As usual, I never get these up on the proper day but with the new little one, I try whenever I can and I've got a good topic. Since we are doing it, I thought pigs would make a good post!
Pigs are most useful creatures, in my opinion. Two pigs raised per year provide a great deal of products and services for our homestead:
A couple of hundred pounds of high quality pork chops, ribs, pulled pork, bacon, and sausage for our table.
A year’s worth of high quality fat in the form of lard.
A convenient consumer of our surplus and failed dairy products.
Free labor for tilling new ground and cleaning it of roots and tubers.
And a great deal of entertainment to boot!
There are many ways to raise pigs on the homestead. We have chosen to purchase feeder pigs, or rather, just-weaned baby pigs. They can be had in our area for $30 to $60 a piece, depending on breed, age, and demand. Lately, it seems they are getting a bit harder to find as more and more people are returning to home-raised foods.
Whether to purchase gilts (young females), boars (un-neutered males), or barrows (neutered males) is another choice you will have to make. We chose to purchase gilts this year to avoid the entire issues of neutering or not. There may be problems with boar taint in un-neutered boars. The procedure to neuter them is painful for the animal but does reduce the chances of taint. If you are interested in this issue, I suggest you visit Sugar Mountain Farm’s Blog. Walter has done extensive research on the issue of boar taint.
Our pigs are raised on the ground. We believe this is the healthiest way to raise pigs. Contrary to popular legend, pigs are not “dirty” and don’t, if given a chance, wallow in their own excrement. Even in a relatively small area, our pigs select a spot as their “bathroom”. They do not root, rest, or eat in that area. Pigs raised outdoors on the ground do need access to water so they can wallow. Wallowing keeps their skin clear of infections, prevents sunburn, and cools the pigs.
We gradually expand the pigs’ area as they get larger and work up the existing ground. We keep them contained with electric wire. Electric wire is very effective as long as the fence charger is fully functional. The wires should be gradually moved up as the pigs grow. Electric wire also affords opportunity to move the pigs to areas we want tilled.
What, how, and when to feed is another question. We have chosen to purchase a custom mixed feed from our local feed mill. It is roughly 12% protein. The recipe is:
600 lbs cracked corn
50 lbs peas
100 lbs crimped oats
50 lbs alfalfa
50 lbs wheat bran
enough molasses to keep the dust down
The original recipe called for 35 lbs of a vitamin/mineral mix, 25 lbs of lime, and 25 lbs of salt. We found these additional items ended up in the bottom of the feed bowl uneaten and so eliminated them this time around. Since our pigs have access to the dirt, we figure they will get what mineral they need from there.
Our pigs also get excess skim milk, buttermilk, whey, and eggs. According to Morrison’s Feeds & Feeding, skim milk, along with corn, makes very good pig grub. And the pigs love it!
When and how to butcher is the final concern when raising pigs on the homestead. Last year, our pigs went to the butcher at 5-1/2 months of age. They were around 150 lbs live weight. This is officially called “BBQ size”. They were very tender and tasty although the cuts were small and there was very little fat for sausage and lard. This year we started earlier and plan to raise our pigs to at least 200 lbs. They will be 8 or 9 months old. We would like to have plenty of sausage and bacon for our Christmas visitors.
One day we plan to butcher our own pigs. This will give us more flexibility on cuts, skinning, etc. For now, it is convenient and cost effective to take them to our local custom butcher.
Raising any animal is a learning experience. It is always nice to visit, experiment, and talk to someone else who has done it before. So don’t be afraid to jump in there and try raising some pigs on your own homestead!
Kristin Hoffman homesteads with her family in the hills of East Tennessee and blogs about alternative energy, family farming, and home schooling with her husband at www.solarfamilyfarm.com. The Hoffmans also run Knot4Fun, a family business dedicated to teaching kids the practical skill of knot tying and adventurous outdoor play. Kristin can be found checking out the piggies to see how big they are growing!
