Three of our four Rex does are "with kit" and will soon deliver. Rabbits have only a 28-32 day gestational period and while they can re-breed within a day of delivery, it's really hard on the does to be carrying a litter while nursing a litter at the same time. Sometimes the number of kits can be 6-10 in a single batch! So we don't keep our bucks in the same cage as the females for that reason.
It has been such a mild spring that we might be able to get two- three litters this year instead of one. I don't breed our girls in the winter or early spring as it's usually very windy and cold in the winter and chilly and damp in the spring. I just don't want to stress the rabbits that much. Plus I really don't want to feed all those babies with store bought food. I'd rather feed them greens from our abundant pastures. But the pastures don't green out with much spark until the end of April or May. So we wait. This year has been exceptionally mild. We might just get a couple of litters before the snow flies again!
At 3-4 pounds a bunny after 12 weeks~ that's a lot of quick meat!
Wait a minute??? Y'all eat the rabbits? I'm heartbroken ha ha
ReplyDelete(Oooops. Kind of a surprise way to find out. Sorry!) Yup...the meat is really great. Rach doesn't even blink an eye anymore.
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