Hey! I breed rabbits. They can be pretty well sexed at 6 weeks. Next time check them before you leave. I also had many hiccups starting my program. I was sold a PROVEN doe that ended up being male. I was sold a doe that didn't even get pregnant until 14 months (would NOT lift but was my favourite so we kept her till this spring.. she gave me a healthy litter of 11 thank god)! I was sold a standard rex buck that ended up being a mini rex. So many things gone wrong. That was all last year. This year I have my NZ girl who is finally breeding well, a different proven doe who Is actually a doe, a rescue Californian cross buck from an AWFUL meat breeder (lucky me he is VERY willing to breed), and a new baby girl who is a flemish cross NZ I will be breeding in a few months. It took time but this year our operation is looking very promising. We are heading into our 3rd litter this week sometime. I wish you good luck don't give up! Rabbit is an excellent substitute for chicken and once you get the groove you will be overwhelmed with babies :)
Ya gotta start somewhere! Good for you for at least working on something! That puts you ahead of the curve of a lot of people who are too intimidated to even grow a tomato plant. But don't let hesitation keep you from moving forward. Cheers!
I feel your pain. Just got into rabbits myself.....and got 5 New Zealands from a friend of mine that breeds them for meat. We got to the point where we were ready to breed them, and realized that one of them attacked another one in a cage rearrange. Couldn't figure it out. Found out that was a boy. So, we checked them all. Was TOLD we had 4 does and a buck. Ended up with 4 BUCKS and a doe LOL. Oy. Gave a friend of mine one of them for her rabbitry start. Kept the other three bucks, and just got more does lol. Just recently got a breeding trio of silver foxes myself, for the same reasons as you. Also just joined ARBA, and hoping to at least do some shows now too. We were aiming for a simple trio of rabbits to start with. I have 10 rabbits in my barn right now, and not entirely sure how it got so out of hand LOL. But they're awesome, and I have high hopes! Three does due on March 15th, so we'll see how things go. Best of luck to you!
Good luck to you as well! I've heard that rabbits and chickens are like potato chips...you can't stop at just one! If you're not careful you'll wind up with a ton of them! LOL
The younger the rabbit the more difficult it is to sex them. I bought some rabbits and never thought to recheck from the breeder. 2 were bucks instead of does. I purchased trio of silver fox 3 years ago and they have been wonderful. I sexed 2 when I was not feeling well thought they were does I was wrong. Now must recheck.
I don't know if you bought your new stock from the same breeder you acquired the rabbit with malocclusion from but I would say if you did, avoid them in the future. 1 its extremely unethical to sell a rabbit with malocclusion + it being miss sexxed. 2. If you bought 2 more from the same person that were also miss sexxed I would say that is deliberate and they are just after your money. You should pretty accurately be able to tell sex with kits after having a hand full of litters. Which is why I am saying you were probably lied too. There are a lot of people who get into fox to sell them for more than a NZW. And to take advantage of people wanting to get heritage breed rabbits. When in reality there are A LOT of shitty low quality silver fox out there that people are breeding for money and not for breed conservation. These people are not breeding towards SF Standard of perfection (SOP). 100% think you should be looking on craigslist right now and try to find any breeding age doe and not silver fox does only. There are a lot of people downsizing there rabbitrys right now because feed costs are going up. Also people who started meat rabbits last year and don't enjoy them. I think you'll be better off with some experience first rather than keep spending money on pedigreed rabbits and getting ripped off. Get yourself some NZ does or NZ cali cross does or Rex does. I see tons of breeding age does listed right now in my area. You can always sell them later as proven breeders once you have gotten a litter or two out of them. Pedigree doesn't mean quality. Obviously we all here love the silver fox but it also sucks to be ripped off when you are still new at rabbits. You'll know what to look for better when you have had a few litters yourself.
