If you could go back and start over...

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Cottie

Cottie

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May 15, 2013
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Rockford, IL
What would you do differently? I'm sure this has been asked - ad nauseum - before. =)

I've got 2 does and 2 bucks left for meat - one buck is too small to consider. I have 4 mini lops - one was supposed to be male. The plan was to breed them with my "NZ"s then line breed for a meatier rabbit while attempting to retain the coat. Since my "NZ" doe is now dead, that's not going to happen.

Our Lionheads have achieved pet status and now live in my daughter's room. I couldn't even line breed with them - what I thought was a male was a female.

Basically, I have a hot mess. I'm trying to figure out how I recover. I think both my Cali mutts are pregnant - one for sure, the other just a hunch based on belly.
 
If I could re-do it...I wouldn't have bothered with the colony attempt, I'd have never bought that stupid lanky, rangey doe with the crabby attitude, and I'd have gotten compressed alfalfa cubes instead of hay bales. SO MUCH LESS WASTE.
 
I would have not picked the beverens to begin with. I've had them a year and nothing but issues, not contagious issues, but just hardiness issues.

I've heard from many other rarer breed breeders that the beverens, the Americans, many breeds on the conservancy list are to the point of being so inbred over so many decades that there are hardiness, mothering issues. From my understanding of it that is why the drift came about for the Americans which is just a great way to expand your lines. The American breeders are working at fixing the issue.

I think I would also not spend any $400 plus dollars trying to diagnose and fix an ear infection. I would cull the rabbit. I am still having issues with her btw but she is pregnant so now I am at another crossroads. I am hoping she makes it through to delivering a few live kits and then I am taking them and fostering them to another rabbit. Hopefully that won't be my "what I should have done different" thread next year. :)

That is the problem with the rare breeds to an extent. Once you travel 10 hrs away to buy a few you are really committed. It isn't like you can easily replace them in a timely manner.

I would have started with NZs- what my dh wanted, what he raised growing up. I think starting with a breed that is a common, easy to find, very hardy breed is probably a smarter way to do it than what I did. That way you learn, have litters, get experience with a breed that isn't a more challenging breed.

I would have gotten mini rexes sooner. They are awesome. I should have built up to getting into a harder to find and less hardy breed.

Who knows though, maybe the three beverens will all deliver healthy, large litters, be great Moms and I will become more optimistic about the breed again. I do really like them, just somewhat discouraged with them.
 
I would have done everything right the first time. ;)

Actually, I am not being flippant, and I want to expound on that, but it will have to wait.

I have a rabbit show tomorrow, and Hubs is picking his dad up who will stay until Monday, at which point Hubs will be driving him to San Jose.

So... Monday, maybe?
 
I would have studied a bit more on nursing little ones since i lost almost two litters with my fumbling attempts...and I probably wouldn't have gotten any mini rexs (I'm jinxed when it comes to them) and the Californians and new zealand since they were all mean and ended up completely worthless (first bad calis I have had so maybe its poor breeding practices in the area?) I have would never have come home with me. Also never would have gotten hay at that one feed store since it all but poisoned half my rabbits ~sigh~ Also probably would have put down the entire litter that got referred to as the muck bunnies (darn things rolled around in their litter box and all had to be bathed before I took it away,it was gross and they only had it for two days I have no clue how they did that) since they were nothing but trouble. I have made a ton of mistakes :(
 
I probably wouldn't have got into rabbits, they're to addicting :) No, I probably would have saved more money and got good equipment and great rabbits to start with instead of trying to breed up. The poorer the rabbit the harder they are to sell. I have so great mini lop lines but they still take A LOT of work to market being fairly new. Seeing what other people are doing a commercial breed would have been better for my situation but I love my MLs and I'm stubborn.
 
I would have had dogs with a lower prey drive and more predator proof gates/fences/doors/windows/latches. I'd have shot the foxes, coyotes and skunks and trapped and removed the weasels.

I'd have kept better records.

I wouldn't have got sick.
 
