Hello all!
Hoping for some advice. We started breeding rabbits again this year after a move from Oklahoma to Louisiana. We breed for meat, personal use, and have always been successful in the past. We are in the southwest portion of the state, so weather is hot and humid. We started with a couple of premade freestanding outdoor hutch set ups (bought with breeding stock from two folks who were getting out of rabbits)in the spring, bought a few more breeders, and did quite well with babies... then summer hit and it was a hot one. The high humidity really seemed to hurt them. We moved the rabbits indoors into our barn, installed fans, but kept having failures (babies dying, small litters, no babies at all, etc). The last two months we had no litters at all. Discovered the colony idea and decided to give it a try, we set up an indoor colony (well semi-indoor, covered roof with open walls) in two large horse stalls we combined. The total area is about 20x36, maybe a bit larger. Dirt floor, 2ft plywood at bottom, wire to the ceiling, paver blocks on the floor around the walls. Bunnies loved it, and have all shown fantastic growth, great condition, etc. seem very happy. We had an orphan doe that my dd was keeping as a pet who only grew to about half the size she should have... in the three months they have been in the colony she has grown to be the same size as the others. We have around a dozen does, we chose our best breeding buck, and there are two jr bucks as well. They do not seem crowded at all, especially considering the hutches they lived their whole lives in before. They are all under a year and a half old, with most under a year. Big problem is although we see lots of breeding, we have not had a single litter. I changed their diet after the first month, thought maybe they were not getting enough protein (they were on grass hay with alfalfa cubes and a small amount of grain to supplement) they are now on the best breeder pellet I can buy (petrus 700B) with cubes and a small amount of grass hay, clean up every bit, and still nothing. They are all in good condition but not fat. Added mineral blocks as well. Thought maybe heat sterilization might be the problem with the senior buck, he does not allow the juniors to breed as far as we can tell, no fighting he just keeps them from breeding, but temps have been lower for several months now... could it be permanent? They have next boxes scattered about, and we have had two very nice nests built... but no babies. I added two "houses" the top and bottom halves of a large doghouse hoping they would like it and breed... nope. We had not allowed any natural dens for fear of them digging out, but they recently started a huge one right in the middle and I have allowed that one to stay in hopes it would encourage breeding. I see no sign of aggression amongst the rabbits, they all seem to get along nicely. Any ideas? They do have a security light nearby, so they have a small amount of light 24/7, could that be a problem? We have been feeding with no "payback" for over six months now, and the husband is suggesting scrapping the whole bunch and starting over....
Also, regarding the in ground den, how far will they dig? Hubby is very concerned they will mine halfway across the yard and escape. It is about 10' from the closest wall. It appears to be quite deep and very large (about 20" across).
Hoping for some advice. We started breeding rabbits again this year after a move from Oklahoma to Louisiana. We breed for meat, personal use, and have always been successful in the past. We are in the southwest portion of the state, so weather is hot and humid. We started with a couple of premade freestanding outdoor hutch set ups (bought with breeding stock from two folks who were getting out of rabbits)in the spring, bought a few more breeders, and did quite well with babies... then summer hit and it was a hot one. The high humidity really seemed to hurt them. We moved the rabbits indoors into our barn, installed fans, but kept having failures (babies dying, small litters, no babies at all, etc). The last two months we had no litters at all. Discovered the colony idea and decided to give it a try, we set up an indoor colony (well semi-indoor, covered roof with open walls) in two large horse stalls we combined. The total area is about 20x36, maybe a bit larger. Dirt floor, 2ft plywood at bottom, wire to the ceiling, paver blocks on the floor around the walls. Bunnies loved it, and have all shown fantastic growth, great condition, etc. seem very happy. We had an orphan doe that my dd was keeping as a pet who only grew to about half the size she should have... in the three months they have been in the colony she has grown to be the same size as the others. We have around a dozen does, we chose our best breeding buck, and there are two jr bucks as well. They do not seem crowded at all, especially considering the hutches they lived their whole lives in before. They are all under a year and a half old, with most under a year. Big problem is although we see lots of breeding, we have not had a single litter. I changed their diet after the first month, thought maybe they were not getting enough protein (they were on grass hay with alfalfa cubes and a small amount of grain to supplement) they are now on the best breeder pellet I can buy (petrus 700B) with cubes and a small amount of grass hay, clean up every bit, and still nothing. They are all in good condition but not fat. Added mineral blocks as well. Thought maybe heat sterilization might be the problem with the senior buck, he does not allow the juniors to breed as far as we can tell, no fighting he just keeps them from breeding, but temps have been lower for several months now... could it be permanent? They have next boxes scattered about, and we have had two very nice nests built... but no babies. I added two "houses" the top and bottom halves of a large doghouse hoping they would like it and breed... nope. We had not allowed any natural dens for fear of them digging out, but they recently started a huge one right in the middle and I have allowed that one to stay in hopes it would encourage breeding. I see no sign of aggression amongst the rabbits, they all seem to get along nicely. Any ideas? They do have a security light nearby, so they have a small amount of light 24/7, could that be a problem? We have been feeding with no "payback" for over six months now, and the husband is suggesting scrapping the whole bunch and starting over....
Also, regarding the in ground den, how far will they dig? Hubby is very concerned they will mine halfway across the yard and escape. It is about 10' from the closest wall. It appears to be quite deep and very large (about 20" across).
