ohiogoatgirl
Well-known member
ok i know this can be a touchy topic but i just thought this would be good to have a thread on for those who really are into this possible way of it.
so the first thing i ever read about a rabbit colony was in "the homesteaders handbook to raising small livestock" by jerome belanger (copyright 1974, rodale publishing).. i will quote a short bit here from the book to give a clear example:
"In one particular case, an area 16 by 16 feet was marked off and dug out to a depth of two feet. At the corners, 12-foot posts were placed, two others were set at the middle of one side for a doorway, and center posts were set on the other three sides.
Bales of hay were stacked tightly in the depression, two bales thick. the baling twine was removed after the hay was in position. Poultry mesh was stapled to the posts, a hinged door set in place, and the entire thing was covered with black plastic for waterproofing. A large water trough was made from an eaves trough, and some oats, bone meal, and mineral was tossed on the hay."
1 bred doe was put in the colony, after she kindled she was pulled out and rebred and stuck back in. after that the only thing done was watering and feeding ("grain and kitchen and garden waste") and the colony was basically ignored for 6 months. and supposedly the family of seven took out as many fryers as it wanted and ate and sold plenty. "they had rabbit nearly every day,"
so i have a few things i think could be done to make a really hands off colony thats not this setup but lets start with this..
i would add for the sake of clarity and ease that we say this colony is 16 by 16 ft, inside a barn that is say 20 by 20 ft so you have storage room etc. the barn has a concrete/cement floor and lots of great windows for light and air flow.
your posts for the colony are like the quote but the cement is the bottom, not dug down. its wired with cattle panels, 1x1 inch cage wire from the cement to above the hay "ground level", and then fenced taller ((height? wire? i'm not sure)).
the hay would be square bales packed in such as the quote with twine pulled out, but lets say its three bales thick.
watering is a gravity fed system with nipples tubed down one side of the colony. and feeding could be your choice, personally i think pvc large homemade J feeder style would work good for this.
now say you want to start things going faster so you start with two does that have been kept together their whole life, breed the first doe to a buck and the second doe to a different buck... they get popped in the colony, la la-la la-la fast forward the litters are 6wks old, pull out the does and breed first doe to yet a different buck and the second doe to still another buck, and pop em back in the colony.
so now you have two litters from two different bucks and two litters on the way from two other bucks. so your gene pool should be pretty good. now starts the hands off. i imagine i would use a fishing net to catch ones for eating.
so.. thoughts on:
1) the colony setup
2) the doe first breedings to different bucks idea
3) how do you think this would progress? the good, the bad, the ugly.. whatever possibilities you think would be
4) how long do you think this could go for before you would want/need to pull everything out and redo the haying and possible wire repairs
5) perhaps you have a cage setup still, would you possibly pull out does sometimes and breed to your cage bucks
cant wait to see what everyones thoughts are
so the first thing i ever read about a rabbit colony was in "the homesteaders handbook to raising small livestock" by jerome belanger (copyright 1974, rodale publishing).. i will quote a short bit here from the book to give a clear example:
"In one particular case, an area 16 by 16 feet was marked off and dug out to a depth of two feet. At the corners, 12-foot posts were placed, two others were set at the middle of one side for a doorway, and center posts were set on the other three sides.
Bales of hay were stacked tightly in the depression, two bales thick. the baling twine was removed after the hay was in position. Poultry mesh was stapled to the posts, a hinged door set in place, and the entire thing was covered with black plastic for waterproofing. A large water trough was made from an eaves trough, and some oats, bone meal, and mineral was tossed on the hay."
1 bred doe was put in the colony, after she kindled she was pulled out and rebred and stuck back in. after that the only thing done was watering and feeding ("grain and kitchen and garden waste") and the colony was basically ignored for 6 months. and supposedly the family of seven took out as many fryers as it wanted and ate and sold plenty. "they had rabbit nearly every day,"
so i have a few things i think could be done to make a really hands off colony thats not this setup but lets start with this..
i would add for the sake of clarity and ease that we say this colony is 16 by 16 ft, inside a barn that is say 20 by 20 ft so you have storage room etc. the barn has a concrete/cement floor and lots of great windows for light and air flow.
your posts for the colony are like the quote but the cement is the bottom, not dug down. its wired with cattle panels, 1x1 inch cage wire from the cement to above the hay "ground level", and then fenced taller ((height? wire? i'm not sure)).
the hay would be square bales packed in such as the quote with twine pulled out, but lets say its three bales thick.
watering is a gravity fed system with nipples tubed down one side of the colony. and feeding could be your choice, personally i think pvc large homemade J feeder style would work good for this.
now say you want to start things going faster so you start with two does that have been kept together their whole life, breed the first doe to a buck and the second doe to a different buck... they get popped in the colony, la la-la la-la fast forward the litters are 6wks old, pull out the does and breed first doe to yet a different buck and the second doe to still another buck, and pop em back in the colony.
so now you have two litters from two different bucks and two litters on the way from two other bucks. so your gene pool should be pretty good. now starts the hands off. i imagine i would use a fishing net to catch ones for eating.
so.. thoughts on:
1) the colony setup
2) the doe first breedings to different bucks idea
3) how do you think this would progress? the good, the bad, the ugly.. whatever possibilities you think would be
4) how long do you think this could go for before you would want/need to pull everything out and redo the haying and possible wire repairs
5) perhaps you have a cage setup still, would you possibly pull out does sometimes and breed to your cage bucks
cant wait to see what everyones thoughts are