Starting over....
I would wait and save money.
Then build a bit smaller winter cages. Get a carport to hang them in. Use just metal dog crates for pens, curve tractors like I have or invest in a concrete barn to colony each breed.

Idk....
 
not sold off my dutch or the lionhead does...

not bought all that wire for cages and actually put it on the ground! could have built a dandy colony with all the durn wire I ended up buyin anyways. or better yet buy cement for colony instead of wire at all except for walling it in...

not bought any rabbits at auction... save up and buy good meat rabbits instead of chancing those ones... actually even if I had bought them I think they would have done better in colony... and kept one of the bucks that I butchered and sold because I needed the money ):

not sold my minirex does...

not kept the dutch does I did...

definitely not sold my sweets! chocolate dutch buck who I just know would have had flippin awesome babies with my current cali!

not take in any free rabbits other then the minirex does...

start grain feeding way sooner if not right off the bat!
 
I don't know, not bragging but I did some serious research, and I take forever to come to any decision. Some things just can't be known without trial and error. Perhaps I would have put the buns in the bigger barn side to begin with, but probably not.
 
I would have started breeding for health issues a WHOLE lot sooner rather than putting up with entropathic illness and nestbox eye (believing it all to be diet/cleanliness related). I have since learned that they are primarily a immunological condition and breeding for health has predominately removed both issues from my rabbitry.

I would have been stricter with my culling routine.

I would have gotten into polish sooner....though the mini rex were fun. :)
 
I had rabbits as a kid and learned from my mistakes, I also took Agriculture in University so I learned a lot more about disease, bio-security and European animal husbandry methods.

I am happy with my set up but I now want MORE! Thankfully I knew rabbits were addictive and built my rabbit barn so expansion would NOT be possible. I did this on purpose to I keep my numbers reasonable and to ensure I cull hard, only having room for the best stock.
 
I would have built my rabbit barn differently, the one I currently have sucks.I have been planing on building a new one for over a year now, and can not pick a plan I know I will be happy with.
I would have also picked 1 or 2 breeds and stuck with them and only them.
I would have introduced my family to rabbit meat sooner, some times I still get a complaint about the poor cute bunny.

Most of all I would have joined Rabbit Talk sooner. everyone here is great and I have gotten so much help and advise.
 
This time?...........or the First time?

The first time....... :x I wouldn't have married my second wife!! :x

This time, I got most everything right. ( :p including the wife-bit :p ) I see "tweeks" that need to be done and I'm slowly whittling away at them. Not the wife :mrgreen: The rabbits! :lol:

Learning little tricks that make rabbit-raising so much easier. I try to share them with the folks on here. Plus, I learn something each and every day. At least I try to. Continually trying to improve my stock, my set-up, my marketing. It's all an ongoing process.
grumpy.
 
I would have put nest cages under every cage I built and would have built twice the cages I have. And I would have gotten a good watering system right away instead of a cheap one.
 
I would have started out with cheaper rabbits, I fell in love with Champagne d'argents but I live in Hawaii and the few here are pricey. Better to have some mutts to get through your learning curve. Plus no one will buy my expensive rabbits here, very few people care about pedigrees and stuff like that. Now I am going both routes, Champagnes and some mutts.
 
great thread! I'm learning a lot from everyone's reply. I'm only a year into it and so far I only wish that I had made plans for more space. I have 7 cages and that barely works for 2 working does and 2 bucks.
 
I would have stuck to the original plan and JUST gotten a trio of Calis and waited it out for NZs. I now have a lot of rabbits that don't really fit in my plan and not enough space for all of them and I don't even have my NZs yet.

I would have done more research on waterers BEFORE buying all different kinds, although DH is working on an auto watering system for me.
 
I would have gotten an extra doe. I started out with 2 does and 2 bucks, but, my first bred doe died when the babies were almost 5 weeks old. Now, I only have one doe, and I am saving one of the kits to replace the doe I lost. My breeding schedule has been severely disrupted. SMH
 

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