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"Should" self blue rabbits have any white hairs? No, it's a fault or DQ, depending on how many we're talking about. "Do" self blue rabbits often have white hairs? You betcha, especially in certain breeds where color is de-emphasized, like Americans. When there's white hairs in patterns or...

We pasture as many of our grow-outs as I have tractor space for, and have done so for three years now. Here in northern Nevada (high elevation, naturally a desert, four seasons), I find I get the best growth rates if I give them about 1/2 to 1/3 of the pellet ration they'd get if they were in...

Cool pics, Akane! These kits are still just wee ones, less than three weeks old, so they are not yet silvering. All the ticking you see is likely the steel effect. They are all destined for the freezer, but I'll try to hold back one or two to about 16 weeks to get better quality fur. In the...

Hello, everyone! So, I got rather unexpected results from breeding a Champagne d'Argent doe to a Creme d'Argent buck (all part of my scheme to make Argent St. Hubert buns.. mwa-ha-ha-ha), and I'd like to consult with the group as to what might have happened. Ok, from how I understand it, the...

Interesting theory about the steel gene and undercoat. We American Blue breeders are obsessive about trying to get that deep, dark blue all the way to the skin. And steel seems to be rampant in our gene pool. Coincidence? Maybe. I have been trying to arrange to do some test breeding of my "blue"...

Hi, everyone! I just wanted to run this past the group. My little black American doe, Iman, had her first litter of kits 3 days ago! Despite being just a shade over 4 months old (this was an oops litter - as detailed in a different thread, she hopped out of her side of a rabbit tractor that...

Come on over to the other side of the mountains for a show that is NOT the WCC! The Sierra Nevada RBA and Douglas County 4-H are hosting a double open show on 14 March in lovely Gardnerville, NV, just south of our capital city of Carson City. Californians, just cruise over on 50 or up 395! I'd...

I've not ordered wire by the roll from them, but I've been very happy with my cages from Bass Equipment. They ship promptly, which I hear that Klubertanz sometimes doesn't do... You might also try to make it to a rabbit show that has a vendor showing up. If you contact them ahead of time...

Same as many of you, I start checking them when around 4 months to 5 months old, and don't force the issue. But many of them are ready at that time, and almost always by 6 months old. They keep growing while nursing litters, nobody has problems making senior weight. I had one precocious...

Speaking of chickens and compost, a friend just sent this my way. It describes one family's method of feeding chickens 100% on compost. With a full time job outside of the house, there's no way I could do this, but it might work well for some folks. Plus, with the rabbits, chickens, ducks, and...

Rainey, your nose will tell you if you are fermenting or just rotting the feed - at least, if you are used to the smell of active sourdough cultures or things like that. I went out of town for 4 days for work, and forgot to tell my husband to maintain the fermenting food, and whew - I could tell...

Thanks, PSF! Do you have a local source for your Modesto products that you can buy from regularly, or do you get it in bulk and store it? Even though we are that much closer to the mill than you are, none of our local feed stores normally carry it. So if we want to pay a reasonable price, we'll...

Hello, everyone. We are considering making the big plunge to full organic on the farm. Our duck egg vendors have expressed an interest in selling organic-fed duck eggs (and are willing to increase the price they pay us per egg to match), and since we'd get a much better price buying direct from...

Dangerbunny, we manage to ferment feed during winter by keeping my fermenting buckets in our water heater closet. It's the warmest place in the house, and it keeps the buckets safe from marauding dogs. I have a system in which I keep three buckets going, I feed out of one for the day and then...

Many American whites are not blue under the albino cloak, but rather steels or chestnuts from outcrosses to New Zealand whites. But no matter what, you would not get anything but REW from a REW x REW - something did not go down as planned by that breeder. Still, it sounds like that rabbitry had...

I've been experimenting with fermenting my otherwise standard chicken feed. We can get non-GMO layer pellets for not too much more than conventional, while organic is three times the price, so the non-GMO is what we're going with for now. I'm not yet convinced I'm seeing the magical results...

My state, the great state of Nevada, does not offer a clear path to the USDA small producers' exemption. But they have not paid close attention to sales of livestock followed by "courtesy" dressing. So I will sell young rabbits weighing about 5 pounds live weight for $20 (for basic cage-raised...

They should be. From what I've seen, it's better for them to sample what their mother has been eating when they still are not on solid foods 100%. In the summer, when I transition the grow-outs to pasture, I make sure to start dumping lots of pasture cuttings (grass, clovers, trefoil, alfalfa)...

Not making it, sorry!

We've tractored rabbits for 2 years now, have lost only one or two to something pulling the J-feeders off the front and the rabbits then getting out and disappearing (their cage-mates were caught by us the next morning). Sides are heavy-duty 1/2" hardware cloth, because raccoons can reach...