I realized I did NOT address re-breeding in this video as promised. We breed back our does 4 weeks after Kindling and we wean the kits from her fully at 6 weeks old so she has a couple weeks to herself before the new litter is born. When we get to that stage with this batch of kits I'll be sure to elaborate! :)
We lost a doe right after kindling , so we had to bottle feed them.. We found and used Wombaro rabbit milk replacer.. It's a powdered product and keeps well. We raised and kept a doe from that litter as a breeder.
I have raised angora rabbits in the past, but we are looking into getting rabbits for meat. This series has been very helpful, thank you so much for creating these informative videos!
I have a new Zealand doe who looks similar to your her nabe is pumpkin. She had her 1st litter about 4 weeks ago and had 9 sge is doing a great as a mother. Im getting ready to egg tan some rabbit hinds i have been saving. Teying to find goid videos to learn from. Thank you for sharing. Till next time God Bless.
Have fun!! We had something go wrong with our egg tan and the hair was falling out of the hides. I read an Alum tan is better but we have also used the tanning solution in an orange bottle and that was successful
Good morning Heather. Thanks for the info. Rabbits are so adorable. I had rabbits when I was still at home. I didn't even know what I was doing. I started out with 3 rabbits and ended up with a freezer full. That was a crazy situation. At least now if I ever want rabbits I know what to do. Thanks again.
Very interesting and adorable!!!! I guess with such a short gestation and the opportunity to populate so quickly, infant mortality is to be expected. This also plays into the mother needing a few kindlings to get her skills together. Of course, as with any species, I'm sure some just don't make good mothers no matter how many deliveries take place!! Those tiny babies are almost as cute as goat babies....almost.😉🐰 Thanks for sharing another great installment!!! Stay safe!!!
I've only had one mother strike out. She made terrible nests and never fed them. Usually they do fine after they mess up once. Most do fine from the start!!
Two flakes is quite a bit of hay! How many would you say for summer? One? Also, could you give her a failed tanned pelt for her to make the nest? Will they tear it up and use it?
One is fine in summer I'm sure. We don't breed for summer kits though, it's just too hot here. I haven't tried giving them a hide to see what they'd do!
That makes sense. Thank you so much for your prompt replies !! Keep the videos coming !!! One last question 😬. Do you have any experience dealing with Chichillas or Silverfox ?
Yes but I'm not 100% sure the rabbits I bought were purebred except for one Silver Fox doe, and she was a bad mom so I didn't get to expand the Silver foxes from there! The "Chinchilla" was small for sure.
Oh darn. Ok well, thank you for helping me scratch the chinchillas off my list !! Now to decide whether to do silver fox or Californian or Rex … or a combination thereof. Have a blessed Christmas and once again, thank you !!
Yeah, I used to breed Rexes. Though you need to wait longer for butchering, and to get an acceptable size pelt. I want to have meat In the freezer too. What a dilemma !!
Question. When fostering I would think that any way of knowing "who is who" for future breeding purposes is not possible. Or can it be done? Also, could a first time mom that is due in about a week be put in with a "seasoned" mom that is very close for the purpose of watching and hopefully seeing what is expected of her when her time comes? Thank you.
Does are territorial and will fight. Don't put them together if they don't already live together. Nesting is instinctual and I don't think they necessarily learn from each other like that. Most of the time they get it right without being taught. We have put a dab of tattoo ink on a kit before to tell who the foster was. It wears off so you have to reapply and put it somewhere like the ear.
Thank you so much for the detailed information! I am planning on getting some rabbits in the near future for meat and fertilizer for the garden. Do you make your own cages or do you buy from a company? I have investigated both methods, and either way, it seems to be super expensive. Just wondering if you have found a more inexpensive way.
Definitely check Craigslist or Facebook marketplace for used cages. You'll want to at least give them a 5:1 water to bleach spray down and then sun them for a couple days to prevent disease transfer if possible, but that's how we have gotten our best deals on cages. We have made and purchased them.
