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We live in the country and many folks have asked about buying rabbit from us. I don't want to sell meat, but I sure don't mind trading it for other food. Several of the folks involved run food businesses, though they'd be getting the meat for themselves, not resale. They have no problem...

We have a doe, meat breed-mix, a little over 2 years old, that has always been a wonderful mom. She always starts nest building early; with her first litter she was only a week and a half pregnant when she started sporting her hay mustache. She is impeccably fastidious, so I always give her a...

I posted in the disease section, then realized this was a better place to ask the question. I have some healthy looking kits of processing age. Their mother, who had been separated from them several days prior, started showing symptoms of illness a week ago today and was removed from the barn...

My husband and I just put down our beautiful mama rabbit, we are pretty sure she had myxo from her symptoms. Two folks we know have lost their buns to myxo in the last few years in this area. We separated her as soon as we saw her "sleepy looking" eyes and lack of energy. They symptoms...

We bred our does two weeks ago yesterday. One of them seems is eating less than usual. This has happened before with her, but it was later in the pregnancy. She seems largely uninterested in her pellets, but is eating hay. If I give her an apple stick, she'll clean the bark off it in...

We have had rats visiting. Not the huge Norway rats, but these guys are definitely a bit larger than mice. I am concerned about disease. My question: would a workable solution be to have the whole cage made with the same wire as the floors are made of? Is there a reason the floors are made...

I have two does, one a mutt and one a purebred. Both have good sized, healthy litters, and both take good care of their kits. But they are like the Odd Couple. The mutt is just like Felix Unger, tidy and fastidious. The purebred is pure Oscar Madison. The mutt's cage is always clean and...

Today we butchered a 9 week-old litter and a question came up. You hear about how rabbit meat is so lean, but my rabbits had quite a bit of fat on their shoulders, LOTS around the kidneys, and a fair amount in the groin area. I left the fat that remained after I removed the kidneys, and of...

We've only dipped into freezing weather a couple of times this winter so far, and both times I put out crocks for water and brought in my flip-top nivek bottles. Both times the month old rabbits pooped in the crocks and knocked out the water. (What the heck are they doing INSIDE the water...

One of our does gave birth to two (the summer heat?) kits who are growing like mad with all the attention and milk she is giving them. We have two does and would like to breed them both at the same time, and fairly soon. When is the optimum time to rebreed a doe who has recently kindled? She...

We have our "bunny barn" outdoors. The cages are hung inside a magnum dog kennel. I have discovered droppings inside the mouth of the j-feeders, which means that large mice or small rats (there are tree rats here, I don't think there are Norway rats) are entering the cages and eating the...

How high did you mount your ringer? Waist high? Thank you.

Okay, I have HAD it with my baby rabbits dumping pellets out of their crocks; when they aren't pooping in them, of course. I reached the point where I'm (gasp) willing to cut into my beautiful cages! Can someone please tell me how to install a fine-x feeder? I want to use the door...

Our doe gave birth last night to twelve babies. This is her first litter. I'm a little worried that this is a big litter for a first-time mother. She ran around the house (we've been having blasting hot temps and I brought her inside a week and a half ago) while I peeked in the nestbox. I...

Our beautiful blue American doe is due at the end of the month. Yesterday she began sporting a "hay mustache," and this morning had taken all the hay from her manger and put it in her hidey-box. Should I just go ahead and put her nest box in several days earlier than recommended? She is a...

We mated our sweet mutt doe with a very nice Blue American buck a week ago yesterday. It was both of their first times and we weren't sure the breeding was successful. However, she started acting funny the next day, kind of coy, retreating when I opened the door. She cries a little when I...

I did a quick internet search, but could not find out if there are any studies on how the color in a rabbit's environment affects productivity or well-being. I know there have been studies done that show that certain colors affect people and thus hospital rooms are painted certain colors, and...

Hi again, and thanks to everyone who is being so helpful with all my Newbie questions. I have just about got the cage stuff settled in my mind, and my thoughts are turning to rabbit breeds. When I think of a New Zealand, the picture that pops up in my mind is a big white rabbit. But in my...

Before or after? Okay I have two catalogs, and one recommends galvanized before welding wire and the other recommends galvanized after welding. It would seem to me that galvanizing after the wire was welded would result in a cage that would be less likely to rust in the long run, but I really...

Am I going to have to learn carpentry to raise rabbits? Or are high quality, sturdy hutches available commercially? I am looking for outside hutches, wire and wood (mostly wire but with a wood top and a side shelter area), 10 sq. ft. or so. (I was thinking about 2.5 ft by 4 ft, does that sound...