Starting a Rabbitry

[lopluvva]

Hi everyone,
I'm in junior high, and for a few years now I've wanted to start up a small scale rabbitry for show, about 20 holes and 1 or 2 breeds. I've done plenty of research but I just need to decide on a few certain things, so I've contacted some breeders and I am now also going to put these questions out there!

• should I build or buy my cages?

• should I use hanging or stacking cages?

• what are nice cage dimensions for a 6 lb rabbit?

• does anyone have experience with breeding the wide band color group?

• are mini lops a good choice?

Thanks!
ancake:

 

[ottersatin]

Hi everyone,
I'm in junior high, and for a few years now I've wanted to start up a small scale rabbitry for show, about 20 holes and 1 or 2 breeds. I've done plenty of research but I just need to decide on a few certain things, so I've contacted some breeders and I am now also going to put these questions out there!

• should I build or buy my cages?

• should I use hanging or stacking cages?

• what are nice cage dimensions for a 6 lb rabbit?

• does anyone have experience with breeding the wide band color group?

• are mini lops a good choice?

Thanks!
ancake:

I have more than a few suggestions lopluvva.
As to your "small scale" rabbitry, don't think small!
No matter what you think when you start, you will
eventually grow larger, and larger, and larger, until
you have no more room to grow. Then you will build
another or enlarge the area you have.
I suggest that you build your own cages, by doing so you can customize
each cage to your needs and area. I would hang cages from the rafters on lengths of chain,
this way you can hang them to the height needed and best for you to work with.
I have Satins so they are a bit larger than 6 pounds. My Buck cages are 24" X 30" X 18" high.
Doe cages are 24" X 36" X 18" . Build your nestboxes at least 2inches longer and wider than the rabbit it will be used for.
Choose the breed that you are most attracted to. This will make life a bit easier as you will tend to love your work, and it IS work! Purchase the best quality you can afford, it will save a bit of time in reaching your destination. Mini lops may not be the best choice as there is a large number of breeders out there, greatly increasing your competition. I will not say what breed you should choose, that should be entirely up to you!
When you choose do it wisely. I would start with one breed and expand later as you gain
more information. Best of luck.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[michaels4gardens]

When you buy wire to make cages, [or if you buy them] make sure to spend the couple extra bucks and get wire that is galvanized after welding, and get the heavy gauge wire, -- the labor for building with good wire is the same as building with cheep wire, but the difference is,--do you want 2 year cages or 20 year cages.

 

[lopluvva]

I have more than a few suggestions lopluvva.
As to your "small scale" rabbitry, don't think small!
No matter what you think when you start, you will
eventually grow larger, and larger, and larger, until
you have no more room to grow. Then you will build
another or enlarge the area you have.
I suggest that you build your own cages, by doing so you can customize
each cage to your needs and area. I would hang cages from the rafters on lengths of chain,
this way you can hang them to the height needed and best for you to work with.
I have Satins so they are a bit larger than 6 pounds. My Buck cages are 24" X 30" X 18" high.
Doe cages are 24" X 36" X 18" . Build your nestboxes at least 2inches longer and wider than the rabbit it will be used for.
Choose the breed that you are most attracted to. This will make life a bit easier as you will tend to love your work, and it IS work! Purchase the best quality you can afford, it will save a bit of time in reaching your destination. Mini lops may not be the best choice as there is a large number of breeders out there, greatly increasing your competition. I will not say what breed you should choose, that should be entirely up to you!
When you choose do it wisely. I would start with one breed and expand later as you gain
more information. Best of luck.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

Thanks! Those seem to be good cage dimensions.
And I know what you mean by wanting to expand more and more, but I'm not sure if mine will be to grow much larger than 25 cages for a few years haha.
I will say that Mini Lops are in fact not very popular at all as far as I know where I live, the closest registered breeder being in Ontario. This might be even trickier as there wouldn't be many lines to pick from and it would likely be difficult to get a leg.
ancake: <br /><br /> __________ Thu Jun 12, 2014 9:40 am __________ <br /><br />

When you buy wire to make cages, [or if you buy them] make sure to spend the couple extra bucks and get wire that is galvanized after welding, and get the heavy gauge wire, -- the labor for building with good wire is the same as building with cheep wire, but the difference is,--do you want 2 year cages or 20 year cages.

Thanks! Yeah, I actually wasn't sure whether it was galvanized before or after welding that was stronger, but I'll keep that in mind when I get my cages.
ancake:

 

[Dood]

:welcome: to Rabbit Talk

I wouldn't consider 20 holes small I suggest you start wit a trio or two and build up from there.

should I build or buy my cages?

It depends on your skills with 14 gauge wire - it is very time consuming and a royal pain to cut and sand smooth so personally I buy mine and ocassionally modify them to suit my needs myself.

should I use hanging or stacking cages?

I once had a hanging rack drop during a wind storm and lost a couple rabbits so I will never do hanging again and stack mine on metal beams but others prefer by them :shrug:

what are nice cage dimensions for a 6 lb rabbit?

you will need to find out what the legal minimum requirement is for your Provence but I'd say at least 30 x 24

does anyone have experience with breeding the wide band color group?

yes

are mini lops a good choice?

I ve never met one I did't like but their larger size makes them less popular than Hollands so there might not be much competition at the shows. They also tend to have larger litters (one of my does just had 9, normally she has 5-7 ) so a plan is needed for kits that don't sell - are you prepared to cull or individually house a bunch of 16 week olds who's hormones are kicking in and who need separate cages to prevent pregnancies or fighting?

