When acquiring breeding stock, you will want to avoid buying rabbits before they are 8 weeks old, which is typically when\u00a0they should be weaned. Rabbits that are weaned early often develop enteritis, a digestive\u00a0disease, and sometimes die. Despite an increased risk of enteritis kits that are destined for\u00a0the freezer,\u00a0often called \u201cgrow outs\u201d are sometimes weaned early.<\/p>\n
When you\u2019re buying breeding stock you want them to have stayed with the mother for\u00a0the full 8 weeks so they get the best start in life. It\u2019s also hard to properly assess a kit\u2019s\u00a0conformation if they are younger than 8 weeks, which is something you\u2019ll want to do\u00a0when buying breeding stock and we will talk about in a few minutes. If you\u2019re buying a\u00a0rabbit over six months old you\u2019ll also want to ask about their breeding history. Six\u00a0months is the ideal age to start breeding for most breeds used for meat. Rabbits a year or\u00a0older, especially does, that have never been bred are a gamble. Adult rabbits get fat\u00a0easily, potentially preventing them from breeding.<\/p>\n
Average litter size and weight at weaning<\/p>\n
Large litters, more than 8 kits, are usually smaller at 8 weeks but catch up quickly if well\u00a0fed. The number of kits born, the number that survive to weaning and their weight tell\u00a0you how good of a mother they had. Starting out with breeding stock from lines with good\u00a0mothering skills is really important. It doesn\u2019t matter how big the rabbits are or how\u00a0meaty they are if they die in the nest. It\u2019s not unusual for a doe to reject some of her first\u00a0litters. Often this is because of human error but a doe that raised her first litter is superior\u00a0because she is productive that much sooner than a doe who needs multiple litters to figure\u00a0things out.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s also good to ask about their breeding program. A quick cycle where does\u00a0produce one litter after another with little rest will often result in progressively smaller\u00a0litters. This shouldn\u2019t necessarily count against a doe unless you plan to also do a quick\u00a0cycle breeding program.<\/p>\n
Breed, pedigree<\/p>\n
Even with mix breeds knowing the breeds is helpful. For instance, mixes including dwarf\u00a0breeds are best avoided because they often have very small litters with frequent\u00a0stillbirths. On the other hand, Flemish Giants get large quickly but have a poor meat to\u00a0bone ratio. In the case of purebreds you can research the breed to learn if it was developed for meat\u00a0production. If you learn who the breeder was you can find out if they select their line for\u00a0meat type.<\/p>\n
Housing<\/p>\n
Rabbits kept in wire cages develop sore hocks more often. This has to do with the fact\u00a0that most cages have flooring that is not right for rabbits, alas that is a topic for another\u00a0day on my blog.<\/p>\n
Theoretically rabbits kept in wire cages are exposed to fewer diseases\u00a0and parasites since their droppings fall out of the cage. Solid bottomed cages unless they\u00a0are cleaned with a religious procedure provide a place for potential disease to breed and\u00a0can cause urine scald. Know if the breeder tells you they use solid bottomed cages that\u00a0you will need to pay especially close attention to the cleanliness of the rabbitry. If the\u00a0breeder says they use tractors, ask if they put their breeders and kits they sell live in\u00a0tractors. Pasturing rabbits is awesome but it increases the risk of a rabbit contracting\u00a0coccidiosis. Pasturing rabbits does not\u00a0mean that they will get coccidiosis, but if it\u2019s in\u00a0the area then the rabbits have a chance of getting it from the soil. So ask if the rabbits\u00a0you\u2019ll be looking at buying have been on pasture and ask if coccidiosis has shown up in\u00a0their rabbitry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When acquiring breeding stock, you will want to avoid buying rabbits before they are 8 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5113,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5112","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rabbit-farming"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5113"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5112"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jaguzafarm.com\/support\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}