Do you remove the bottom piece so the waste falls thru or????? Because I’m setting my rabbitry now, and I removed the bottom piece so that any poop can fall out. I guess this may be different if they are nesting with baby rabbits?
The mothers shouldn't be pooping in the nesting box. If they are, maybe it's being given to them a little too soon. Most rabbits won't go to the bathroom where they have their babies, but the babies do produce waste. We don't take the bottom out of the nest because the nest stays remarkably clean. Once the babies are weaned we do clean out the boxes and compost the nesting material.
So when fostering the kits with another doe. I got the impression before that doe can tend to be aggressiveor territorial. Is that only toward the bucks or could this apply to kits that aren't theirs?
So how long do you keep a female breeder rabbit before you decide to put her into the freezer? And how long or how old can a breeding female get or In other words what's the age expectancy of a female breeder rabbit? Great video by the way! I'm taking notes! One last question LOL do you also handle your rabbits everyday? I noticed that fluffles when you put her on her back was extremely calm is that just because of her personality or because you've actually handle them daily?
Fluffles is handled a lot. She's basically a pet for the kids so there is a reason I used her for the demo!! The meat rabbits are not handled a lot and can be very wiggly. The females should produce well for about 4 years until they either refuse to breed anymore or they really dwindle down in litter size. We haven't retired one to the freezer yet because we have only been keeping rabbits 3 years but so far our 3 year old does are still producing great litters and so we keep breeding as long as their body condition keeps up!!
@@SageandStoneHomestead Heather thank you so much for responding to my reply so quickly! That is so awesome. Thank you so much again. Great information to know again I'm keeping notes LOL continue with your videos Heather, you and your husband are doing an amazing job with the contents that y'all create.
I bred 2 of my does on the same day because I have a doe that didn’t take care of her baby’s her last litter. But I am scared that she will have her baby’s before the other doe and then if she does something bad I won’t be able to foster. Did I make the wrong decision breeding them on the same day??😢
@@SageandStoneHomestead Thank you so much! Your videos have been very helpful. I have processed one rabbit so far and I have just bred to others. I am really using your videos to help me through this process. Thanks again
Fluffes was purchased as mixed breed rabbit, we don't really know what combination of breeds she is but we suspect broken New Zealand in the lines somewhere. We have not mixed rex and californian but we could! We have a Rex buck.
So when you showed the difference in size of a mixed rabbit vs a purebred, what were you comparing ? I am trying to decide whether to go back to Rexes or try a new breed… or get a Rex pair and a Californian or New Zealand doe and mix them for the meat and keep the Rexes for pelts …. I’m so torn !!
The size of the carcass and how long it takes to get there are the two main comparisons I make. I much prefer true meat breeds (Rex is up there but they still grow slower on more feed than a Californian) because of their feed conversion ratio. I like to pay less and get more!
@@SageandStoneHomestead ohkay if you love rabbit so why did you kill them ? Just for your food and my second question is that do you believe in karma ?
It's a common meat source worldwide. I know people with pigs as pets too. Just because it's a pet to one person doesn't mean it has to be a pet for everyone. In our case they are a meat source.
@@SageandStoneHomestead my kids are adorable but I don’t eat them or torture them with death. This whole thing is disgusting. People are ignorant to Gods perfect creation.
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I realized I did NOT address re-breeding in this video as promised. We breed back our does 4 weeks after Kindling and we wean the kits from her fully at 6 weeks old so she has a couple weeks to herself before the new litter is born. When we get to that stage with this batch of kits I'll be sure to elaborate! :)
Fluffles is such a good Mama! These are great tips. Thank you!
She really is!! Thanks so much!
Heather my rabbit had kits and I'm binge watching your rabbit playlist for guidance 😂😂❤❤
AHHH congratulations !! Let me know if you have questions, email me if I don't see your replies!