Rabbits are a fun hobby but a lot of work. I have 12 adults plus kits and spend an hour or more a day just on feeding and cleaning, thankfully I have a farm so each week my 200+ pounds of bunny manure is turned into fertilizer for the garden or pasture. Another reason to start small is the start up costs - cages, bowls, watering stsyem and food! In the summer I can pillage the fallow fields around my home for fresh greens to ofset my summer costs but my winter feed bill can be as high as $100 a month :shock:

 

[lopluvva]

:welcome: to Rabbit Talk

I wouldn't consider 20 holes small I suggest you start wit a trio or two and build up from there.

should I build or buy my cages?
It depends on your skills with 14 gauge wire - it is very time consuming and a royal pain to cut and sand smooth so personally I buy mine and ocassionally modify them to suit my needs myself.
should I use hanging or stacking cages?
I once had a hanging rack drop during a wind storm and lost a couple rabbits so I will never do hanging again and stack mine on metal beams but others prefer by them :shrug:
what are nice cage dimensions for a 6 lb rabbit?
you will need to find out what the legal minimum requirement is for your Provence but I'd say at least 30 x 24
does anyone have experience with breeding the wide band color group?
yes
are mini lops a good choice?
I ve never met one I did't like but their larger size makes them less popular than Hollands so there might not be much competition at the shows. They also tend to have larger litters (one of my does just had 9, normally she has 5-7 ) so a plan is needed for kits that don't sell - are you prepared to cull or individually house a bunch of 16 week olds who's hormones are kicking in and who need separate cages to prevent pregnancies or fighting?

Rabbits are a fun hobby but a lot of work. I have 12 adults plus kits and spend an hour or more a day just on feeding and cleaning, thankfully I have a farm so each week my 200+ pounds of bunny manure is turned into fertilizer for the garden or pasture. Another reason to start small is the start up costs - cages, bowls, watering stsyem and food! In the summer I can pillage the fallow fields around my home for fresh greens to ofset my summer costs but my winter feed bill can be as high as $100 a month :shock:

Thanks! I do think it's smart to start smaller.
Just to clarify, I'd be breeding up to two does at a time for quality, not quantity, and not again until everything's sold. I'd have a bunch of empty cages for the weaned kits, so I'd only have around 6 permanent stock. Where I live rabbits are in decent demand anyway so I don't think there'd be much of a problem.
For the cages I'll probably just try to find some used cages in good condition and maybe modify them a bit.

 

[faiththequeen]

:hi:
That sounds pretty smart It is possible to stay small if you need to, but it sure is hard! Lol! This place is a wonderful fountain of knowledge! Lots of luck!

 

[Comet007]

Staying small seems to be a challenge for most people on here, including me! The babies are addictive, and if you're looking for variety in colors that can be its own addiction right there!

I don't know anything at all about small breeds, so I can't help with breed or cage sizes there, but I can say that we love our hanging cages. We built a very small bunny barn - 8'x9' with a sloped roof, with the boards on three walls having 1/4" of spacing in between, and one wall is made of hardware cloth and a screen door, which allows for ventilation but provides protection from heavy winds, rain and predators. We also have worm beds under our hanging cages, which will be a great resource for the garden! Soon we will be adding four smaller cages (which will max out our space at 9 holes) - those will be suspended from the ceiling over the top of our two large maternity cages, so those will be the only cages that we have to clean trays for. One of the big advantages of the hanging cages, IMO, is that you can just let the droppings/waste fall to the ground and compost it in place.

Good luck to you and welcome to RT!

 

[Peach]

Welcome to RT!

I remember when I started this rabbit journey with 10 holes and now we have 28 main holes and 3 quarantine holes back in the old rabbitry. (I believe 50 holes would be my max number, which is something I'd really like once I'm done with school) All cages are divided. We have our cages hanging. Half gets caught in the tray and the other half free falls. We do replace the chains that suspend them when we pull them out and powerwash.

Our regular cages are 24 x 24 and our nursery cages are 24 x 30. The ARBA requirements only require 3 ft of space for the Mini Lop, but I believe they are more comfortable in 4 ft of space (and if I ever find myself switching breeds, it would be fairly easy to do). Check your laws just incase there are different requirements.

I don't consider my Mini Lop herd big, but it keeps me competitive. It's never overwhelming to me as a full time student and part time worker. You don't have a choice but to keep the very best, or you are going to run out of room. I breed often, but I cull very,very hard.

I consider them a very nice starting breed. Easy keepers, excellent mothers, and generally fair/nice temperaments (my homebreds seem to be more loving, and usually my does really like me a lot and I have some that will literally grab my shirt and try to pull me into the cage for lack of attention) ... In my experience, I've only had issues with certain bloodlines, so I avoid them. I think the best advice I have is, if you can't stick with 2-3 bloodlines max, you will probably run into the issue of too much genetic material. I see people start of with a bunch of different nice animals from all directions, and they just can't bring them together. As always, start with the best you can afford.

Depending where you are, you can have really nice competition and sometimes you have very little or no competition. I usually get on facebook and ask on the show page to see how many are going and if the trip will be worth while. I've been one out of like 2 at a show one day (few breeders bailed) and still went on to take a 2nd Reserve in Show, so it wasn't a complete waste of a trip!