There is so much valuable data online for homesteaders of any kind. Much of it is free. This site BACK YARD SPACES has lots wonderful free plans for all sorts of building projects. For instance , building Bee hives. Keeping bees is fairly simple, inexpensive and very beneficial to your homestead. But if Bees arn't your thing you can find lots of other building projects on Back Yard Spaces.
Miller Type Bee Feeder
Detailed plans for a miller type bee feeder. Large amounts of feed can be given this way with no disturbance to the bees or beekeeper.
Here are some basic tips for selling rabbits locally in your area. There are many options in advertising meat rabbits and breeding stock that are cost free. First decide what rabbits you want to keep for breeding stock or meat and what rabbits you want to sell. Keep the best for your breeding stock. You will need these for future sales. Don't sell your personal breeding stock! Its almost a guarantee that someone will make you a nice offer for your personal stock-its tempting but not advisable. Just think of all the $ that your stock will bring you in the future-it just not worth it. Decide if you are going to sell breeding pairs or fryers. Let your friends and family know that you have rabbits for sell. When getting started in advertising you want to start slow. The demand for rabbits is usually greater than your stock so don't go overboard at first. Feel out the demand. I usually can sell all I desire to sell with a simple sign that says "RABBITS FOR SALE" post by the road. I do want to add a bit of caution to this---if you put a sign by your house--you will have visitors. If you do not wish to have unscheduled visitors you might put the sign on a road close to your house with a telephone # to call. Some other options are:
1. Putting a sign at the local feed stores information boards.
2. Place an ad in the local free advertising circular.
3. Posting an ad online. There are groups online in most areas that allow this. I.e. Yahoo groups--try farmers groups or homesteaders groups in your area.
4. Talk to your local feed store manager. Some will allow you to sell your stock there or allow you to set up in their parking lots. Saturdays are always a high customer day. Talk to the manager during the week as they are usually too busy on Saturdays.
5. Try your local farmers markets or sale barns.
6. If you have FFA or 4-H groups in your area, notify them that you have rabbits for sale. Home School groups are also a good place to let it be known that you have stock for sale.
There are many cost-free methods for advertising rabbits. Just start slow. If you have good stock most of your customers will become repeat customers and will tell others where to find you. So each year your customer base will grow. I always keep some boxes available to put the rabbits in for transport. Most breeders will bring their own cages but new rabbit owners usually do not.
I hope these rabbit entries have been useful to the readers. At this time I would like to start a question and answer series of entries. So if you have any questions--big or small please ask them. I cannot promise to know all the answers but I will do my best to find answers for you. So any problems you might be having or general rabbit questions please post as a comment below or send me a message on my blog at faithfarm. If you would prefer me not to use your name on the front porch entry just let me know and I'll keep your name anonymous. Thank you for stopping by! Blessings>faithfarm
I'm sorry this post is late this week-we have had one of those weeks here at faithfarm! Thankfully all is returning to normal now.
here is some basic rabbit info that I have left out before:
The average # of litters a doe produces a year is five litters. Depending on your breed of rabbit and size this can produce an average of 6-8 kits per litter or 30-40 kits a breeding season per doe. Fryers range in size from 3-5 pounds depending on age. Average butchering age is 10-12 weeks. I usually opt for 12-13 weeks for weight purposes. So an average doe has the ability to produce almost 200lbs of fryers per year. Now this is per doe. So it is easy to imagine how quickly these numbers multiply by adding additional breeding stock. So you have all this lean healthy meat in your freezer...how do you cook it? I use rabbit meat the same as I use chicken. Everything I can do with chicken I can do with rabbit. The only difference is it is a very lean meat---you need to cook it slower and at a lower temp to avoid the toughness commonly associated with rabbit meat. Grilling or BBQ cooking rabbit is a favorite way in the summer. Average cost to produce a 4lb fryer ranges from $1.92-$2.56 depending on feed costs. Keep in mind that you are providing healthy drug-free, hormone-free meat for your family. You know what your putting into your meat---do you know what commercial producers put in their's? That is one of the main reasons I started with raising meat rabbits. There was no other way that I had available to me in the amount of space and money I had to work with to be able to provide so much of what my family needed. The numbers just added up....it worked. Funny enough as it is I had never even ate a tame rabbit when I started all of this. Let me tell ya--they are so much better than wild rabbit! I hope this has helped and answered some questions. Blessings>faithfarm
There are several methods of breeding rabbits, inbreeding, linebreeding, and outcrossing. Lets begin by understanding each method.