@SageandStoneHomestead I absolutely will. Thanks in advance
Good info for us first-time breeders--thank you!
You're very welcome!
We lost a doe right after kindling , so we had to bottle feed them.. We found and used Wombaro rabbit milk replacer.. It's a powdered product and keeps well. We raised and kept a doe from that litter as a breeder.
Wow I had no idea that product existed ! Thank you!!
I have raised angora rabbits in the past, but we are looking into getting rabbits for meat. This series has been very helpful, thank you so much for creating these informative videos!
You bet!! so glad the series is being helpful!
Another great video Heather! Thanks for pulling this together. It's great for those of us who are trying to learn everything about rabbits. Cheers!
You betcha!! Rabbits are such a joy!
I have a new Zealand doe who looks similar to your her nabe is pumpkin. She had her 1st litter about 4 weeks ago and had 9 sge is doing a great as a mother. Im getting ready to egg tan some rabbit hinds i have been saving. Teying to find goid videos to learn from. Thank you for sharing. Till next time God Bless.
Have fun!! We had something go wrong with our egg tan and the hair was falling out of the hides. I read an Alum tan is better but we have also used the tanning solution in an orange bottle and that was successful
Our Rabbits are about to have babies and this information is super helpful. Thank you!!!!
You do a beautiful job with being thorough and informative. Thank you. Also, you are beautiful too!
Thanks so much!
Great video series. Thanks for sharing.
Very informative! Thanks! I am itching for rabbits again.
I hope you have them Again soon!!
Thank you, so informative. God Bless you!
Glad it was helpful! Thanks so much for watching! ♥
Very informative as always, thanks for sharing!
You bet! Thanks for watching!!
They are so cute
Truly!
Love these vids.
Thank you
How adorable!!! ❤️❤️❤️
Thanks!!♡♡
Good morning Heather. Thanks for the info. Rabbits are so adorable. I had rabbits when I was still at home. I didn't even know what I was doing. I started out with 3 rabbits and ended up with a freezer full. That was a crazy situation. At least now if I ever want rabbits I know what to do. Thanks again.
Wow that's amazing! Love rabbits!!
Wery good. Thank you. I learn alot
You are welcome!
Very interesting and adorable!!!! I guess with such a short gestation and the opportunity to populate so quickly, infant mortality is to be expected. This also plays into the mother needing a few kindlings to get her skills together. Of course, as with any species, I'm sure some just don't make good mothers no matter how many deliveries take place!! Those tiny babies are almost as cute as goat babies....almost.😉🐰 Thanks for sharing another great installment!!! Stay safe!!!
I've only had one mother strike out. She made terrible nests and never fed them. Usually they do fine after they mess up once. Most do fine from the start!!
Thanks you for the video 😊
Thank you for watching!! ❤️
I finished this series in two days😮😮
Wow! Thanks so much!!
Two flakes is quite a bit of hay! How many would you say for summer? One?
Also, could you give her a failed tanned pelt for her to make the nest? Will they tear it up and use it?
One is fine in summer I'm sure. We don't breed for summer kits though, it's just too hot here. I haven't tried giving them a hide to see what they'd do!
Awww🥰miss having California’s- my oldest daughter showed in 4H for yrs
We had a not so good new mom once-We tried to bottle feed-with no success 😢
I've never had success bottle feeding. I wish I knew the trick with it!
That makes sense. Thank you so much for your prompt replies !! Keep the videos coming !!!
One last question 😬. Do you have any experience dealing with Chichillas or Silverfox ?
Yes but I'm not 100% sure the rabbits I bought were purebred except for one Silver Fox doe, and she was a bad mom so I didn't get to expand the Silver foxes from there! The "Chinchilla" was small for sure.
Oh darn. Ok well, thank you for helping me scratch the chinchillas off my list !! Now to decide whether to do silver fox or Californian or Rex … or a combination thereof. Have a blessed Christmas and once again, thank you !!
