New Zealand black buck. That should give me nice meat and interesting fur, correct?

I have a 10'x12' shed that I plan on using as my rabbitry. I am going to make or buy metal cages like on downtherabbithole.com. I will be putting two 2'x2'windows and a gable end vent for air flow. The winter low is -10F and summer high is 100F here. I have a window air to use in summer.

Am I missing anything obvious on rabbit selection or housing?
Margali
 
I think with that cross you are going to get black kits...but I could be wrong. There is nothing wrong with black fur. :)

You could also get a broken buck. They do have broken NZ now, and that will give you some different coats.You will get great meat from that cross, though. Another thing I thought of doing is have a herd of colored NZ, Black, Red, Agouti (not showable, but hey, you can find them). Maybe a REW for suprizes and white pelts.
 
Variety! Long term project since I don't know how to tan. :) I'm thinking of trim on hats or vests, etc of SCA outfits (medieval re-enactment).

__________ Sun Dec 26, 2010 4:47 pm __________

I want black and broken? Does a black NZ buck work for this?
 
insulation

have a plan of what you want the rabbits before you get them, and realize that even meat lotting the bunnies (large cage with room, not worrying about males and females cause they are stew before 4 months)
as for tanning, you can look online at taxidermy sites and find plenty of info on tanning,
 
if you want colour variety, going californian with NW black...will probably get you black bunnies.

If you want variety...I would suggest getting generic meat mutts (or non-showable pedigreed bunnies) and getting a mix of broken and solid. One scenario would be to get the does in broken and the buck solid. your litters will be mixed. If you get say a solid buck in white -- could be any colour under the white, Then get an orange female and a chinchilla female (both broken). You could get a variety of offspring...from solid whites, to solid and broken orange, chestnut, black, and possibly other stuff depending on what is behind them.

NOTE: if you want GOOD hides for tanning you'll need more cages because the best hides from rabbits POST six months in age. That means solitary cages for your bucks, and at most two does per cage once they hit fighting age of about 3.5-4 months.
 
Okay, I definitely need to read more on the fur genetics. BUT, NZ x California is a good meat cross it seems.

The rabbits are being bought for the meat. Having nice fur to experiment with is secondary. If I have all black fur with the first trio, it is fine.

I figured a 10'x12' shed will have room for 8: 30"x36"x24" doe/grow out cages, 4: 30"x30" buck/keep for fur cages. The layout I sketch is for two rows of cages and leaves me about 6' of wall for supplies.
Margali
 
You will get blacks, the gene which begets the himi pattern restricts color to the points but a cal is a black rabbit. I made the cross using my black NZ buck over a Cal doe. Take a black from the mating back to the cal parent for more Cal colored kits. If you want different colors try a white NZ to yor black, depending on what your white is geneticly you may get several colors.
 
why so tall of cage, most cages, and if you are willing to stack, you can fit more, but 15-18 is plenty, unless that's what you got and you don't want to cut it.
 
margali":3l6cw23c said:
I figured a 10'x12' shed will have room for 8: 30"x36"x24" doe/grow out cages, 4: 30"x30" buck/keep for fur cages. The layout I sketch is for two rows of cages and leaves me about 6' of wall for supplies.
Margali
Click to expand...

What type of floor do you have?

If you went with cage rows you could make a 10' span of cages you could get 5 cages in the row - 24" wide by 30" deep by 18-20" tall. That would be plenty of space for a buck and even enough room for a doe without kits.

Hang that cage at shoulder height and then underneath you could have another row - this time with 4 cages - larger ones for does with kits and grow out.

That gives you 9 cages just on one side of the room. Do something similar on the other side, using about 8 ' of wall space and you could have another 6 cages with 4' of wall space left for a large cabinet for supplies.

Check out my website to see how I made my cage racks (you could do something similar):

http://www.rawdogranch.com/meatrabbits/housing.html
 
LASGSD":ycybshwa said:
margali":ycybshwa said:
I figured a 10'x12' shed will have room for 8: 30"x36"x24" doe/grow out cages, 4: 30"x30" buck/keep for fur cages. The layout I sketch is for two rows of cages and leaves me about 6' of wall for supplies.
Margali
Click to expand...

What type of floor do you have?

If you went with cage rows you could make a 10' span of cages you could get 5 cages in the row - 24" wide by 30" deep by 18-20" tall. That would be plenty of space for a buck and even enough room for a doe without kits.

Hang that cage at shoulder height and then underneath you could have another row - this time with 4 cages - larger ones for does with kits and grow out.

That gives you 9 cages just on one side of the room. Do something similar on the other side, using about 8 ' of wall space and you could have another 6 cages with 4' of wall space left for a large cabinet for supplies.

Check out my website to see how I made my cage racks (you could do something similar):

http://www.rawdogranch.com/meatrabbits/housing.html
Click to expand...

Enabler. :lol:
 
Well, I just built 4 double and triple cages, 1 more and I have a stack, two more stacks and I have my rabbitry full, hope to be done next week
 
Thanks for the tips! What I have right now- ideas, money to start (finally!), and a countdown calendar.
:roll: We get our rental house in June! Right now I am plotting and collecting gear.

Margali
 
If your main goal is meat but you also want color you could get the colored new zealands ( white, black, red, and blue-maybe one of each eventually?) That will keep the meatiness while giving you a few colors to play with, or you could get a rex to breed in-they have wonderful colors and fur! My mother had a mini rex buck and a satin doe she would breed to her meat rabbits when she wanted color (her meat rabbits were californians, white new zealands, and crosses of the two) or there is the american or standard chinchilla-you don't get a ton of variation in coat but their coats are absolutely stunning! They can be used in meat production and they were created as a breed for fur production. I guess it really depends on what breeds are common in your area. Have you researched who has what breeds near you?
 
Going to a show next month that is 1 hour away. Hope to meet a lot of locals and see what people are raising.

Also been looking at different clubs in area but want to eyeball the different breeds before I decide. Satins, Californians, New Zealands and tons of others will be there.
 

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