New here, new to rabbits, and a new litter of them too!

[ColdBrook]

Hi everyone! I am Faith and I'm new to rabbits. I got my first pair this fall, a Flemish Giant/ New Zealand cross buck and a New Zealand doe, both about a year old and a proven breeding pair. Since then I picked up a Flemish Giant doe but she's only 8 weeks old. Anyway, after tons of online research, I bred my pair and 4 days ago my NZ doe, Ella, delivered 8 lively little bunnies! I'm excited, but nervous and am trusting her to do a lot because I feel like I know so little. So far, so good. The kits are popping around the nesting box, fat and feisty. I guess I'll learn as we go. I just wanted to introduce myself here.

A little about me, I'm 40 and the mom of four boys, ages 22, 21 and 20 and ..3. Yep, SURPRISE! Hubby and I have a small farm in PA where we grow a nice sized garden and have about 20 chickens, two pygmy goat does, two horses and now the 3 bigger rabbits and the litter of 8. Hubby will have to do the butchering. I'm still a little apprehensive about eating fuzzy bunnies, but once he's got them skinned, it wont bother me I think. He hunted rabbits since he was a kid but this is our first foray into domestic rabbits for meat. I'm looking forward to learning a lot from everyone here as I read through old posts and try to absorb everything so I can successfully raise my own rabbits to feed my family.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

:welcomewagon:

Hi, Faith!

Welcome to RabbitTalk!

I am sure you will find everyone to be helpful and friendly, so if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask. We are an all-inclusive forum, so you will find lots of different ways to go about raising your rabbits here.

I am now able to go from start to finish in processing our rabbits to become meals, but it is not an easy thing to do. I love my rabbits, and don't look forward to putting them "on the bus to freezer camp", but I at least know they have lived a good life and their end was as humane as I could make it. There is a certain satisfaction in knowing that.

Congrats on round two of raising your own little "people-popple"! I am in my early forties, with a 15 year old son, an almost 14 y/o daughter, and our surprise son who is ten. I feel good about providing healthy meat for them, and vegis from the garden. They have a respect for where their food comes from since they help to raise and harvest it.

I think you will find a lot of like-minded people here, and look forward to your input. We all learn from each other here at RT!

 

[3mina]

Welcome

 

[Demamma]

:welcomewagon:

 

[tm_bunnyloft]

Welcome to rabbit talk. This is a great place to hang out and learn from. Everyone is pretty friendly and always willing to help a fellow rabbit person. I have a hard time butchering but it is so worth it for my family in the end.

When you and your husband butcher don't forget to let them rest in the fridge for a few days. Otherwise they may be a little tough. I learned that the hard way. Butchered a couple rabbits and fried them up like fried chicken.......More like fried shoe leather, and invited my mom over for dinner. Everyone gnawed on their chunk of leather.......er......rabbit. And was very nice to not say how tough it was. I couldn't do it. I was the big complainer and found out right fast where it all went wrong. lol

Welcome and hope you enjoy RT as much as I do.

 

[dragonladyleanne]

Welcome . . . and wow! I thought I had enough of an age spread with my 3, now 29, 25 and 21. And the eldest blessed me with a grandchild almost exactly a year ago (but they live in Chicago, so once a year visits ). I am also a newbie rabbit breeder, and I am really happy to have found this forum, lots of good info, and not nearly the hassle you can get some places about why you raise rabbits! MaggieJ and MamaSheepDog especially can help you with ANY question - if they don't know the answer, they will help you ferret it out!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Aww, thanks for the vote of confidence, DLL!

I'm a stay at home mom, so I don't get interrupted by a paying job. I love to research information, and think it sets a good example for my kids.

I think most of our contributors and staff are very helpful as well, despite having other obligations, and there are many that have more experience than I do regarding rabbits.

 

[Miss M]

Welcome, Faith! :welcomewagon:

Not quite three years ago, the people on this board (only about 100 of them at the time, as it was brand new) helped me bumble my way through getting started with rabbits. Now, not only are there lots and lots of helpful members, but also a wealth of information available by searching! (I use that a good bit, to see if I can find a quick answer!)

Congratulations on the new litter! We survive on pictures here. And... don't be afraid to play with the little popples. It's good to remove and check the nest over to make sure it's clean, so you can remove anything left over from the birth, or the occasional dead kit. Besides, playing with baby bunnies is fun! :razz:

 

[ZRabbits]

Hi, Welcome to Rabbit Talk. Wishing you all the luck in your new rabbit venture. This is an awesome site to help, with very experienced people who are truly willing to help those start down the right path. The "Search" button on top is one of my favorite places to go. Lots of good info here to help you on your way.

Look forward to hearing more about your rabbits! Congratulations on your first litter of popples! If you can, post pics. We love to see them!

Karen

 

[curlysue]

Welcome!Im in Pa too.south of pittsburgh.

 

[MaggieJ]

Glad to have you with us, Faith! :welcome:

You will find that the meat of domestic rabbit is a bit different from wild rabbit (different species) but it is delicious and very versatile. You can use it in almost any recipe that calls for chicken. Meat rabbits are a great addition to any small farm or homestead.

 

[ColdBrook]

Thanks for the warm welcome! I'm really excited to be here and have already learned a lot, such as - I've been overfeeding my big bunnies...and I CAN touch the babies! Woot!

Pictures? I love pictures. Okay, let me see if I can do this! There are 8 kits, a red one, a silver one, a coal black one and some wild rabbit color ones! Quite a variety of colors from one white New Zealand doe and a wild rabbit color NZ/Flemish buck. They're five days old and they all look very healthy to me. I'm so excited! Hopefully Mama Ella and Daddy Zeke will produce a lot more litters of these lovely little bunnies for us. Here are my babies and below that, if it works, a picture of the parents. My toddler claimed the one before these were even born. "Mommy" he informed me, "If there's a wed wabbit, I want to keep it and you can't eat it cause it will be mine." It looks like he got his "Wed Wabbit".

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I want a wed one too!

I think your silvery one is an opal, like the rabbits in my avatar. The baby is a "broken" opal.

:congratulations:

 

[ColdBrook]

Oh MamaSheepdog, that would be nice, because that's a beautiful bunny there. I was expecting either white or brown bunnies, not this array of colors. Is there no rhyme or reason to color genetics in rabbits? I didn't get a single white kit even though these are all 3/4 New Zealand. I'm not complaining, mind you! It's fun to get surprise colors.

 

[3mina]

The rhyme and reason regarding colour genetics come into play more with purebred rabbits but not always
It all depends on what's in the mix. A white rabbit can be hiding all sorts of colours and so can that agouti/chestnut of yours. The surprise is what makes this fun

 

[tm_bunnyloft]

I love surprises and would be thrilled with such a great variety of colors. Congrats on the cute litter of popples.

There is nothing 100% even with a pedigree but you would have a better chance of knowing what possibilities you may get that way.

I love the little red babies too. Your toddler has very good taste.

 

[garden lady]

I think your wild color is sandy and coming from the FG. I am not sure what the NZ color was on the other half of your FG buck. I think the Sandy FG can have the fawn ones and my older 2 fawns are getting more sandy as they get older. I have 2 kits that are fawn and I bet they get darker too.