Hello from Montana!

[Mckatie]

Hi, my name is KT. I live in west Montana. I raise pedigreed New Zealand rabbits to sell and maybe show. I like to take the young kits to the assisted living facility where the bunnies are a big hit with the seniors. I also have 2 Rex does and 2 Satin does. I am waiting on a rex buck to complete my trio. I am fascinated with exploring the colours and genotype /phenotype results within the breedings.

 

[Her Farmstead Rabbitry]

Welcome, sounds like you have great rabbits. I would love some satins, but I can't find them near me!

 

[Mckatie]

Welcome, sounds like you have great rabbits. I would love some satins, but I can't find them near me!

There are not a lot of satins up this way either. I think there is a breeder over in Helena possibly. I have Charlie the broken and Blue..but no satin buck yet. Where are you located?

 

[Mckatie]

Where at in North Carolina? (More like Northern or coastal?)

 

[ladysown]

welcome to the forum!

 

[Mckatie]

Thank you! Good to be here!

 

[Her Farmstead Rabbitry]

Where at in North Carolina? (More like Northern or coastal?

Western NC. By Helena do you mean in Montana or North Carolina?

 

[Mckatie]

Montana. We sold our property a long time ago in NC.I'm not really familiar with the state. My daughter had NC and Tenn on her list.

 

[TKT]

Welcome!

I'm TK. Are you my sister from another mister?

 

[Mckatie]

I thought I recognized you! How are you?

 

[TKT]

Covered up in rabbits so doing great! Thanks for asking, glad to see you here!

 

[Mckatie]

Covered up in rabbits so doing great! Thanks for asking, glad to see you here!

Good to be here, TK. I think we have another rellie joining us , DK. California....are you staying dry? What breeds are you covered with?

 

[TKT]

Hello to DK!

I have a trio of New Zealand Reds, one of which has had six kits, and the other which I hope is bred.

I have a pair of American Blues and the doe has seven kits that are 12 hours younger than the New Zealand's.

I have a black New Zealand doe which I hope is bred to a 3/4 New Zealand 1/4 Flemish cross buck.

And I have aother pair of New Zealand - Flemish crosses, a doe and a buck.

I am hoping to swap out my American Blue buck, and down the line to get a breeding pair of Palominos. But that would mean expanding the rabbitry...

 

[Mckatie]

Hello to DK!

I have a trio of New Zealand Reds, one of which has had six kits, and the other which I hope is bred.

I have a pair of American Blues and the doe has seven kits that are 12 hours younger than the New Zealand's.

I have a black New Zealand doe which I hope is bred to a 3/4 New Zealand 1/4 Flemish cross buck.

And I have aother pair of New Zealand - Flemish crosses, a doe and a buck.

I am hoping to swap out my American Blue buck, and down the line to get a breeding pair of Palominos. But that would mean expanding the rabbitry...

Are your New Zealand reds pedigreed? Light belly or darker red? American Blues... so pretty! Palominos are lovely as well. Just so many choices! I was looking at Palominos and the cinnamons. But my numbers are already high.

My black silver tipped NZ, Chocolate Truffle had 7 kits on Halloween. She was bred to CC (The shaded chocolate point NZ). Still have 5 because family wanted them. Ruby the white NZ buck lives in my house. He is so funny! He kept escaping so I brought him in, but then the deep freeze came and the next thing you know- he's stuck inside until Spring.

Smokey Jo, my black cinnamon broken NZ is bred to CC. Her first litter, she had 7 but 2 of the smallest did not make it. So the remaining 5 look like there might be 1 black or brown, 2 silver and 2 whites. Although there could always be coat changes. The silver have the points and body shading which makes me happy.

I have Charlie, a satin, bred to CC - hoping for lots of colours. Blue (satin) and Velvet(NZ) and Oreo (broken black NZ) possibly bred to CC. Too early to tell. Plus these are all first time does and CC still fumbles. I found a rex buck that I am going to pick up next month , but he's a baby. So I'm going to breed my Blondie(tri) rex to a castor buck. He's not pedigreed but I feel this would be a good first litter.

I need 4 more cages. I'm expanding my rabbitry area come summer. I've been looking at the designs. With the north wall I was thinking of heating it with solar by running glass over the side panels which would be painted black. Then using a fan in the pvc tubing .But the reality is the rabbits appear to be doing just fine despite the cold winters here. So I might want to concentrate on using solar and white walls to cool off the area in the summer. I would like more cohesiveness in my layout - and allow more stacking for space .

 

[Mckatie]

Hello to DK!

I have a trio of New Zealand Reds, one of which has had six kits, and the other which I hope is bred.

I have a pair of American Blues and the doe has seven kits that are 12 hours younger than the New Zealand's.

I have a black New Zealand doe which I hope is bred to a 3/4 New Zealand 1/4 Flemish cross buck.

And I have aother pair of New Zealand - Flemish crosses, a doe and a buck.

I am hoping to swap out my American Blue buck, and down the line to get a breeding pair of Palominos. But that would mean expanding the rabbitry...

Also, how are your NZ /Flemishes? one of my friends has 3 Flemishes, 3 rex, 2 rex Flemish crosses and 2 NZ. I was wondering how that cross would be meat wise as they eat a lot of theirs.

 

[TKT]

My New Zealand red trio has one pedigreed doe, the other doe and the buck are not, but they are from the same rabbitry and are all unrelated. I got them from the second party owner. They all look pretty nice. The does are the darker red and the buck has the lighter belly. At some point I might replace him but right now he is getting the job done and the kits look good. The doe who just recently had kits had two REW, two darker red, two lighter red.

