Definitions

* A female rabbit is called a doe. A male rabbit is called a buck.
* When referring to the parents of a rabbit, the mother is called the dam, and the father is called the sire.
* When you mate two rabbits together, this is called breeding.
* When you check to see if the doe is pregnant or when you breed her again before she is due to give birth, this is called testing.
* When you put a box in the hutch that is lined with hay, this is called nesting.
* When the doe gives birth, this is called kindling.
* The period of time between breeding and kindling is called the gestation period.
* She gives birth to a bunch of bunnies called kits. This bunch of bunnies is called a litter.
* When you take the young rabbits away from the mother, this is called weaning.


Rabbits are an excellent animal to raise for meat. Not only are they a hardy animal that can be raised in a small amount of space, the meat is delicious and high in protein.

Diet with Rabbit:
Rabbit meat is high in protein and lean in fats, veggies can be used to obtain needed fats and carbs.
30-35% Protein (rabbit)
45-50% carbs (starchy foods like corn are high in carbs)
20% healthy fats (ex. Avacado)

BUILD A HUTCH

Rabbits are fairly easy to care for once you have established suitable housing. A basic wire-mesh hutch is the preferred cage providing protection from the weather and predators. You will need to provide a separate hutch for each rabbit, approximately 3 or 4 feet square. Use 1" mesh sides and 1/2" mesh floors so that the droppings can fall through to the cleaning tray without catching the rabbits' feet. Mount cages at a height that will make for easy cleaning, feeding and maintenance. You will need to clean and disinfect the trays regularly as well as between litters.

You can add canvas or plastic rolls to be unrolled and cover the mesh if it rains. Using a crate that is 1'x1' and 20" wide you can make a nesting box for deliveries. With a 6" panel on the front to keep the newborns inside you can add fresh hay to insure warmth as well.

FOOD

Commercially available rabbit pellets provide the best diet for rabbits but you can supplement their diet with hay, grass clippings or left over table greens and fruit. Change their water at least once a day and you can provide a salt lick if desired.

As a side note, if you are going to grow your own garden or even the alphalfa and hay for the rabbit, Rabbit feces is one of the best fertilizers without needing to compost

MATING

Some rabbits are ready to be bread as young as six months of age. Females can appear restless or may rub their heads against the cage frequently. Once a rabbit has reached maturity she will be fertile often and will give birth, also known as kindling, approximately 31 days after conception.

Avoid taking a male rabbit to a female's cage. She can consider this an intrusion and may attack. Instead, bring the female to the male's cage, introducing them cautiously. If they do not breed immediately you can separate them and try again in a few days.

10-15 days after mating you can check for pregnancy by feeling the area just above the female rabbits pelvis.

Young bunnies will need to be fed by their mother for up to 8 weeks. During this time it is important not to disturb the young babies or the mother could kill her young. Often even a human smell on the fur of the babies will threaten the mother rabbit. Do not allow the male rabbit into the cage with the newborns.

BUTCHERING A FRYER

You will want to keep a good mother rabbit for breeding, but her babies can be butchered when they are about 8-12 weeks old or about 4 pounds in weight. For one day before butchering do not feed the fryer. Killing can be preformed quickly and painlessly by administering a sharp blow directly to the head behind the ears while holding the animal upside down by his feet or held down on a table. After dressing the rabbit, immediately wrap in freezer paper, label and refrigerate the meat





Medium Size Breeds
This group is characterized by weights ranging from 4-1/2 to 7 pounds mature. These rabbits consume between 1/2 and 1 cup of feed per day and take up 5 sq ft of cage space. Usually, pet stores don't want these breeds except possibly around Easter. The medium breeds produce an acceptable amount of meat on small bones. Some commercial meat rabbit breeders raise these breeds. But they usually prefer the next group - the meat rabbits, because the feed-to-meat conversion ratio is apparently better. Usually, those that raise the medium size rabbits like to show them and eat the ones that don't make the grade. Some of these rabbits are raised for their fur as well. On the whole, it is harder to sell these rabbits except to other fanciers of like mind. You can expect about $20.00 with pedigree for mature rabbits.
Rabbits that make up this group of medium breeds include the following:
* American Sable (Also good for meat) 7-10 lbs
* English Angora (Many colors) 5 - 7-1/2 lbs
* French Angora (Many colors - good also for meat) 7-1/2 - 10-1/2 lbs
* Satin Angora (Many colors) 6-1/2 - 9 lbs
* Belgian Hare (Not seen much - different body style) 6 - 9-1/2 lbs
* Standard Chinchilla 5 - 7-1/2 lbs
* English Spot (White with spots of black, blue, chocolate, gold, gray, lilac, or tortoise) 5 - 8 lbs
* Florida White 4 - 6 lbs
* Harlequin (Has alternate bands of color) 6-1/2 - 9-1/2 lbs
* Havana (Black, blue, or chocolate) 4-1/2 - 6-1/2 lbs
* Lilac 5-1/2 - 8 lbs
* Mini Lop (Lop ears - Many colors) 4-1/2 - 6-1/2 lbs
* Rhinelander (White with spots of black and orange) 6-1/2 - 10 lbs
* Silver (Black, brown, or fawn with white ticking) 4 - 7 lbs
* Silver Marten (Black, blue, chocolate, or sable with white on belly, flanks, jaw lines, and eye circles) 6 - 9-1/2 lbs
* Tan (Black, blue, chocolate, or lilac with tan on belly, flanks, jaw lines, and eye circles) 4 - 6 lbs

Meat Rabbits
Meat Rabbits make up the next group. They are characterized by weights between 8 and 12 pounds. These rabbits are raised for both meat and fur. Rabbits in the meat group consume about 1-1/4 cup of feed per day and take up 7-1/2 sq ft of cage space.
The rabbits that make up the meat group include:
* American (Blue or White) 9 - 12 lbs
* Beveren (Black, Blue, or White) 8 - 12 lbs
* Californian (White with black ears, nose, feet, and tail) 8 - 10-1/2 lbs
* Champagne D'Argent (Starts as black, mature is silver) 9 - 12 lbs
* American Chinchilla 9 - 12 lbs
* Cinnamon 8-1/2 - 11 lbs
* Creme D'Argent 8 - 11 lbs
* Hotot (White with black around its eyes) 8 - 11 lbs
* English Lop (Many colors - giant lop ears) 9 - 14 lbs
* French Lop (Many colors - regular lop ears) 10 - 15 lbs
* New Zealand (Black, Red, or White) The standard meat rabbit 9 - 12 lbs
* Palomino 8 - 11 lbs
* Satin (Shiny coat - many colors) 8-1/2 - 11 lbs
* Silver Fox (fur resembles fox) 9 - 12 lbs


The Giants
The next group of rabbits are the Giants. These are raised because some breeders just like giant rabbits. They can sometimes weigh up to 25 pounds. The giants require 1-3/4 - 2 cups of feed per day and 11 - 12 sq ft of cage space. The giant breeds also require stronger cages. Because few people raise these rabbits, they are more rare than the other breeds. It takes a strong person to lift these rabbits. They are mainly used for meat and fur. The feed-to-meat conversion ratio is less than the meat group.
The giants include:
* Checkered Giant (White with spots of black or blue) weight over 11 lbs
* Giant Chinchilla 12 - 16 lbs
* Flemish Giant (Black, blue, fawn, light gray, sandy, steel gray, or white) weight over 13 lbs