It feels like it's taken ages!
But now.. Finally, the time has arrived to allow the rabbits to breed!
To that end, we gave one of our A-frame pins a new resident! The conversion from rooster coop to rabbit pin was incredibly easy. All it required was a scrap piece of fencing be laid under it as to prevent him from digging out.
And we we're off! Project "Breed some Rabbits for fun and profit is a go!"
He seems very happy with it. Though it's a big adjustment from the green house! We will give him a week or so to settle in before we introduce any females, but the hard work is over!
Right now funds are low.. And they will probably continue to be low for some time.
We have many long term projects that will remedy this, but there, well long term. Mushroom logs, honey bees, etc..
And the rabbits are in this category as well.
Rabbits can have up to 14 in their litter, though I think 7-9 is average. We're going to end up selling more then we keep/butcher.
What's more, I think they will be an easy sell.. As ours would not come with strings attached. You wouldn't believe the trouble we had getting rabbits in the first place! Over and over again we would contact people, agree on not only a price, but a time and location to meet up, only for them to call back later with cold feet saying ..... 'Where are you going to keep them..' 'Have you had rabbits before?' 'I think it's best I come look at your set-up first...'
This would happen over and over. And no, we're not letting some yuppies come out to the homestead and inspect it so I can PAY you for anything. (A free rabbit might be different.) Needless to say, it took a long time to finally find some people who actually wanted to SELL something.
Now that we do, and that they're old enough to breed, I think it's time to give it a go!
Fingers crossed for a few angora rabbits in each litter!
-'The Digger'
Very handsome fellow. He'll produce bunches nice little ones. And yes you can litter train rabbits to use a litter box. Perhaps that would be another avenue of income...not only for wool and meat but also rabbits to sell as house pets - back to those yuppies. LOL
Genius!!! LOL
That looks great! I love the little a frame design, I have always wanted angora rabbits. Cant wait to see the post on the litter in the future.
Thank you! When we get enough wool were going to build a spinning wheel and what-not. So far rabbits are dead simple! Ours are very sweet and well tempered, I would recommend them to anyone (so long as you can wrangle anyone down to actually selling you one lol) who wants some diversity on the homestead.
P.S... I hear you can train them to use a litter box... Don't think ill ever do it, but who ever herd of a cat substitute that produces something (wool)!
That's strange. I've been looking into rabbits for some time and never had anyone ask those questions. Maybe everyone in your area views them as pets? Glad you finally found some haha angoras look like fun. Definitely what I would go with if we didn't live in such a hot climate!
I don't know what it is, However none backed out till after we told them we homestead, where we live (country) and what we drive haha. Think they thought we were going to eat them!.. These suckers are not cheap!... Who's going to pay 15-60 bucks for one rabbit and then eat it!.. We can take them all day long in the yard.. Strange yuppie kids.. ;)
yikes! We want to go with silver foxes and even those are around $25 a rabbit. No way would I pay $60!
Angoras can go up to 200.. Its an investment, the wool is worth more then silver and you shave them 3-4 times a year that, and they can live 12+ years we did good to get away with him at 60.. Now the other two females we paid 15 ea for and there 1/2 angora.. Fingers crossed we will have a good number to sell out of each litter! The rest we will sell as pets, breeding stock or just butcher for personal use.
That's pretty much the plan with ours as well! Trying to get the homestead to pay for itself eventually!
Your rabbit is gorgeous. Best of luck for a good litter. Upvoted
Thank you! These would probably do good in Canada!