At 14 wks growing this is the outcome

[Murphy]

Each rabbit @ 14 wks
Set up: tractor colony moved weekly. Pic of grass on left, has been watered n recovering. Pic on right is immediately after the move/clean up this morning.
Day time temps: high 30's.
Fed twice day pellets.

These were all sold to me as NZ. Perhaps not cept the white one. So mutts for food. But do they look big enough to cull?



To do:
Weigh them. Whats the cull weight sposed to be? Coz 12lb NZ at 14 weeks is not happening i think.

sex them. By posting photos in here n asking.

 

[Murphy]

The blue eyed red n white? Whats wrong with that fur? Its all messy.

 

[MuddyFarms]

Looks nice!

Rabbits raised for meat are often butchered when they get between 4-6 pounds live weight. They are considered fryers until they reach 12 weeks; after that they are considered roasters, I believe. I usually butcher when they reach 12 weeks, and with my current stock they are over 5 pounds at that point. Some heritage breeders will butcher around 15-16 weeks and 5-6 pounds.

This all varies depending on what they are being fed, what breed you have, etc. You have to figure out what will work for your stock and develop your own routine. Feed-to-meat ratio goes down as they get over 12 weeks or so, along with the growth rate. They will also get tougher the longer you raise them.

Just in case you aren't aware, 14 weeks is usually a little old to leave a litter together. Different breeds mature at different ages/weights, but it is possible to have some unexpected kits on the way at their age.

 

[eco2pia]

Those are definitely mutts. NZ does not carry blue eyes to my knowlege. The messy fur is likely longer than normal NZ fur going with their mutt heritage. They are cute little guys!

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

You have very pretty rabbits

 

[MuddyFarms]

It's also nice you still have grass for them! We've got lots of deep snow here.

 

[Blue bunny barn]

Genetics, breed, feed, water, temperature, health, etc. all affect growth rates. Most breeders I know free feed pellets until they are at the 4 to 6 lb weight. To me, your rabbits look like meat mutts.

 

[RiverRat]

It's also nice you still have grass for them! We've got lots of deep snow here.

Second that deep snow!

 

[LatchawBriarPatch]

How does water effect growth rate?

Genetics, breed, feed, water, temperature, health, etc. all affect growth rates. Most breeders I know free feed pellets until they are at the 4 to 6 lb weight. To me, your rabbits look like meat mutts.

 

[Murphy]

Looks nice!

Rabbits raised for meat are often butchered when they get between 4-6 pounds live weight. They are considered fryers until they reach 12 weeks; after that they are considered roasters, I believe. I usually butcher when they reach 12 weeks, and with my current stock they are over 5 pounds at that point. Some heritage breeders will butcher around 15-16 weeks and 5-6 pounds.

This all varies depending on what they are being fed, what breed you have, etc. You have to figure out what will work for your stock and develop your own routine. Feed-to-meat ratio goes down as they get over 12 weeks or so, along with the growth rate. They will also get tougher the longer you raise them.

Just in case you aren't aware, 14 weeks is usually a little old to leave a litter together. Different breeds mature at different ages/weights, but it is possible to have some unexpected kits on the way

 

[Blue bunny barn]

How does water effect growth rate?

Not getting enough. Or if water is contaminated and not clean.

 

[LatchawBriarPatch]

Not getting enough. Or if water is contaminated and not clean.

What about heavily chlorinated water? I've been wondering if I may need to start giving my rabbits filtered water. Just seems strange giving our drinking water to our livestock.

 

[ladysown]

14 weeks, unknown origins. So with the blue eyed factor you might have small breeds mixed in.
If meat rabbits should be hitting 4-6 lbs by 14 weeks, better rabbits will hit that sooner.

Could be a number of factors.
1. rabbits run on the ground often have parasites that can slow growith
2. are they getting enough feed?
3. how much do the parents weigh? How old were they when you got them?
4. I doubt the chlorination in the water affects them but an easy fix is the let the water sit for 24 hours (in an open container) before giving it to them.

 

[Murphy]

These are the grow outs to breed later or cull.
We only have rain water here as i live off grid.
Wormed and preventatived. I did a ECC test as i do before i add chemicals to any of our animals, and no worms.
Weights 4-6lb.
So small breed is correct id say.
Need an enlarger. ? Flem giant doe?

 

[Olbunny]

To me, I think that for the effort and cost I want rabbits that do this the fastest. We breed stock of know breed. Our new Zealand, California cross get to the 5 pound mark in 12 weeks. Which is what I believe to be an industry standard. Gives us a 2-1/2# frier.
So maybe consider getting a know breed that meets your requirements and start mixing in new genes.
If you think you're going to continue long term with rabbits it may be better to start with a know breed and work up from there to establish what works for you.
Hey good luck n welcome

 

[ladysown]

Keep the biggest and breed up. Find a larger doe if you can to speed up the process.

 

[Rabbits by Accident]

Or you could sell some as pets on Craigslist, use that money to buy a good breeding pair. Then keep a couple of their female kits and you'd have enough of a herd to make quite a bit of meat.

They are adorable! I would think they'd be easy to sell. They're definitely cuter than the ones I sell

 

[rockyhillrabbits]

I used to cross Flemish with new Zealand just for meat rabbits. At 8 weeks they were reaching fryer weight. I never cared much for Californian but I could have had a bad bloodline. Nasty temperaments, never bred, and when they finally did were not good moms. My ideal meat rabbit is the Flemish crossed with New Zealand. If it were me, I'd sell those and do what Rabbitsbyaccident said and get a pair of bigger meat rabbits.

 

[Burelka]

Keep the biggest and breed up. Find a larger doe if you can to speed up the process.

I don't know about flemish giants but I do have an American chinchilla and she is my largest doe, their temperament is wonderful (I visited the breeder when I chose her) she is by far the sweetest and we don't handle them much, she was a fantastic first time mom and gave both to 10 kits on her first litter.

 

[Rabbits by Accident]

These are from my latest litter at 14 weeks exactly. I am keeping both of these guys. Generally they are sold at 8 weeks so I don't usually have the weights at this age, but I am refining my herd, so I kept a couple.



The dark brown is a buck, the light brown is a doe.

The doe actually overtook the buck and now weighs more, which is good. They were raised on inexpensive regionally produced pellets and a lot of free organic (low quality) hay.

(Camera magic - I don't know what happened with the photos the buck looks like a midget he's actually just about the same size as the doe LOL)