Changes - Time for Good-Byes

I have enjoyed this time and adventure of raising rabbits commercially very much, but life is always changing.

Since my husband passed away on June 2 this year, I have had some tough decisions to make. I have had to realize it would be next to impossible to continue the rabbits by myself. That said this will be the last post on this blog. It may remain open for a time so that others may access information. I wish you all happy success in your rabbit raising ventures. Thank you for allowing me the joy of giving some practical imput and hopefully helpful information.

Improvements; and the Fun part of raising Rabbits

The cupboard is all painted and finished (Great job, Hubby!!) Pallets underneath hold the sprayer and buckets we need for weighing and keeping big wash brushes handy. Cleaned nest boxes ready for another litter on a pallet stacked beside the cupboard.

Coffee cans and large yogurt contaiers hold extra hair that does have pulled, in case a mother doesn't pull enough to keep her babies warm. Also spray for ear mites, blood-stop powder, eye wash, wheat germ oil dispenser, record cards and pens, snack baggies to put record cards in, scissors, calf manna pellets for new mamas, and germ-x hand cleaner.

Underneath, nails hold the most used tools, nail clippers, wide putty blade for scraping nest boxes, and barbeque wire brushes; the best for cleaning cages.

Across the isle, my used-to-be dairy weigh scale, with bucket; for weighing fryers at harvest time.

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Now for the fun part......

Brand new newborns... she had a good litter of 9

... and here is a 2 wk old, just waking up to the world!

Content for now, but not for long.....

These are about 3 wks and getting ready to leave the nest

At naptime they are so cute, some all lined up in a row

These no longer need a nest box, but still grab a snack from Mama

Sometimes a song comes to mind as I watch these little fur-babies!

"Listen.......

Do you want to know a secret?

Do you promise not to tell?

Closer......

Let me whisper in your ear..

Things I know you want to hear..

I'm in love with you!"





"Takin a Dive"

I am glad to be able to have fun with my work :) Is your work this much fun?

It takes a special personality to be able to raise meat animals and then be able to part with them when the time comes.

Speaking of which, the rabbit truck runs this afternoon and I will be parting with about 50 of them. Two weeks from now it will be up to about 80. Meanwhile I have bunnies to wean from their mamas, who will be giving birth again in about another week.

Have fun with your rabbits!

Back to bloggin' 'bout the Bunnies

Just when I thought things couldn't get any better .....

Hubby builds a cupboard in the barn for my rabbit supplies.

He does a fantastic job!

Under that he has fashioned a work bench.....

at just the right height for me.

So the whole work area looks like this....

The bench will come in handy for scraping nest boxes, or set a rabbit on for examining or treatment, and there is room underneath for my fly-sprayer and my bucket I use for weighing fryers.

He's so clever. I appreciate all he does to make the work easier for me!

All Good Things ......

..... must come to an end. I feel I have covered the "basics" of commercial rabbit raising, which was my purpose for this blog. I mean how much more can be said, without getting too technical, which I am not. We continue to enjoy our rabbits, and harvest an average of 70-80 rabbits every 2 weeks. We hope to continue this number through the summer.

There are also plenty of short videos on you-tube having to do with the subject of raising rabbits. So therefore I will just say I hope that what I have written has been a help to any of you interested in considering a rabbitry, whether commercial or just for your own use. This blog wll remain open, but I will not be posting. If anyone has questions, please feel free to e-mail me and I will be glad to attemp an answer.

Wishing you all the best ......
Sunny

Rabbit-pen wire

Some have asked for sizes of our rabbit pens, how to build and what size wire we used. So I have tried to answer this to the best of my ability.

We order our wire from Klubertanz in Wisconson. You can view their catalog online by clicking on their name.





Hubby makes a double row of cages using two 14' lengths of 1" x 1/2" by 30" back to back, laid flat. Where these make a seam you attach a length of 18" x 1"x 2" with babysaver wire (4' deep) at the bottom to form a common back (cut in whatever length you are working with; we did 14' sections to make a double 7 hole run.) The sides, made from 1"x2"x 18" with babysaver wire at the one edge, are cut 30" front to back. The front wire is one piece, from 1"x2"x 24" bent at an angle with 14" being on the slant and 10" the very front.





Slant front has a hole cut out of 10"x16". The doors then are 14' long by 20" wide, hinged at the topseam, so they can lay back over the pen, and covering the hole and overlapping the sides of the opening, fastened with a spring fastener on the edge toward you. The top is 36" wide and covers both back to back cages ; each cage top being 18" front to back. Our cages are hung from the ceiling with fencing wire (can't remember the gage)



Now..... I add a disclaimer; Any information given here-in is correct to the best of my knowledge, however I will not be responsible for any mis-information. In other words, make sure to do your own math :)


I hope this post is helpful to those who are looking to build a rabbitry of more than hobby size..

How many Rabbits in Your Barn??

I have been asked this many times, and always the answer is the same ...... "well, I am not quite sure" .... as the number can change so rapidly. However I do have an answer today! Saturday night I counted all of them ..... ALL!

Breeding does ..............................................59
Jr does .........................................................26
Bucks ...........................................................10
Jr Bucks .........................................................5
Fryers, various ages,
out of the nest box .............................288
Babies,
still in the nest box ..............................127
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if I did my math right............................. 515

We put in 9 nest boxes last night and have about 80 fryers to go today.

Posting on Cage Building Soon ....

I am sorry to take so long in answering about how we built our cage system, but my computer fried like an egg in the hot Arizona sun and I lost alot of the info I had written down.

Thank-you for your patience. I will try to get it done over the week-end. Enjoy your rabbits!