Recent content by MidwestMatthew

Umm...isn't the gallbladder the small grayish thing attached to the liver? I'm talking about that huge, bright red thing on the right side of the plate. Pretty sure that's not the gallbladder, right?

I butchered a few rabbits this afternoon and came across something I can't recall having found in a rabbit before. The kit was about 12 weeks old. The tissue in question was long, narrow, and thin, very soft and floppy, and very bright red and bloody. No unusual odor. It wasn't obviously...

She's two and a half. I was under the impression she'd had successful litters before, but now I'm wondering if I had some rabbits mixed up (I talked to a few owners before making a choice). One other thing: She had her babies mid-morning this time, rather than overnight. I know that's not...

We bought an adult Silver Fox a few months ago. Good-sized, in great health, and pretty good-natured too. She let our buck breed her immediately. Then she had all the babies right on the wire. Didn't pull a bit of hair, didn't use the nest box, nothing. Obviously they all died. I know this can...

Our rabbits are pretty well protected from wind, snow, and rain, but their wire cages obviously don't offer any insulation at all. It's getting into the low teens in our area the next few nights and I'm wondering if they'll be OK out there. Do we need to give them anything to keep warm with? Or...

She gets almost no hay, actually. She's never seemed to like it much; usually takes a nibble or two then scatters it into a mess. I can try offering her more today, though. Her normal diet has been pellets supplemented with a few fresh greens and BOSS, although she's quit eating that lately...

Our NZW doe bred like a pro for what I believe was her first time earlier this year. Had a litter and took great care of them. Since then she's refused to breed and seems to be shrinking. Her body condition still seems good (at least, her spine doesn't feel sharp) but she's getting visibly...

Obviously I need to figure out a way to fit more cages into our rabbitry. :( With the one litter we've had so far, we just kept them all together until processing day. There were only 6 kits left out of a litter of 7 and it was getting pretty crowded by then. Yep, I just need more room. Will...

I want to add more does but only have room for three cages at the moment. Our buck is in one, so the does will have to share. Problem is, I introduced our does tonight and they had a fight. Although neither was hurt in the few seconds before I intervened, the one who "owned" the cage was...

The rabbits were exactly 12 weeks old. (I wanted to do it at 10, but a couple of them weren't as large as I wanted until a week later...then "life happened" for a week after that.) We decapitated, skinned, and cleaned the rabbits, then put them, still whole, in a cooler of water with enough ice...

As I mentioned in another thread this morning, we processed our first litter last Saturday. It went well, but I have a few questions about the dispatch for next time. We used the broomstick (actually steel conduit) method. It was quite quick and easy, and I'll use it again if I must, but each...

We just butchered our first litter Saturday. Soaked the carcasses in a cooler of ice water for ~24 hours like we'd heard, then a ~12-hour soak in brine. Cooked the first one up whole, with a bit of rosemary and butter for dinner last night, and, well, wow. That. Was. Amazing. I was really...

Well, not much, anyway. The rest of the litter is between 4 and 4.5 pounds. This one (almost pure white from two broken New Zealands) is still only 2.5 pounds. They're ten weeks old tomorrow. There were 7 in the litter; 6 survived. Strangely, this rabbit was the biggest and strongest of the...

He might be a bit heavier than when we got him. This trio is our first experience with rabbits so I'm still learning the ropes. He usually has some feed left over in the morning. Should I cut back a little at a time until he's eating everything we give him?

Correct, no fall-offs. It's been cooler the past few evenings but I know there's a cumulative effect to heat and it takes a while to recover, so maybe it really is just a lack of energy. I guess we'll try again and see what happens. Maybe bring them inside for a while or something first?