Flint1776":ko7r9ur1 said:
kenosha,
the cage as it is is just four walls and a floor. I do not currebtly have any pics . if it helps its sort of the size of a very large aquarium say 100 gallons . the "roof " would need to be built for it. considering the size of the cage I figured I would go with new zealand whites or another medium sized rabbit. As for starting the herd, I was thinking of just starting with a single buck and doe....and maybe purchasing some little bunnies at a local livestock auction. My last visit I could have gotten 10 bunnies for 30$.....I am only interested in sustainable meat gathering...so im not looking for any of the fancy hutches ..i only want a small operation that can sustain my household and maybe a few extra to give to family.
If two rabbits is what works for you then it is a good plan. A lot of people will recommend a trio or more. While having two or more does gives you some room to make mistakes, if you can't use twice meat it might not be worth having that extra breathing room. Only you can decide what is the better option.
As for advice on a minimal set up, it depends on how often you want to breed. You could get a 2x2 cage to keep the buck in and divide the cage into a 3ft section and a 4ft sections. You could breed the doe and keep her in the 3ft section. She can be with the kits until weaning. You can then put the kits in the 4ft section and let them continue to grow out. Then breed the doe again and process the kits as they reach weight.
There are drawbacks to this setup. You can't get lazy on processing the kits, and you might have to have a hard rule of processing them at 12 weeks whether or not they are at your target weight. The closer you get to 12 weeks the more mature the rabbits become and the more hormonal they get. Thus the older the kits get the less likely you can keep them together in 8 square feet. While you might think now, oh I have no trouble doing that; there are quite a few posts on here about people getting behind on processing or wanting to wait an extra few weeks until the rabbits reach 5lbs. You would also need extra cages to save any replacement stock.
Flint1776":ko7r9ur1 said:
The man I am getting the hutch from said all i had to do was partition a section for the buck and the doe and kits are housed in the rest.
I would advise against this setup. You could make a 2ft section and a 5ft section. Or a 2-2-3 partition. You can't really wean the kits in the 2-5 setup. Or you would be pushing it (space-wise) with an entire liter in 6 square feet. But at that is an ethical question on how much space you want to give your grow outs. And depending on the number of kits and how big they are, you could easily find yourself crossing over from a gray area into abuse. (e.g., growing out 4 kits in the cage might be ok, 6 might be pushing it, 12+ kits you shouldn't keep that many in a cage that size).
P.S. I know I broached the subject, but it might not be helpful for this thread to get into a debate on where the ethical line should be drawn.
So ultimately this depends on how often you want to breed and how you feel regarding the amount of space you want to give your rabbits.
Personally I am a softy. I would get a 6 square ft cage for the buck, a 6 square ft cage for the doe and her litter, and divide the 7ft cage in half for grow-outs (a side for the bucks and a side for the does).