Thanks for posting this, I look forward to hearing about your kits, when are they due? How many rabbits do you have?

A little Background, I typically have three producing does and one breeding buck, I have gotten up to four does and two bucks but they out breed my need for rabbit 🙂 and my desire to have that many growout pens.

I tend to breed four to six litters per doe each year, depending on how hot the summer gets, I find that the rabbit and kits do better in spring, fall and winter, then they do over our high, high summer temps here in Ontario.

I breed a mix of breeds, I am more about good temperments, nice pelts, with a good growout out rate then I am about what breed they are. I self-butcher, and I also work the hides for different things depending on what I want to do with them.

I have one doe right now, the breeder I got her from is supposed to have a buck for us sometime this month or july that
can be used to breed her and any of the does that are born from this litter. The kits are due around the 20th or 24th
of this month.

Are you going to track grow out rates on the litter? to help figure out which one to keep back?

Here is a photo of one of my current mixed meat rabbit litters at four and half weeks in age 🙂 don't worry about the size, they were all in the back which is one foot by four feet long and they have another 3 by 3 feet of outside with roof space to hang out in.. total hutch size, four by four

Not sure what you mean by track grow out rates. This is the first time raising rabbits.
In the house area the floor has wire to let the poop fall through, the wire is 1/2" squares.
Should I put a board in for when she has babies or just leave as is.

Grow out rates mean that you weight the babies at two weeks, four weeks, six weeks and eight weeks to get a average grow out rate on the babies, so that you can see what the average weights are that does produces, I have had some does that I have got that have babies that are up to a full pound less at butcher age, that's eight pds of meat out of my freezer per litter, that a different doe with babies would have given me for the same food and time costs.

As you are just starting out, you need to create a base line on this for your rabbits so you can see what your weights are, so you can figure out your costs vs returns 🙂

If you have a wire floor for the whole cage, then you will need to consider either putting in a board for part of it for her to sit and rest on, its not good for a rabbit to always have to rest on wire, it can lead to sore hocks and a few other things, so she needs that just for herself..

http://www.rabbitnetwork.org/articles/sorehocks.shtml

But for the babies, you need to either make or buy a birthing box, that you will put in with bedding a couple days before she is due (if you are really positive on her breeding date, if in doubt at all because you didn't breed her, I would most likely go a full week early.. Given your skills on the hutch, I know you can make her a really nice box 🙂 I like the first one on this page, its pretty much what I use. Given her breed, I would make a large box in size.. Hope that helps..

If you didn't have a box with a floor etc, then she would not be able to use her bedding and her pulled fur to create a safe nest for her wee ones.. hang on, I will track down a nest with newborn kits photo in it for you.. ok its a bad photo because it does not show the box at all but it was the only one I could find, but the bottom and sides have straw bedding, and then its a big puffy pile of soft pulled momma hair, and you will when they are wee, not even see them, so much as see movement, to get what I did, I gently lifted off a handful of hair and snapped the photo, because when the air hits them, they get all twichy and jump and at such a young age, its upsets momma rabbit and she might mock charge or thump, to warn you off.

http://lancaster.unl.edu/4h/documents/rabbitnestingbox.pdf

https://www.google.ca/search?q=rabbit+birthing+box&rlz=1T4TSCA_enCA441CA441&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=dcCsUZ2lMMTP0wHA9YCoCA&ved=0CC0QsAQ&biw=1366&bih=589

One birthing box attached.

that's just awesome! nice job

Did a rabbit weigh in at five weeks on the current kits and they coming in at 2.6 to 2.10 oz so that is quite good for that age, and was at farm boy, (a local store, and one of the few that carry rabbit) its was sitting at 7.50 per pd, or about 23 dollars on average per rabbit they are offering. so that is the price in Ottawa area, ontario

Has anyone else priced out what rabbit is going for locally in your own area? I would be interested to know if you are willing to look and share?

At the Asian market chain here in BC a frozen whole rabbit ( did not check the weight sorry ) was priced at $28

I am in the process of adding more hutches and run space to accommodate growing out meat bunnies . I went from 3 to 23 in about three months .

Maybe an odd question but how do you all keep your buck so he is not completely socially segregated? Is his hutch adjacent in any way ?

Bucks spray and so they do have their own hutch, for me at least, I try and give him toys to play with, fruit tree trimmings to nibble on, swtch things out and up, sometimes something can be hung up higher for him to have, sometimes its just as simple as a sprinkle of sunflower seeds in his back hutch to find and enjoy.

Newest litter, so colorful and what a pretty mix, but I see at least three sets of two matching colors and patterns, perfect for making very special earmuffs for my nieces this winter, but for now.. so. so cute!

Our first batch of kits.

Very nice looking, great nest of pulled hair, even looking litter of kits, well done momma rabbit! Please keep us updated 🙂

Farmgal,what would you recommend for a superior source of information on rabbit farming? I don't see or hear of any in N. Alb. so no direct sources.I have a friend in langley B.C. who grows pidgeons and is quite happy with the process and profit margin.Thanks for the great topic.