Inbreeding is the breeding of close relatives--mother-son, brother-sister, cousins. Tthe term inbreeding usually makes people think of negative outcomes. In raising rabbits it can be good and bad. If you breed two good animals-you could produce a great outcome. Same goes for breeding two rabbits with bad characteristics--Its only going to get worse. Just remember--It makes the good, better--------It makes the bad, worse. Most successful rabbit breeders do use the inbreeding method to improve their stock. Having good starting stock is the key.
linebreeding is the method of breeding that follows a line of descent, usually from a very outstanding ancestor or beginning stock. Take for example...you have a really great doe with all the characteristics you are looking for. She is a wonderful mother with a desired look and coat, no deformities, and in general a really good easy to work with doe. So you want to breed on that line of of direction to improve your stock. Mother-grandson; grandsire-grandson; aunt-nephew, ect. This is a very common way of maintaining and improving your stock.
Outcrossing is just that. You bring in an unrelated rabbit from the same breed. New blood line. At some point in your raising rabbits you will probably find the need to do this. I recently did this myself to increase litter size and overall weight of my stock. I traded for a buck from a friends rabbitry who had all the characteristics I was looking for.
I guess I should mention one other type of breeding--crossbreeding---this is were you cross two breeds. This is always an experimental kind of thing. Some have found success doing this. Others just end up with alot of undesirable characteristics.
So as you can see most breeders combine the methods of breeding to maintain and improve their stock. There is no one right way if you ask me. You are the one working with and raising your rabbits. Each breeder may be looking for a different desirable characteristic. What is important to you in your stock is what matters. Blessings>faithfarm
It seems I have forgotten to mention the importance of breeding records. When you start breeding rabbits it seems simple enough to keep track of one or two does but by the end of breeding season when you have multiple litters from more than one doe filling your rabbitry you soon see how important a little record keeping is. Important information you should record on each doe is birthdate, Sire and Dam info, breed dates, served by (buck), Kindle date, litter information: # of kits, health, problems encountered ect. Basically any information that will help you keep track of that does performance. There are many ways to do this. You can identify each rabbit with a tatoo, number, name, ect. Whatever method you find easiest to use. Then your record keeping can be done by using hutch cards, notebook, or computer program. I have found it easier to keep accurate records if you have access to the record where the rabbits are kept. Hutch cards are simple and effective. Stock record notebook or binder can also be very easy to use. Just find a method that works best for you. Even the most experienced breeders cannot remember every rabbits birthdate and breed dates. Without those two key dates recorded- breeding becomes a complicated and often holds unpleasant endings. Take the time to find a system that works best for you. I like numbering my cages. This helps me out tremendously. I refer to each doe as a number...ie. Doe #1, Doe #2, ect. I use the same method when I track breeding. Doe #1 bred to Buck #3 on date 1/1/01---ect. Its simple and effective. I also keep track of any rabbits that are sold or retired. I do not allocate a number to either a doe or a buck intended for the table. Once they are eight weeks of age I determine which rabbits are going to be used for breeding and which are going into the "feeder cages". I have not seen a need to keep track of those rabbits. Now if you are raising registered stock there are guidlines for pedigree and registration certifications. That information can be found on the ARBA website. The goal of good record keeping is not only to keep track of your stock but to maintain and improve the quality of your herd, so that generation after generation your stock gets better and better. I've been asked 'What's better?' For me better means improving the meat quality, ease and size of does delivery, and strong healthy breading seasons. For each breeder the term may differ, but good record keeping is the key. I hope this information helps. If you have any rabbit questions or problems just leave me a comment and I'll be more than glad to try and help or point you in the right directions. Blessings> faithfarm
Rabbits like cool weather, Its just a fact. They have no way to cool their little bodies so special consideration must be made for keeping rabbits cool in hot summer months. Here are a few quick tips:
1> freeze 2-litter bottles of ice and put them in the cages.
