Recent content by bighairbuns

When was the last time you wormed him? Being on the ground he could have easily picked up a parasite and a moderate parasitic load can cause poor coat condition. If he were mine, I'd take a sample for a vet to do a fecal or give him a course of panacur. Then I'd make sure he were eating a food...

The majority of rabbits I butcher are for my animals. I bleed them out, skin them, and remove the digestive track from the large intestine down. I have been "gut loading" my rabbits with a last meal of leafy greens and berries and want those partially digested stomach contents in my final...

Color should be one of the last considerations for value. More valuable? Not really. At the end of the day the value of the rabbit is more dependent on the breeding behind it and its conformation and temperament than the chrome. A BEW meat-mutt has the same value as an agouti, a REW, a...

First I sanitize the seeds by soaking in either a 1:9 bleach and water or 1:5 3% hydrogen peroxide solution for 20-30 minutes to kill mold spores and bacteria as well as soften the seed coat. I skim any floating seeds off the top and only plant the ones that sink (floaters have very poor...

Not in my experience. They lose consciousness and then pass. You do have to be precise with the fill rates though. C02 is the go-to method for frozen whole rabbit feeders for reptile and raw feeders. Here is a recent study using C02 for meat rabbits if you are interested...

For 2-3 week old kits I'd probably use cervical dislocation. The "broomstick method" using a thin but sturdy wooden dowel or the edge of a heavy bowl in place of the broomstick. Either that or I would build a C02 chamber. Sorry you lost your litter.

Try searching for "rex rabbits" or "mini rex" There a 3 recognized breeds that have that coat type. Velveteen lops, Rex, and miniature rex. Maybe they are calling rex coated rabbits velveteen as a descriptor (I've also seen that coat type referred to as "plush").

IME rabbit urine will burn plants. Especially young and tender ones. The urea is too strong when it is straight. If I am using urine heavy rabbit waste for my garden, I either only use it as a top dressing/mulch for mature plants so it gets diluted by watering before reaching the roots...

Yes. You can plant regular feed seeds. I frequently sprout BOSS bought as wild bird feed to make sunflower microgreens.

I have a young flemish giant doe that I would like to make a house rabbit. As such I am planning to have her spayed for longevity and better litter habits, but I am having trouble finding resources to figure out the ideal timing for spay. I'm concerned about the effect of the lack of hormones...

If you are sure it is a buck (and I'd say siring a litter is pretty darn sure!) the nesting behavior could be a sign of hormonal imbalance. Too much estradiol and not enough testosterone circulating in the system. Hormone imbalances can be caused from stress, genetic predispositions, glandular...

I'm planning on moving my angora colony indoors to my basement for the summer. Last year I did the same and put down a waterproof tarp and piled shavings on top of it. It worked OK but the shavings made a mess of their coats and cleaning was a whole afternoon ordeal. I'm considering permanently...

The broken chin is adorable!

The problem with the pellets losing nutritional value is with the vitamin and mineral premixes that are added to the pellets. Vitamins are organic compounds and start decaying/losing their potency the moment they are synthesized or extracted. Just oxidation from exposure to air and humidity...

I really love raising meat rabbits. I've always been interested in genetics and breeding animals. Raising meat rabbits gives me the freedom to do some crazy things that wouldn't be ethical in animals not destined for the table. I love my angoras, and I get a lot of satisfaction from breeding for...