Hello from the North

[Megh Y]

Hello everyone! I am in Alaska and am working to set up a meat rabbitry in the spring. This winter we will be planning our shed/building for our breading stock and growouts. I am excited to pour through the past posts and threads for ideas and inspiration. My partner had meat rabbits in their childhood and I grew up with chickens; we are stoked to expose our own growing brood to animal husbandry! If anyone has any experience with cold weather housing and breeding I would love to connect and learn.

 

[JMae]

Hello everyone! I am in Alaska and am working to set up a meat rabbitry in the spring. This winter we will be planning our shed/building for our breading stock and growouts. I am excited to pour through the past posts and threads for ideas and inspiration. My partner had meat rabbits in their childhood and I grew up with chickens; we are stoked to exposé our growing brood to animal husbandry! If anyone has any experience with cold weather housing and breeding I would love to connect and learn.

Hey there! Nice to meet you! I bet you'll be able to raise some big, chunky rabbits in Alaska! I also grew up with chickens but never rabbits besides my dad selling some for other people in our feed store! Welcome to the community

 

[Alaska Satin]

Hello everyone! I am in Alaska and am working to set up a meat rabbitry in the spring. This winter we will be planning our shed/building for our breading stock and growouts. I am excited to pour through the past posts and threads for ideas and inspiration. My partner had meat rabbits in their childhood and I grew up with chickens; we are stoked to expose our own growing brood to animal husbandry! If anyone has any experience with cold weather housing and breeding I would love to connect and learn.

Welcome to RT and to raising meat rabbits! Rabbits are a great, sustainable resource in Alaska - one of the best, IMO! They are a naturally cold-hardy species, and can produce a lot of meat in a short time. They are also a wonderful introduction for kids (of all ages ) to animal husbandry, behavior, and genetics, if that interests you.

There are at least couple of us on RT that also live in AK. Just off the top of my head, here is a post that has several entries regarding breeding timing in AK, and winter water provision:
https://rabbittalk.com/threads/need-help-with-breeding-timing.36304/#post-351892

If you have any specific questions, just ask them and you'll most likely get at least a few helpful replies. There is usually more than one way to succeed with rabbits.

 

[Nibbles]

Welcome to Rabbit Talk. Enjoy!

 

[dlynn]

Hello everyone! I am in Alaska and am working to set up a meat rabbitry in the spring. This winter we will be planning our shed/building for our breading stock and growouts. I am excited to pour through the past posts and threads for ideas and inspiration. My partner had meat rabbits in their childhood and I grew up with chickens; we are stoked to expose our own growing brood to animal husbandry! If anyone has any experience with cold weather housing and breeding I would love to connect and learn.

We too live where it gets cold. Not as far north as you. I like colony raising. Mine live in family groups one buck with several does. Group shelters with solid floors covered with hay and free access to fenced yards. I use permanent den boxes. They share body heat, mutual grooming, and control their own breeding. I use double wall metal chicken waterers. You can put a heater under to keep water from freezing in cold. Bulk feeders are always full. Both in shelters. Fresh greens in season and tree branches in winter are fed in yards. We enjoy watching their social interaction. Have found bucks to be good, protective father's when given a chance. Nothing makes me happier than seeing mom and dad sprawled next to each other in the yard, kits crawling over them. Often it's the buck who comes running to watch when I check nests. I've even watched a buck plow paths in the snow, nose down pushing with back legs, to all his favorite brush piles for young kits. My silver fox seem very cold hardy and have kits even in January. Enjoy the adventure!