2>Ceramic tiles-my favorite method! Freeze ceramic tiles in the freezer and put in the cages. Have plenty on hand because you have to change them frequently.
3> Always provide plenty of cool water for them to drink.
4>Commercial mister systems. Use with caution-there are alot of downfalls with this method. Be sure to do your research first.
5> Locate the cages in a deeply shaded breeze way.
6> Dual roofs to keep the sun's heat off of the rabbits.
7> provide a fan to move the air around them.
Signs of distress to watch for:
1. lethargy
2. heavy breathing
3. a very wet nose and muzzle
4. sprawling on the floor of the cage
5. Note any changes in diet
If you see these symptoms cool your rabbit immediatly. This can be done by using a cool garden hose and wetting down its entire coat or dipping a rabbit in a shallow bucket of water. Treat for shock. I have never had to do this myself so I suggest doing some research on this subject ahead of time to be prepared. Rabbits just don't like hot weather. Imagine what you would feel like if you had a fur coat on in 90 degree weather. A little preplanning will make both you and your rabbit happier. Blessings>faithfarm
One of the great things about raising rabbits is rabbit poo. Yeah I know-who likes manure? Its supposed to be a stinky nasty mess that no-one likes right? Well in this case poo is pure gold. It can be used for everything from lawn and garden to earning extra cash. I never have enough of this stuff and that's saying something! It comes in a convenient round, dry power ball full of nitrogen and phosphorous. Here is a few ideas to get you started:
1> Garden....my favorite place to use it. It will not burn plants even when applied fresh. Its the secret to your best garden ever.
2> Lawn....Makes a great fertilizer for your lawn. A no cost way to have beautiful grass.
3> Hot beds....Makes a great early starter soil for your hot beds.
4> Worm beds....great for fishing worms. Have your own supply of bait all year long. Red worms also make great potting soil out of your manure for all your potted plants.
5> Cash....Sell it. There are alot of people out there that will give you good money for rabbit poo. Sell it by the zip-lock bag full or feed sack full. I've even heard of people selling it on Ebay.
6> Make good friends and neighbors. There is nothing like warming up a neighbor by sharing your secret to a great veggie garden!
Now for the minor problems with rabbit manure.
1> Smell---rabbit manure does not smell--rabbit urine on the other hand smells awful. A well drained gravel bed under the cages will help alot. Keep the area under the cages clean and dry and you will be less likely to ever notice a foul oder.
2>Flies---flies breed in manure, however, if it is kept dry your problem will be greatly reduced. Raising worms in your manure also seems to help. I do not use fly spray because I use my manure in the garden and do not want the chemicals transferred but for those of you who don't you can spray the area with fly spray to prevent infestation. I just can't recommend this due to my nature.
3>Mice----for some odd reason mice seem to love the stuff. Keep your feed spillage down to a minimum and this will help.
Rabbit manure values approx.:
N
P
K
Rabbit manure
2.4
1.4
0.6
Most concentrated of animal manures in fresh form.
