I took step one towards meat rabbits today!

shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
Rabbit Talk Forum

Help Support Rabbit Talk Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
B

Bad Habit

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 22, 2012
Messages
3,400
Reaction score
5
Location
Ontario
I have made an agreement with my brother to buy his old little chicken house, to put a rabbit outside.

What kind of rabbit, you ask?

Well, boys and girls... Bad Habit is breaking into the meat rabbits! I want to get one bred doe. Kindle her out, raise her litter to fryers, and see how things go. If I can't handle it, well, my mom's boyfriend has agreed to process one litter for me - death and all. If I'm going to do more than the one litter, I would need to be able to kill them myself, for him to process.

I want to have everything planned by the time the chicken house gets here, so I simply have to put everything together, and install a rabbit.

I plan to make an entirely enclosed run for them outside. Going to have it on the ground(with wire of course), and a ledge and ramp up to the house itself. Give lots of room for momma and the babies. But how big should I make the run itself? What would be adequate for a momma and her litter, that I can remove the momma from, and leave the babies to grow out in? Should I plan on 2 pens, one for males, one for females? I really don't want to put too much money into this, in case I can't handle dispatching them.

Also, what breed of rabbits would be best? The goal with this first litter is to have enough meat to do up a feed for my entire family - there's 8 adults and 5 kids.
 
Congrats! I'm working on some set up ideas myself.

The most popular breeds, in no particular order, seem to be California Whites, New Zealands, Florida Whites, Silver Fox (heritage breed), d' Argents (champagne or creme) and probably a few others I'm forgetting.

Good luck!
 
One rabbit, at our house, is enough for 2 adults and two small children with left overs, so maybe 3 or 4 for your needs. If you get a large meat rabbit breed, like the NZs, or cali's, you should not have to separate the sexes prior to processing. I do mine around 3 months after birth. I grow my Florida whites (a smaller breed) out an extra month, so I do need to separate them. If the cage is big enough, you might not even have to take the doe out, unless she's really aggressive. If you do get a buck, you will need a separate cage for him.
 
PistolPackingMomma":1csqevqg said:
Congrats! I'm working on some set up ideas myself.

The most popular breeds, in no particular order, seem to be California Whites, New Zealands, Florida Whites, Silver Fox (heritage breed), d' Argents (champagne or creme) and probably a few others I'm forgetting.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

:yeahthat:
 
Well done you!
I'm the last to advise on set-ups, as I've rearrange a gazillion times already.
If you're outdoors, concentrate on predator-proofing. Beter a smaller, secure run than a luxurious but flimsy one.
 
My goodness, but hasn't our little Bad habit come a long, long, lo-o-ong way, folks?!? :p

Ack! :tomato: Bad Habit, no-o-o! :tomato: That was meant as a compliment! :twisted:

I agree that with a larger breed there is no need to separate. Why don't you just tidy the coop up, make sure it is secure, and make a small run for now? Then if you find that you can actually go through with the deed without too much misery, you can continue to improve it? I think most people raise their NZs in 24" x 36" cages, so anything larger than that is a bonus. Don't make it too large where you will have trouble catching the little guys though.
 
You don t need to separate boys from girls if you dispatch before 4 months.

I dont know how big the chicken coop is but a minimum size growout would be 48x24 and there would be enough room for mom if you go vertical and they have shelves/tables to rest on as well.

Considering your past problems with the SPCA it may be prudent to learn about legal requirements for grow outs first.

Living in Ontario will limit the availability of rare breeds so you may be stuck with mutts or more common breeds like NZ and Cali. There a few American Chinchilla breeders, and I have had good luck with mine, and D'Argents, I doubt you'll find Silver Fox or Florida Whites. I use to have Standard Rex for meat but they usually all sold for pets and my dad rarely had to butcher one.

Two fryers butcherd at 5 pounds live weight feeds my family of 6 adults and 5 kids (all under 10) usually with some leftovers so a litter of 8 is 4 meals.

If it doesn't work out the coop could be a 'summer house' for your lionheads to vacation in every once in a while.
 
depending on how big the chicken coop is.you may not need any more room.if you feel you need some more room.
and you are only going to have 1 doe and her kits. I would go with a grow out area of 2' x 6'
it is not huge but it will be enough room for the kits to grow and have plenty of room for exercise.

as for what type of rabbit to get.I have calis. NZR's and meat mutts. all of these have their value.
the cali's and NZR are known for meat production. and my meat mutts produce a good amount of meat and they also have
colors. I never know what I will get as far as the color is with my mutts.
I have to admit out of all of them the NZR's are my favorite. they are only 1 color, but their personality is fantastic
I already know 1 of my does will become a pet after she is no longer used for production
she is the sweetest bun I have ever owned.
 
Would I need to separate Standard Rex? :oops:

My brother is supposed to be getting back to me with measurements on the hutch, and I'll know better what I'm working with. I know I can't make it too deep, otherwise my short little t-rex arms won't be able to get to the back, but length can be fixed by multiple doors and closeable dividers.

Another good thing... my brother has promised to take ALL the scrap wood/trees/furniture from my house in the spring, to have a big bonfire. My mom has agreed to let me use her truck to take it all away. I'm going to get all the junk out of my shed, without having to pay for it!!

Dood : I actually have all the regulations from the SPCA here, in the letter they sent me. They're insanely small though. For my lionheads, they only need 1.5ft square. I can put 9 babies in one of my 28x28 cages until they are 3mths old and still be legal.

I think, though, if it doesn't work, then the outdoor hutch will be for my large breed pet rabbit that I wanted. Might put the little brats in the shed, now that it won't cost me very much to get rid of the junk in there!
 
My Rex got to 5 pounds in 16 weeks but this was in the '80s and the breed may have gotten smaller over the years.

Good to know the space requirements are small so it's hard to be in violation but I would not go shorter than 48 inches.

I forgot to mention Flemish Giants as an option, pure and crossbreds are pretty common and make excelent pets as well.
 
If you choose a large breed. It would be Silver Fox, Altex, NZW, Californian or Champagne D'Argent. I would stay with a pure breed and not cross. A mid size breed. Florida White, Havana or Silver Marten.
 
If I'm going to do more than the one litter, I would need to be able to kill them myself, for him to process.
Click to expand...

I found it took me about 10 rabbits for me to be comfortable enough with it that I wasn't a shaking, nervous, nauseous wreck during and after. I still don't LIKE doing it...but I CAN do it fairly easy now.
 
If you want to butcher earlier, I would not get Rex unless you know that persons stock grows faster than most. They do take longer to go out and they such up a lot of food to make those pretty coats, that's why I got the Silver Fox. A SF will do at 8-10 weeks what a Rex does at 12-16.
 
If you have wire on the floor of the run to keep them from digging out, try to have larger holed wire so the rabbits can actually get to the grass to nibble on it. You might even try having it out for a bit so the grass actually grows into the run. That grass won't last long, but it will be nice for her at first.
 
Hopefully there is wire on the bottom and you can raise the whole coop up a couple of feet so you can easily clean the poop out from underneath it. Get some fruit trees for the yard and dump the droppings in a big ring around them. My peach and plum trees have never looked so good!
 
I doubt I can find silver fox around here. I'm not even sure I could get standard rex around here! I know I can get NZ, and large breed meat mutts. What breed I get will probably depend on what I can find :)
 

Latest posts

Back
Top