r/MeatRabbitry

Any recommendation?

Ok weird one for you guys. TLDR; had a few too many kits pass recently and want to know what weird things could cause nuerological issues in kits.

We raise colony style with a single buck and up to two does in each colony (though currently only one buck has two girls). Been going strong 3 years now. They are on flooring (various kinds) and not grass however I do bring them forage from our yard frequently. They get pellets daily in addition to any forage I give them. Kits are left in until between 6 and 8 weeks when they move to the grow out pens.

Recently I have lost three (maybe four, but the 4th doe I did sell (at 8 weeks) and she passed about 2 weeks later in her new home) kits around ages 4-6 weeks. I have come in to the runs to find them moving as if slowly treading water, head back, unresponsive. I have culled most of them to stop any suffering, though one was growing cold by the time I found it so was already gone.

I did also have a doe miscarry in the same time frame. She's a 2 year old who's had multiple litters for us with no problem, we even kept a buck and a doe from two previous litters for our program and they're still healthy and happy. This litter though seemed to come early? She didn't pull fur or nest build at all and started having them kind of in the middle of the run. Four survived birth but passed in the next few days.

The older kits who passed looked and felt healthy. They weren't bloated or emaciated or dirty or lethargic prior to the episodes. Unfortunately I've not seen one start, just been there for the aftermath. They were from three separate litters; two from the same run but one from another run. The runs are separated by quarter inch hardwire cloth.

All my adults are healthy.

Nobody is sneezing, no discharge from noses, no scabs or mites in the ears and vents are all clean.

We use two different pellet brands depending on which is available and they have been on Home Fresh during this time while prior we've used Manna Pro.

We own our house and nobody sprays anything on any of their forage.

I've added no new rabbits in at least two months.

Two kits were from litters of parents I've bred before and one was from a proven buck and an unproven daughter.

Thoughts? There is a small chance they were exposed to Sevin Dust one day but it would have been very little as my husband treated a few carpenter bees in the wood. It also was treated after I sold the doe kit who passed.

Any other questions I can answer to help suss this out? I have two brand new litters of 7 each and older kits I'm watching like a hawk... but they all seem perfect!

Hello everyone,

I am brand new to meat rabbits, though I've been researching for a while. A Craigslist post for free meat rabbits put me over the edge today, and I took home two does with ten kits about four weeks old.

The guy I got them from had a bunch of bunnies all loose in the same area, and it didn't dawn on me until I got home that the does were almost certainly loose in the same area as the buck. I feel like it's inevitable that they are pregnant again, and probably pretty close to 28 days along.

What should I do to preserve the health of the current kits, the does, and the unborn litter on the way? Can I pull the does at 30ish days from their kits? They are eating food but not quite half the size of their mom.

Help me reddit, you're my only hope!

I bred one of my does today. My question is should I breed my other now as well? This is everyone’s first go and it was successful today so would it be best for both to be bred so there’s hopefully at least one mom that can care for the kits if one isn’t a good mom? What’s everyone’s experience?

I recently got 4 New Zealand mest rabbits.
3 males and 1 female siblings.
I got them as a gift.
They are about 5 weeks old and are in the same hutch.
I know I will need to separe them soon.
Idk if I should buy another hutch or metal cages.
The Woden hutch I have they have bitten into the wood.
I want to raise them for meat. But idk which cage is better for the long term.
Please help.

A bit of an odd question. I adore rabbits, and would like to create a soft mount of a lovely bunny as my next taxidermy project.

Do any folks in this group skin their rabbits fully, to include the legs, feet, toes, lips and eyelids? If so, I'm after adult bunnies and/or any failure-to-thrive kits or youngsters.

I don't want to have an animal dispatched just for it's fur, but since you folks process them anyways for food, I figured this might be a good place to ask, since your want to keep them healthy and cared for when raising them for meat. 🥹

So if any of you do skin and tan any for taxidermy I would be super interested in buying from ya to make use of their fur and turn them into something cuddly and preserve the fur they grew! 🥹✨.

(Mods, feel free to delete if not allowed.)

I just got some NZ rabbits to start growing for meat. I see some people talk about some hay being better than others. I have a few goats, and planned on just using their hay, when it looks mostly like grass blades for the rabbits.

So my question is, how can you tell alfalfa vs Timothy vs clover or other hay? Do I have to buy special rabbit hay and where would I try to source that?

My buck is in a temp cage while I build a real hutch, a TSC one with plastic tray, and I've noticed after 12 or so hours when I clean the tray, there are some whitish colored deposits, so im worried he is getting too much calcium.

My doe seems ok, but she was bred the day I got her, and she's chewing through hay 3x faster than the buck. But seems happy about it.

I have a young doe that flat out refuses to lift for my new buck. She lifted for the old buck and has the largest, fastest growing babies out of my moms, so I was hoping to find a way to make this work. If she refuses to lift, do I need to get rid of her? I intend to get rid of my old buck soon as he is 3.5 years old and I don't need two bucks.