If you want to play with the furs rex are a great dual-purpose breed!
Yeah, I used to breed Rexes. Though you need to wait longer for butchering, and to get an acceptable size pelt. I want to have meat In the freezer too. What a dilemma !!
WOW
That's a lot of hay.
Yeah and by the time the babies wean they eat most of it down!
Hi! What gauge wire do you use for meat rabbits? Also, what do you recommend for keeping cost low on cages but still comfy for the rabbits.
14g wire, and put in a ceramic tile in there to help give their feet a rest and keep cool in summer ♥
@@SageandStoneHomestead thank you! Where do you get the 14 gauge wire? Sorry so many Q’s!
That's okay! If I ever miss your reply you can always email me. KW Cages online! :)
sageandstonehomestead@gmail.com
That's okay! If I ever miss your reply you can always email me. KW Cages online! :)
sageandstonehomestead@gmail.com
Good Day my friend’ what size Rabbit NestBox ?
Depends on the rabbit and their size. KW Cages online has size vs breed recommendations
Have you had any experience with Flemish Giant or New Zealand?
Yes the NZ are great, just like the californians. Flemish are fine but very large bones.
Question. When fostering I would think that any way of knowing "who is who" for future breeding purposes is not possible. Or can it be done? Also, could a first time mom that is due in about a week be put in with a "seasoned" mom that is very close for the purpose of watching and hopefully seeing what is expected of her when her time comes? Thank you.
Does are territorial and will fight. Don't put them together if they don't already live together. Nesting is instinctual and I don't think they necessarily learn from each other like that. Most of the time they get it right without being taught. We have put a dab of tattoo ink on a kit before to tell who the foster was. It wears off so you have to reapply and put it somewhere like the ear.
I have a Flemish New Zealand doe how many babies do they typically have
6-10 on average :)
Thank you so much for the detailed information! I am planning on getting some rabbits in the near future for meat and fertilizer for the garden. Do you make your own cages or do you buy from a company? I have investigated both methods, and either way, it seems to be super expensive. Just wondering if you have found a more inexpensive way.
Definitely check Craigslist or Facebook marketplace for used cages. You'll want to at least give them a 5:1 water to bleach spray down and then sun them for a couple days to prevent disease transfer if possible, but that's how we have gotten our best deals on cages. We have made and purchased them.
Do you find the metal nest box to be better than a wooden one.
I wonder is it easier to clean?
Metal is definitely easier to clean!
How long do we let the baby nurse for on the mother or will they just stop once they are full
They will come off on their own and they should be fuller by feeling their bellies!
Do you remove the bottom piece so the waste falls thru or????? Because I’m setting my rabbitry now, and I removed the bottom piece so that any poop can fall out. I guess this may be different if they are nesting with baby rabbits?
The mothers shouldn't be pooping in the nesting box. If they are, maybe it's being given to them a little too soon. Most rabbits won't go to the bathroom where they have their babies, but the babies do produce waste. We don't take the bottom out of the nest because the nest stays remarkably clean. Once the babies are weaned we do clean out the boxes and compost the nesting material.
So when fostering the kits with another doe. I got the impression before that doe can tend to be aggressiveor territorial. Is that only toward the bucks or could this apply to kits that aren't theirs?
I've never seen them be aggressive to kits that are not theirs. They don't seem to notice at all!
@@SageandStoneHomestead Thank you!
So how long do you keep a female breeder rabbit before you decide to put her into the freezer? And how long or how old can a breeding female get or In other words what's the age expectancy of a female breeder rabbit? Great video by the way! I'm taking notes! One last question LOL do you also handle your rabbits everyday? I noticed that fluffles when you put her on her back was extremely calm is that just because of her personality or because you've actually handle them daily?