If you have any rabbit questions or problems-just send me a message or comment. I'll do my best to answer any questions or try to point you in the right direction. Blessings>faithfarm
Your at the point where you have the right breeding stock, cages and equipment. Your happy bunnies are doing fine nibbling on there pellets. Time to increase your stock. Its breeding time. Simple right? Many of us have listened to the "ol timers' say "breed like rabbits"........Well this is partially true. There are a few things to take into consideration. First is age. Depending on the breed size of the rabbit you have at what age you can breed. For example....Small breeds can breed at 5 months, medium breeds at 6 months and Giants at 8 months. My stocks average breeding age is 6 months. The next thing to consider is weight. Fat rabbits just don't breed well. Adjust there food to make them trim and healthy, suitable for breeding. Bucks become extremely lazy if overweight and does have a harder time conceiving. Check for good health and fur. Make sure the does vulva is dark in color (reddish-purple) and the bucks testicles should be fully descended and full. Now that you've made sure everything is in perfect working order, take the doe to the buck. Important not to do it the other way around. Do not leave them--it shouldn't take long. There may be some chasing and fur pulling at first. Don't be too concerned. The buck should mount the doe. You know you have a successful breed when the buck falls over on his side or goes stiff and falls on his back. Until this happens, the buck has not been successful. It will only take once for you to understand what I am talking about. If you are thinking, Did it work?, chances are it did not. It is unmistakable. If you had a successful session, remove the doe back to her cage. Be careful, if your rabbit is ever going to bite you, now will be when it happens. What if nothing happens? They are either not interested or just chase each other around unsuccessfully. This happens with new breeders sometimes. They just don't get it yet. What I do is put their cages next to each other. Give them some close time and try again the next day. This usually works. If not then I put the doe with another buck. It is reported that female rabbits are fertile 365 days a year. This is probably true but I have found that my rates of succesful breeding are greatly increased if I rebreed the doe 8-12 hours after the original breeding time. So I select the pairs to breed in the morning and return that evening and rebreed the pairs again. I cannot say how important this is! Your doe will usually be so much more receptive to the buck at this time. She will often position herself for breeding without a fight.
Ok now we are pregnant, right? Mostly. There are methods to check. Some use the palpation method. Place the doe on a flat surface holding her by the scruff of the neck (10 days into breeding) and reach the other hand under her belly feeling around gently for marbles (babies). This takes some practice. Some breeders put the doe back in with the buck at 10 days for a test breed. (I do not do this) If the doe is pregnant she will growl and strongly resist the buck. Another way is to weigh the doe. Her weight will increase slightly-up to a pound. The gestation period of rabbits is 28-34 days. My rabbits are 31 days exactly. On the 27th day I put in a nest box and plenty of straw. The doe will begin to build a nest. You know the time is close when you see your doe walking around with a mouthfull of straw.(Its very cute!) On the day the litter is to be born the doe will pull fur from her underside for the youngs nest. She will pull more to cover them after she delivers. If you do not see signs that the doe is making a nest this should be your first signal that she might not be a good doe. This is the tragic part of breeding rabbits. Some does just don't seem to know what to do. You can assist by placing fur that you have pulled or saved to cover the young. In most cases it is extremely difficult to get the timing close enough to save the new kits. Delivery does not take long, but if you catch the delivery and the doe is delivering in an unprepared nest or cage floor you can adopt the kits to another doe who has room for them. That is why I always breed at least 2 does together-an experienced doe and a new doe. As long as they are close in age the other doe should accept the adopted kits without trouble. Just because the new doe is not a good mommy the first time doesn't mean she will repeat this the next breeding. I usually give my does two attempts at delivering before they are retired. I have found that after two failures the likelyhood that they will improve is not high enough to risk another breeding.