Hey! I breed rabbits. They can be pretty well sexed at 6 weeks. Next time check them before you leave. I also had many hiccups starting my program. I was sold a PROVEN doe that ended up being male. I was sold a doe that didn't even get pregnant until 14 months (would NOT lift but was my favourite so we kept her till this spring.. she gave me a healthy litter of 11 thank god)! I was sold a standard rex buck that ended up being a mini rex. So many things gone wrong. That was all last year. This year I have my NZ girl who is finally breeding well, a different proven doe who Is actually a doe, a rescue Californian cross buck from an AWFUL meat breeder (lucky me he is VERY willing to breed), and a new baby girl who is a flemish cross NZ I will be breeding in a few months. It took time but this year our operation is looking very promising. We are heading into our 3rd litter this week sometime. I wish you good luck don't give up! Rabbit is an excellent substitute for chicken and once you get the groove you will be overwhelmed with babies :)
Crud! I hesitate to go down the rabbit path since I have so much to learn. I'm sticking to just the green leafy learning over animals.
Ya gotta start somewhere! Good for you for at least working on something! That puts you ahead of the curve of a lot of people who are too intimidated to even grow a tomato plant. But don't let hesitation keep you from moving forward. Cheers!
I feel your pain. Just got into rabbits myself.....and got 5 New Zealands from a friend of mine that breeds them for meat. We got to the point where we were ready to breed them, and realized that one of them attacked another one in a cage rearrange. Couldn't figure it out. Found out that was a boy. So, we checked them all. Was TOLD we had 4 does and a buck. Ended up with 4 BUCKS and a doe LOL. Oy. Gave a friend of mine one of them for her rabbitry start. Kept the other three bucks, and just got more does lol. Just recently got a breeding trio of silver foxes myself, for the same reasons as you. Also just joined ARBA, and hoping to at least do some shows now too. We were aiming for a simple trio of rabbits to start with. I have 10 rabbits in my barn right now, and not entirely sure how it got so out of hand LOL. But they're awesome, and I have high hopes! Three does due on March 15th, so we'll see how things go. Best of luck to you!
Good luck to you as well! I've heard that rabbits and chickens are like potato chips...you can't stop at just one! If you're not careful you'll wind up with a ton of them! LOL
@@ThePrognoid Thanks! Yeah, Rabbit math is just as real as the Chicken math. lol.....it doesn't take long :D
The younger the rabbit the more difficult it is to sex them. I bought some rabbits and never thought to recheck from the breeder. 2 were bucks instead of does. I purchased trio of silver fox 3 years ago and they have been wonderful. I sexed 2 when I was not feeling well thought they were does I was wrong. Now must recheck.
I don't know if you bought your new stock from the same breeder you acquired the rabbit with malocclusion from but I would say if you did, avoid them in the future. 1 its extremely unethical to sell a rabbit with malocclusion + it being miss sexxed. 2. If you bought 2 more from the same person that were also miss sexxed I would say that is deliberate and they are just after your money. You should pretty accurately be able to tell sex with kits after having a hand full of litters. Which is why I am saying you were probably lied too.
There are a lot of people who get into fox to sell them for more than a NZW. And to take advantage of people wanting to get heritage breed rabbits. When in reality there are A LOT of shitty low quality silver fox out there that people are breeding for money and not for breed conservation. These people are not breeding towards SF Standard of perfection (SOP).
100% think you should be looking on craigslist right now and try to find any breeding age doe and not silver fox does only. There are a lot of people downsizing there rabbitrys right now because feed costs are going up. Also people who started meat rabbits last year and don't enjoy them. I think you'll be better off with some experience first rather than keep spending money on pedigreed rabbits and getting ripped off. Get yourself some NZ does or NZ cali cross does or Rex does. I see tons of breeding age does listed right now in my area.
You can always sell them later as proven breeders once you have gotten a litter or two out of them. Pedigree doesn't mean quality. Obviously we all here love the silver fox but it also sucks to be ripped off when you are still new at rabbits. You'll know what to look for better when you have had a few litters yourself.