Fluffles is handled a lot. She's basically a pet for the kids so there is a reason I used her for the demo!! The meat rabbits are not handled a lot and can be very wiggly. The females should produce well for about 4 years until they either refuse to breed anymore or they really dwindle down in litter size. We haven't retired one to the freezer yet because we have only been keeping rabbits 3 years but so far our 3 year old does are still producing great litters and so we keep breeding as long as their body condition keeps up!!
@@SageandStoneHomestead Heather thank you so much for responding to my reply so quickly! That is so awesome. Thank you so much again. Great information to know again I'm keeping notes LOL continue with your videos Heather, you and your husband are doing an amazing job with the contents that y'all create.
Thank you so much!! That means a lot!!
What kind of rabbit is she? Thank you for your videos. I've learned a lot.
Fluffles is a mixed breed smaller framed rabbit. Our meat rabbits are Californian
❤❤❤🕊️
I bred 2 of my does on the same day because I have a doe that didn’t take care of her baby’s her last litter. But I am scared that she will have her baby’s before the other doe and then if she does something bad I won’t be able to foster. Did I make the wrong decision breeding them on the same day??😢
Sometimes first time moms get it wrong and they figure it out the next breeding!
Can you hand feed the kids if the mom is a first time mom and she doesn't know what to do?
Yes! Try a squirrel nipple that comes with the kitten milk bottle kits. You can feed kitten milk replacer.
@@SageandStoneHomestead Thank you so much! Your videos have been very helpful. I have processed one rabbit so far and I have just bred to others. I am really using your videos to help me through this process. Thanks again
You bet!!
Where do you get your tattoo gun(s)?
We use a clamp. It's from Caprine Supply online, we use the 5/16 letters!
@@SageandStoneHomestead
Okay thanks, do you also use it for rabbits?
I have before! We don't register the rabbits but I've used the tattoos to remember how old they are and the genetics behind them
What breed is “Fluffles” ? Have you mixed Rex with Californian ?
Fluffes was purchased as mixed breed rabbit, we don't really know what combination of breeds she is but we suspect broken New Zealand in the lines somewhere. We have not mixed rex and californian but we could! We have a Rex buck.
So when you showed the difference in size of a mixed rabbit vs a purebred, what were you comparing ?
I am trying to decide whether to go back to Rexes or try a new breed… or get a Rex pair and a Californian or New Zealand doe and mix them for the meat and keep the Rexes for pelts …. I’m so torn !!
The size of the carcass and how long it takes to get there are the two main comparisons I make. I much prefer true meat breeds (Rex is up there but they still grow slower on more feed than a Californian) because of their feed conversion ratio. I like to pay less and get more!
All breeds are different
iv had lop and dwarf breeds that kill and eat they babies
I know not all will do so but it has happen
That does sometimes happen but for varying reasons.
3 strikes and you're in the freezer 💀
Yep! Have to manage the rabbitry to keep very few non productive/ retired animals.
Stop spreading fake news or i am going to ask you a question can you answer that ?
Yes you can ask me a question.
@@SageandStoneHomestead do you love rabits ?
@@SageandStoneHomestead my second question do you believe in incarnation?
I really do love rabbits for many reasons. No, we do not believe in reincarnation.
@@SageandStoneHomestead ohkay if you love rabbit so why did you kill them ? Just for your food and my second question is that do you believe in karma ?
Meat rabbits, that's cruel, my rabbits are pets family members not meat, bloody people
It's a common meat source worldwide. I know people with pigs as pets too. Just because it's a pet to one person doesn't mean it has to be a pet for everyone. In our case they are a meat source.
You actually kill the babies and or rabbits! I don’t know how you live with yourself.
Yes. We live quite comfortably knowing we did the best we could by the meat animals we eat. We take.full responsibility for our decision to eat meat.
@@SageandStoneHomestead my kids are adorable but I don’t eat them or torture them with death. This whole thing is disgusting. People are ignorant to Gods perfect creation.
I don't eat humans? What are you saying?
They are trolls, don't bother replying.
This was fantastic information! Thanks so much!