In about 10 days the litter will open their eyes and begin to come out of the box. This is a fun time! They will be wobbly at first. Keep a close eye on them now. Keeping them from harms way. I usually leave the nest box in until they are a month old. It depends on the litter size when I wean them from there mother. Usually 7-8 weeks old. They should be eating good and appear to be in good health. You'll know when its time. Then the whole cycle starts over again. I hope this has been helpful to someone! Blessings>faithfarm
Good Morning! We are going to discuss one of the more controversial topics in raising rabbits---What to feed them. There is many ways to go about this and many opinions about how to do this as well. For me....I try to make things as simple and uncomplicated as possible. When your rabbitry gets large, time is precious and maintaining health in your rabbits is of upmost importance. Sick rabbits take time and we all have plenty to do in our day! We want healthy rabbits producing healthy meat for our table and we want to do this in the most time effecient way, right? SO with all that in mind I am going to share with you how I handle feeding my rabbits. I have not had to deal with sickness and my rabbits are healthy well producing stock. Every morning I feed a 17% rabbit pellet via feeder and a handful of alfalfa hay. I provide all the clean fresh water the rabbits can drink and that's it folks-nothing more. I return in the evening and make sure the rabbits have plenty of fresh water to make it through the night. I also check to make sure there is not pellets left over in there feeder and that each animal looks healthy and happy. You will easily be able to determine how much pellet each stage of rabbit needs by their weight. If a rabbit looks too fat-cut back on the pellet. Fat rabbits don't breed well. Males get too lazy and it complicates delivery on the does. Now there is one exception to the rule---When a doe delivers her kits--I offer her a little tid-bit for energy. Usually a little slice of apple. This makes her happy and gives her the energy she needs. It also allows you to examine the kits and remove any dead or waste stuff from the nest box. I also increase the feed and hay while a doe is nursing. It takes alot to nurse, so be prepared to double her intake. Many people also give race horse oats in a seperate self feeder to a doe with a new litter. I think this is probably a fine idea, it is just one I have never implimented. I do not feed my rabbits garden scraps or fresh greens. One must be careful when introducing new food stuffs to rabbits. I have seen many raisers loose rabbits from diarrhea. If your rabbit is not eating well the first thing you should check is its water. Rabbits will not eat without water available. If you are using a water valve system, check the valves for clogs or sticking. Clean your water system and examine the stool for any signs of distress or illness. Droppings should be large and round--well formed. Not clumping. *(We will go into health issues later.) Basically when it comes to feeding your rabbits be consistant and uncomplicated. I hope this has helped! Blessings>faithfarm
Thank you for joining me at Homestead Barnyard. Today we are going to talk about how to house your rabbits. The first thing to consider is what kind of living quarters a rabbit needs. They must be clean and offer plenty of light. They need plenty of ventilation but protected from winds and drafts. They need to be kept dry and do not tolerate extreme heat well. Rabbits by nature can take the cold. They do not need alot of space but enough to rear a family comfortably. Having damp or wet floors in your cage is like having a first class ticket to trouble. Your rabbits need to be secure from preditors and escaping. Last but not least, it needs to be easy to maintain for you-the rabbit owner--you need to be able to clean it easily, feed and water with ease, and you need to be able to quickly examine your stock. A careful eye will allow you to see trouble early. Wow--sounds complicated right? Its not. Its actually easy and inexpensive. The all wire hutch is easy to build or buy and is considered the best way to raise rabbits today. They are mostly self cleaning--droppings and urine fall to the ground or pan below. An occasional scrub with a brush and disinfectant is all that is required. Feeders and waterers can be mounted from the outside. Great ventilation and secure from preditors and escapes. Those things taken care of, all you need now is to decide where you want to keep them. If you have an old shed or dry barn to hang them in-then all is taken care of. Safe and dry. If you are like many people starting out you may want to keep them outside at first. There are many easy plans for ouside shelters that protect from wind and rain. Some are as simple as a lean-to addition on an already existing building. Just remember when you are building your shelter that they need a cool/dry place in the summer and dry/wind free area in the winter. My first shelter was portable so I could move it under a tree in the breeze in the summer and face it blocking the cold north wind in the winter. You may want to consider smaller multiple shelters if this is how you plan on doing it. The easiest by far is to hang the cages in an existing structure.
We build our own hutches here. I have found that to be the most inexpensive route. If I can build one, anyone can. They are very simple. All you need is wire, wire cutters, and C-rings or J-clips (found at any farm store). The cage should be 18 inches high and have a floor space of 2 1/2 to 3 feet. The wire on the bottom should be big enough to let droppings fall through but easy enough for baby rabbits to walk on. (1 X 1/2 mesh) The smaller wire is also easier on adult rabbits feet. The side wire should be a welded 14-gage galvanized wire with 1 inch by 2 inch squares. Just cut your wire to length and clip together to form a rectangle. Use your wire cutters to make an opening for the door. Usually a foot square or a little larger depending on your breeding box size. Cut another piece of wire one inch larger all around than the opening (your door). Important: It must be 1 inch larger than the door opening you cut. Hinge your door using the J-clamps. Most people prefer a door hinged at the top that swings up an into the cage. I have done mine both ways...opening out and opening in. Its your preference. Thats it--Simple. If you have any questions regarding any part of what I have touched on today--just let me know. I will be more than glad to "talk rabbit". Blessings>faithfarm
For today we are going to take it from making the decision that raising meat rabbits is right for you. There are a few more things to think about at this point.