I have a line on a different American Blue buck that should be a better quality than the one I have. My doe has been a great first time mother. They were the only rabbits I was able to find locally and are colony raised, so I wanted outside blood that isn't related to my doe or her kits.

The crosses are gorgeous and I bought them to breed them, so haven't eaten any yet. The blues I've eaten have been meaty so I'm happy to continue with them.

My rabbitry is a converted dog run, 16' x 5' built up against the garage side of the house, so that we can go out the man door right into it. We have a lot of predators and I wanted my elderly dog to be safe at night. Then it was a greenhouse, and then it was a second quail run, now it is rabbits. I can pop it out to make it longer if necessary, but right now I can fit 15 cages, including two KW 30"x36" triple stacks.

It sounds like you have some amazingly gorgeous colors!

 

[Mckatie]

My New Zealand red trio has one pedigreed doe, the other doe and the buck are not, but they are from the same rabbitry and are all unrelated. I got them from the second party owner. They all look pretty nice. The does are the darker red and the buck has the lighter belly. At some point I might replace him but right now he is getting the job done and the kits look good. The doe who just recently had kits had two REW, two darker red, two lighter red.

I have a line on a different American Blue buck that should be a better quality than the one I have. My doe has been a great first time mother. They were the only rabbits I was able to find locally and are colony raised, so I wanted outside blood that isn't related to my doe or her kits.

The crosses are gorgeous and I bought them to breed them, so haven't eaten any yet. The blues I've eaten have been meaty so I'm happy to continue with them.

My rabbitry is a converted dog run, 16' x 5' built up against the garage side of the house, so that we can go out the man door right into it. We have a lot of predators and I wanted my elderly dog to be safe at night. Then it was a greenhouse, and then it was a second quail run, now it is rabbits. I can pop it out to make it longer if necessary, but right now I can fit 15 cages, including two KW 30"x36" triple stacks.

It sounds like you have some amazingly gorgeous colors!

Your reds sound beautiful. We are looking for pedigreed darker red. I know there are some up in Michigan. I might make a run up there in August (blueberry picking season lol) if I can get a trio or pair. Say hi to my favorite cousin, go rock hounding, buy a gallon of maple syrup at the farmer's market ..a mini vacation . It's a 2 day drive .

Thank you. I love colour and feel that would be a great selling point. My 2 broken rex and broken black NZ will throw the best colours. However Smoky Jo (broken black cinnamon tip) bred to CC threw a variety as well. Chocolate Truffle's litter was 2 rew, a chocolate and 4 blacks.She is darker than Smokey Jo. If I get a whole or mostly whole litter of blacks they are dog food. Someone needs to feed the monsters.

Or maybe the satin crosses. Although, I feel that they are going to be colourful as well. Their parents won championships, they were top in meat pen , with Blue best in conformation. So I intended to buy a satin buck. Slim pickings here. The reality is that some of my rabbits are only good for the meat pen competitions because of their colours. CC's sister won last year (silver tipped). But so many of their colours are not allowed by ARBA. Not that I care enough to change my ways... lol...

My rabbits are under a carport off of my back enclosed patio. With an extra huge tarp. However , it is not strong enough to hold all the snow and the pipes started bending. I have 10 cages outside,need 4 more, and 1 inside Although it has been cozy My old garden turned into my dog yard for the monsters. This is Smokey Jo. Her sister is darker and has not had a litter yet.

 

[TKT]

Smokey Joe is beautiful! I would love to see some of the other colors!

I am not going to be showing these rabbits, though I might get show quality a year or two down the line. I am on a Palomino waiting list, and hope to get on a list for American Blue kits. But I wouldn't mind having other colors. I do have a black New Zealand doe, and she is my sweetest rabbit. Why do you not favor the blacks, just curious? Two of my three crosses are more like black agouti or tipped. One is Flemish colored and might only be half New Zealand. He is a sweetheart!

I'm doing my best to learn what to select for excellent meat conformation, but the American Blues are the older mandolin shape, not the standard meat chunk. I bought a couple of culls from the breeder I got these from, and they had plenty of meat on them when I butchered. I found that I would really like to have my meat rabbits, and then separately my heritage rabbits. Right now I am just learning and enjoying them.

When I got my Coturnix quail I figured that I would be happy with just brown and didn't care about colors. Until I saw the colors! So of course I had to order the special color varieties! Now my aviary is a riot of color.

 

[Mckatie]

Smokey Joe is beautiful! I would love to see some of the other colors!

I am not going to be showing these rabbits, though I might get show quality a year or two down the line. I am on a Palomino waiting list, and hope to get on a list for American Blue kits. But I wouldn't mind having other colors. I do have a black New Zealand doe, and she is my sweetest rabbit. Why do you not favor the blacks, just curious? Two of my three crosses are more like black agouti or tipped. One is Flemish colored and might only be half New Zealand. He is a sweetheart!

I'm doing my best to learn what to select for excellent meat conformation, but the American Blues are the older mandolin shape, not the standard meat chunk. I bought a couple of culls from the breeder I got these from, and they had plenty of meat on them when I butchered. I found that I would really like to have my meat rabbits, and then separately my heritage rabbits. Right now I am just learning and enjoying them.

When I got my Coturnix quail I figured that I would be happy with just brown and didn't care about colors. Until I saw the colors! So of course I had to order the special color varieties! Now my aviary is a riot of color.

View attachment 39161

 

[Mckatie]

Thank you. Actually, it's not that I don't like black. Just easier not to get attached if they all look the same. White NZ sell quicker. Colours sell well. Also black needs to be true black for show. All of mine carry the silver gene which is not desired. And the brown which I wanted. My new dark baby is actually a chocolate. Super excited about that. This is the first time I figured out how to load a picture from my phone! Yay!!!