I built another rabbit cage today, out of fiberglass tread-plates. The whole design took one day to build. I put a PVC pipe through the cage as a watering trough. The one inch diameter openings in the tread plate make it easy for the Flemish-giant turds to drop right through. Now I have to devise a method of keeping my dogs out of the rabbit poop; it seems that bunny-turds are the preferred food of twelve-legged golden weinermon pinchers. My present system will now produce 48 bunnies a month for the freezer, rotate my breeding stock, and get enough poop to feed my worms (I wish the worms were doing as well as the bunnies). I can produce 100 bunnies a month, if needed, but really don't want to have to feed and dispose of that many. The Catfish tank will be operational in another week, if this damned rain will ever stop.
Now I have Spike Jones in my head... "Bunnies bunnies bunnies.... bunnies everywhere. There's bunnies on the table and there's bunnies on the chair. Bunnies on the sofa and there's bunnies on the floor. And there's some new ones coming through the door. More! Please come on and buy a bunny. I even like to sell you two or three. But if you don't have any money, I'll give you a bunny cause theres just too darn many bunnies for me. There's bunnies all over the place, bunnies under my feet, bunnies in my bed everywhere I go there's cute little bunnies. "Bunnies bunnies bunnies.... bunnies everywhere. There's bunnies on the table and there's bunnies on the chair. Bunnies on the sofa and there's bunnies on the floor. And there's some new ones coming through the door. More!" Nice, Sea.....Pictures?
Can I put an order in for a fur jacket? I'd settle for a pelt, to use as a nice collar for a sweater.
I have eight breeding does that are a tri-mix of New Zealand, Californian, and Flemish Giant. I also have a Flemish Giant buck and 24 month four week old bunnies. They average 12 to a litter.
Here is Willie, my Flemish Giant buck. He is only three months old and already weighs twenty-six pounds.
These are Bugs Bunny's bunnies. She had 12 last litter. You can breed her again two weeks after the bunnies are born and wean the litter at four weeks. That allows momma to rest for two weeks before having another batch. The bunnies are ready for the grill at six weeks old. At six weeks they weigh around eight pounds and dress out at around 50-55%. Breeding does usually remain productive for around three years before they need to be retired as Easter bunnies.
Rabbit poop is one of the greatest fertilizers for a garden. I ranks up their with guano. In fact, people who seriously garden will pay for rabbit poop. The ultimate in recycling.
Seacowboys, i am concerned about your cage structures. specifically the fiberglass grid flooring. rabbits gnaw. i suspect the fiberglass will do them injury. i have raised new zealand white rabbits. i could restart tomorrow if i chose to. my whole setup is still intact. have 36 inch by 36 inch by 18 inch cages for breeders. 8 total. had 2 bucks on opposite ends of run and 6 good breeder does. have 8 grow cages for weaned babies. ideally should have had 16. i would put 4 immature sibling rabbits in each to finish them out before butchering and adding to freezer at about 3.5 lbs live weight. additionally your dogs under the cages if in anyway harrass your new mother does, will often prompt the doe to kill her young. can't explain it, but it happens. good luck on all. oh one of the neatest tricks i learned was how to use an old toilet tank for an automatic gravity feed water constant refill device for water nipples. i can explain further if you are interested. again, watch close for gnawing Tacmotusn
dogs and rabbits seem to get along great. They only eat the poop, don't seem to bother the rabbits. The rabbits actually seem to like the dogs, especially my dobermon, for whatever reason. They don't seem to be gnawing on the fiberglass but the ones in the wooden and wire cages ate some concrete that I beveled the top-side of support timbers with to make poop slide off.
