Florida Newbie

[MargieLu1982]

Hello! My husband and I have decided to add a small meat-production rabbitry to our small homestead and I am so glad to find your forum. He is experienced with rabbits (both wild and farmed) but I don't have the same experience.

We don't currently have rabbits and are researching and asking advice about types of meat rabbits suitable for our humid hot summers and sometimes freezing winters. We do already have a barn but would need to add onto it to shelter them in the barn (either an open air corner stall under the roof with protection from rain, north winds and extreme heat of the sun) or in a stand-alone rabbit barn/shed.

We hve an acre or two of lush Pensacola Bahia grass and many native plants and weeds, and our property is chemical and fertilizer free (organics only, especially in the gardens).

We have other livestock and poultry and are familiar with meeting the needs of our animals, and habe a great large and small animal vet just around the corner.

I'd love to receive advice on what breeds would thrive in the Florida Panhandle (only light winter freezes but sweltering summers), tips on housing and supplies (we make our own poultry cages and are experienced constructing all our own farm buildings and structures), would like to preserve harvested meat with canning and freezing, and need to learn all the ways healthy rabbit harvests can feed us (recipes, etc).

Thanks in advance for all the great information I know we will put to good use soon! (And we need to locate rabbits once we choose the right breed to suit our needs). I'm so glad I found this group!

Margie Hays
Gardening zone 8b
Cantonment FL 32533

 

[Nibbles]

Welcome, Margie. How many rabbits do you hope to raise?

 

[MargieLu1982]

We plan on a smallish rabbitry, 100% for meat rabbits. We are thinking one or two bucks at most, and perhaps 2-3 does. There are only my husbamd and I to feed, but we can offer young rabbits once weaned if we have excess. We don't plan on creating a steady income stream from it, just having an extra source for producing our protein (we also dabble in pork from time to time and are getting back into it with American Guinea Hogs, a sweet and docile smaller pig that meets our small 2.6 acre homestead needs much better than a 400-500lb hog)

 

[Tiny homestead]

I'm not in Florida, so I can't speak from experience, but always hear about TAMUK rabbits being best for heat. Good luck!

 

[MargieLu1982]

I'm not in Florida, so I can't speak from experience, but always hear about TAMUK rabbits being best for heat. Good luck!

We are just learning about them and think we may have found a few withing a days drive to us. Some days here are have 110+ heat index and most are 80-100% humidity on the worst days. I can't imagine a furry creature enjoying those conditions under most coicumstances.

 

[ladysown]

I would strongly suggest buying your rabbits locally, rabbits that are acclimatized to Florida weather. you will need lots of good ventilation/fans, ways to keep rabbits cool such as frozen water, and tiles. and keep those rabbits well into the shade... I'd be looking at growing edible vining plants up around them as plants help a lot with natural cooling.

 

[MargieLu1982]

Thanks for the great suggestions! We do habe our barn which is well centilated and equipped to hold fans from both the ceilings and the stalls. & walls when. Our barn was placed on our property so that the sunshine floods the alley openings in winter and does not receive sunshine during the summer. The rabbits would be in one stall with suspended cages and the top half of the two exterior walls are fully open allowing 100% of the breeze to pass through from rabbit stall, alleyway, to poultry coop, sweeping potry dust away from the rabbits. We also plan to add a shed roof 'lean to' on the morth side of the barn for an alternate cool summer spot for the rabbits to be on the ground in clover & pasture. We also have portable shade that we can move along the exterior of the barn to avoid sunlight entering the rabbitry openings on sweltering days but still be as ventilated as if they were outdoors.

We thought that by going with TAMUKs they would be the best adapted, but some other local homestead rabbitrys are raising NZ and Florida Whites wuite succsessfully with the ice bottles/not allowing summer breeding/other precautions. Our winters drop into freezing temps at night and sometimes in the daytime. We have a decent rainfall, but doe rabbits have any issues with humidity if the temperatures are in the 40's and 50's F?

 

[MargieLu1982]

And my apologies to all for the typos...
I struggle with four rare disorders, and have much neuropathy in my hands. Typing used to be something I did nearly perfectly, but my fingers don't always obey my brain nowadays.