Welcome to the RDSE Rabbitry Blog. Here we will document our rabbitry experiences as we strive towards a more self reliant existence. It is our intention to present an example by which others can model their own increased self reliance by. It is our sincere desire that you will find this blog inspirational, education, motivational and entertaining. You are invited & encouraged to provide your commentary on our Rabbitry Blog at our Rabbitry Forum below.
So our rabbis are now between 3-4 months old. Too young we thought to mate, or even be interested in mating! WRONG! When the breeder said they wouldn't be ready to breed until they were 6 months old, I suspect what he actually meant is that they should not be bred until then, not that they wouldn't be willing to engage in mating until then! lol As it happens, our NZ buck, Benny was actually quite ready...and was able to corner our NZ/Chin mix Amber, even though she growled at him several times, and mount her. Whether or not she is able to be bred successfully at this point is anyone's guess, but Benny made a good attempt of it and even did the fall over thing afterwards! lol too funny to see. Anyway, I have marked the event on the calendar, and Ram will build a nest box, just in case the breeding took and she kindles. I don't expect the litter to survive, everything I have ready and learned about rabbits says she is far too young to mother them properly. However, she comes from excellent "mothering" stock, is very calm and friendly and so we do expect her to be a good mother once she is old enough to know what she is supposed to do. If she kindles and the litter doesn't survive then Leo will have his first taste of rabbit, so no waste or loss there. If the litter survives then we will raise them to butcher later, although we will likely keep a doe from the litter as Amber is so pretty and calm. Now Benny is separated from the girls. Ram is designing a partition for the rabbit tractor as well. We try to put them out on the lawn in the tractor every day that the weather permits, they get a lot more exercise in the tractor and really seem to enjoy racing around in it. Now it is just a wait and see situation. In the mean time I am getting ready to start planting the garden so the rabbits and the rest of us can have some Yummy fresh produce! If your interested in gardening and raising crops for your rabbits, check out the RDSE: Garden Blog. Oh and there will be pictures of the rabbitry, the tractor and more coming in the next few days, so check back to view those too!
.................0k so it was a long, wintery weekend for us. NC got hit with another unusual cold snap that brought our area 3" + of snow, in addition to wind, rain & sleet. Night time temps Saturday & Sunday nights dipped down into the low teens and since our bunnies have only been with us for a week now and came from pens with 3 times as many bunny bodies to help keep them warm, I decided to err on the side of caution and bring their pen into the barn where it & they would be more protected from the wintery weather. I stayed up Saturday night until mmidnight, going out every couple of hours to make sure their water bottle was free flowing and then got up at 7 am and went out to thaw their water bottle and give them fresh food. Sunday night I stayed up until 3am, going out periodically to make sure their water bottle was free flowing and then went out this morning at 8 and thawed their water for them again. Today it was nice and sunny so we brought their pen back out of the barn so they could get fresh air and sunshine and took them out a couple of times to hold them and love them up real good. Over the weekend I also introduced some fresh, canned & frozen veggies to them. They got some canned green beans, frozen yellow beans and a fresh carrot, they ate them all and seem to like them. I am thrilled since I want to transition them over to a completely natural and organic diet over the summer. I am hoping if we introduce fresh produce to them when they are young they will accept the transition over the summer when the gardens are producing without any health problems. Ram is going to take a piece of galvanized roofing material and bend it into a pellet feeder in the meantime, since they insist on using their pellet bowl as a potty. He is also going to make a hay shoot that will attach to the side of the pen for their hay as well so they don't potty on that. Of course once the gardens are producing and we have access to fresh grass and other plant matter we won't need these feeding items any longer, but we do need them in the meantime. Each of our rabbits has a very distinct personality developing and with each day that passes and the more time we spend handling them, they are becoming more and more tame and already they come to the door of the pen when we approach. It is wonderful to see them responding so positively to us. We are really looking forward to the warmer weather and drier days when we can have them out in the rabbit tractor that Ram is going to build for them. I am going to take some pictures of them as soon as we get a good day. I won't be able to upload them right away since my digital camera and my linux Ubuntu operating system are not compatible, however, as soon as I have the ability I will share pictures here as well.
So we went and picked up our first NZ meat rabbit breeding stock this past Saturday. We were able to pick out just the individual bunnies we wanted and they seem to come from very good stock as the sellers rabbitry was well organized, clean & healthy. We choose a NZ Black buck we have named Benny & a NZ Black doe we have named Pepper, because she is more grey than black with a little hint of brown mixed in. We also chose a NZ Red/Chinchilla mix doe we have named Amber. I will post pictures as soon as I can but right now my computer and digital camera are not compatible. Amber has the most docile personality of them all. The seller said her mother was very docile as well and that mothers often pass on their personality traits to their kits. Benny & Pepper are out of a different litter and are a bit more nervous, they try to struggle a bit when we hold them, but they soon settle down, though they are all quick to jump out of our grasp when we lower them back to the door of their pen. The seller was generous and gave us some feed to get them started on and we will continue to feed them pellet food & gradually add in more organic fresh food resources as the spring & summer progress and our gardens begin producing. Over the weekend we gave them left over apple bits and they seemed to love them. Today I will take out some oatmeal for them. They also get a bit of hay I have taken to tucking into a toilet paper roll so they won't potty on it. The cooler nights, below freezing, I go out and cover their pen with a light blanket to help keep the chill off them as they are accustomed to being in much more populated communes and I don't want them to get too cold. Even though they are in a well protected pen I just figured it was better to gradually allow them to acclimate to their new environment. Benny & Pepper seem to like to sit in their pellet bowl and use it as a potty. Not sure how to break them of that outside of getting an exterior feeder for the pellets which I was trying ot avoid doing since I intent to transition them over to an all fresh/organic natural diet over the summer so it seemed a waste to buy the feeder when I won't be using it again after this. The seller said they shouldn't be ready to breed until they are 5-6 months old and they are all between 6-7 weeks old now. Ram will construct individual pens for them all over the next couple of months so that they can have ample space as they grow and the does can have separate pens in anticipation of their future kindling needs. He will also construct extra smaller pens we will use for the kits once they are out of the nesting box and weaned. Some will go to freezer camp for our immediate meat needs and some will be kept to raise for additional future breeding stock. We go out to their pen several times a day to handle them all and hold them, pet them, scratch them, etc. We want them to be very friendly & tolerant of us handling them and messing about in their pens. Especially the does, since they get nervous and sometimes aggressive during kindling. When we first got them home they were very hesitant, but just in the few days we have had them here they are already coming to the door when we come up to the front of their pen so I interpret that as positive progress. We have also made sure that our feline companion, Leo, was introduced to them all individually and gets an opportunity to interact with them whenever he shows an interest so that they are all comfortable with his presence around them. Thus we are excited to begin our new experience in raising & breeding NZ meat rabbits. I think we have good healthy stock to begin with and I have been devouring the information at the yahoo rabbit groups I am subscribed to as well as the book info our hostess already had available here at the farmstead. I have also been researching how to dispatch & butcher meat rabbits and how to tan hides/pelts.
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So we went and picked up our first NZ meat rabbit breeding stock this past Saturday. We were able to pick out just the individual bunnies we wanted and they seem to come from very good stock as the sellers rabbitry was well organized, clean & healthy. 
