Thank you so much! I did some research and did like the idea of Silver Foxes, so I'll be looking more into those especially. But now you've got me curious about Mini Rex! How much meat do they produce (like percentage of bone to meat wise? I think that's what it's called? I'm new to rabbits so I don't know all the terminology!)
I can't tell you the specific meat to bone ratio for Mini Rex, but I can tell you that it's good relative to other small breeds and many larger breeds. Mini Rex are fairly fine-boned animals, and the good ones have a very meaty build. They tend to have larger litter sizes (4-8 kits) than some other dwarf breeds. And they mature a little faster than larger rabbits, being completely grown by 5-6 months, whereas some of the larger breeds keep growing for 8-12 months, giants even longer. The Minis can also be bred a bit earlier, 4.5 to 5 months compared to about 6 months for larger breeds, even longer for giants.
The adult size of the rabbits tends to be more of a concern relative to upkeep, both feed and space, than to fryer size. The larger meat breeds, at least according to the ARBA standards, max out at 12lbs (which seems to be the weight at which rabbits either develop heavier bone, or growth and development problems). The larger meat breeds include Americans, Beverens, American Chinchillas, Champagne D'Argents, New Zealands, and Silver Fox. Other common, slightly smaller meat breeds (Californians, Rex, Sables, Satins, etc.) tend to hover around a max of 10.5-11lbs or so. And even though most of them are bred to be relatively feed efficient, feeding a 10-12 lb adult will require more than feeding a 4-5 lb adult, and they take more space to house. However, as a rule, you don't butcher at adult size; no matter what the breed (dwarfs excluded, of course, because many of them never reach 5lbs), butchering generally happens at about 5lbs, whenever the rabbit gets there. People have different preferences, but that's a general rule of thumb; most of the meat breeds reach that weight anywhere from 8-12 weeks old.
While the fryers will be smaller, Mini Rex (and similarly, Mini Satins) have a lot going for them as meat rabbits. Not only do they have that meaty build/lighter bone and faster maturation going for them, but they come in two sizes, in just about every single litter: true dwarf and false dwarf. This is not necessarily good news for somone wanting only show rabbits, but it is great news for the meat breeder and anyone who wants to produce more viable kits per litter and per year, and
especially if you want to produce both meat and pet/show bunnies.
If you're new to rabbits, this might need a little explanation, so bear with me.
Mini Rex are a dwarf breed, meaning a show-quality-sized rabbit has one copy of the dwarf gene,
dw (a rabbit has two copies of each of its genes, and they may have two of the same, or they may be two different forms of the gene, called alleles). The dwarf gene is what is called a lethal recessive, meaning that if a rabbit gets two copies
dw dw, it dies before or right after birth (these kits are called peanuts). A "true dwarf" has one copy of dwarf
dw, and one copy of normal-sized
Dw (so it's
Dw dw), and a "false dwarf" has no copies of the dwarf gene (so it's
Dw Dw). A false dwarf is still a fairly small rabbit (mine were between 5-6lb as adults, which is a good medium-small meat rabbit, similar to a Florida White, for example), but it's usually larger than the true dwarfs, and does not have the extreme features of very short ears/legs/face/body that rabbits with the
dw gene have.
When you're breeding minis, mating two true dwarfs produces litters containing approximately 50% true dwarf, 25% false dwarf and 25% peanut kits (sadly, those always die). However, if you mate a true dwarf with a false dwarf, you'll get approximately 50% true dwarfs and 50% false dwarfs (no peanuts). So, you'll have the tiny
Dwdw bunnies that will make great pets, and you'll have the larger
DwDw ones that will make more meat; and won't have
any peanuts which are a non-starter and reduce your litter size. The other advantage to breeding true x false dwarf is that the false dwarf does are larger and often more capable of gestating and feeding a larger litter. The false dwarf does I had were the ones that routinely had litters of eight. They were such good mothers that they often ened up raising overflow kits from my Satins!
So if you go with Mini Rex, I'd suggest looking for a true dwarf buck and a bunch of false dwarf does. More good news is that false dwarfs are often cheaper and easier to buy than true dwarfs, because show breeders can't show the false dwarfs, at least once they're adult size. Some breeders do keep false dwarf does for the reason explained above, but they usually won't keep all they produce.
I do recommend that you try to get stock from a show breeder or one that is breeding to the standard, since they will be selecting for a nice meaty rabbit. This is true about all breeds, regular size as well as minis, but it's especially an issue with minis since the smaller rabbits can get quite small and weedy if the breeder doesn't pay attention to that.
Rabbits tend to be a lot cheaper to raise than meat chickens. The turn-around time is roughly the same, but the meat cross chicks eat a
lot of high-energy feed from the day they hatch, whereas with the rabbits, you're basically feeding just the mother for the first 1/3-1/2 of the fryer's life. The bunnies live completely or mostly on the dam's milk till about 4 weeks; you'll provide hay/pellets etc. for 6-12 weeks after that, depending on when you harvest.
The latter three breeds have better reputations for their temperaments, but I've known sweet bunnies in all of those breeds.