1. Decide on what breed of rabbit you are going to raise.
There are many kinds of rabbits to choose from. The most popular rabbit for meat purposes in America are the New Zealand Whites and the Californian. They have white pelts (which you could sell). They also have a good feed conversion, fertility rate, and litter size. They also have fine bones and higher meat ratio. Personally I like the New Zealand Whites.
2. Finding the right breeding stock.
This is really important. Starting off with the right foundation stock will make all the difference in your new adventure. Purebred stock is always a better choice. This will assure you the ability to reproduce like rabbits, with proper weight gain, growth rate, feed conversion, and in general, consistancy in your stock. This will also make your rabbits more attractive to others if you intend on selling rabbits. All other rabbits are considered crossbreds-mixed bloodlines-no papers. I have found very good "crossbreds" for personal meat purposes-however, keep in mind that your taking a big chance that they will have small litters-poor feed conversion ratios-slower growth rate-larger bones and there is no way of knowing what the kits will look like. Unlike many rabbit raisers--I'm not against the crossbreds--you just have to understand what you getting into. They carry very low value in the grand scheme of things---you decide.
3. Decide on housing and equipment.
Right up front you should decide on what size of a rabbitry you want. How many rabbits will accomplish your goals in the long run. It is always a good idea to start small and grow into your rabbitry. A good starting number is three or four. Two does and a buck or even better two junior bucks a junior doe and a senior bred doe. This will allow you to learn what your doing and still get "started" with breeding and raising babies. That being said on to housing and cages.....this is where you can spend alot of money if your not careful. We build our own cages here. All wire hutches. I believe this is the most sanitary way of raising rabbits. They are easy to build and easy to clean. The right housing and equipment is just as important to your success as the right breeding stock. Wooden hutches are just not a good idea. They are hard to keep sanitary and often cause you to deal with health issues you could easily avoid by using an all wire hutch. I would strongly advise using the wire only hutches. If your rabbitry is indoors then the cages are fine the way they are. If you are planning on raising outdoors you will need to build a shelter from the weather to hold your wire cages. I will go into this topic further next week. As far as equipment goes there are many types of feeders and waterers that I have found as suffecient. Keep in mind cleanliness is the key. Make them something that is easily maintained. There are several plans online for self waterers that are made od PVC pipe and 2-liter bottles--rabbits need lots of fresh clean water. If you plan ahead at this point for the 'future rabbitry' size you will be so much ahead. The thing to remember with raising rabbits is it can grow very rapidly---plan ahead.
4. Feeding your rabbits-plan ahead
Before you even bring home your breeding stock you should have your housing, equipment, and feed on hand. Welcome home your new stock with a well thought out plan. Have your pellets purchased and stored properly (mice love them). I also feed my rabbits a handful of alfalfa daily. Thats all I feed-pellets-alfalfa-and lots of fresh water. I keep a mineral wheel (available at most farm stores) in each cage. I do not feed my rabbits scraps or greens. Consistancy in their diet will greatly aid you in avoiding illness. Try to always feed your rabbits at the same time everyday. Get a routine for care and management and both you and the rabbits will be happier.
I hope this has been helpful. Please join me next week when we will discuss hutches and housing further. I strongly advise everyone who is starting with rabbits to read as much as possible on the subject. Get a good guide book of your own. Bob Bennett has several good books on the subject. Even after all this time I still go back to the book for reference. There is no one right way to raise rabbits. As you get into it you will find what works best for you. Getting started is the hardest part...but with a little preperation the rest of raising rabbits will be a joyful and rewarding experience. Have I said...I love raising rabbits! Blessings>faithfarm
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