Independence Homestead

In running our breeding rabbit operation, we’ve found that having an environment where rabbits can feel safe and relaxed is important to success. We must remember that living creatures are not computers! The inputs of food, water, shelter, and mating do not necessarily equal the output of rabbit kits.  As with all living creatures, the equation is a bit more complicated.

We have had pretty good success with our rabbitry, and I believe a large part of that is because we create an environment where the rabbits feel safe enough to relax and reproduce. Reflecting on our operation, here are some aspects that I believe contribute to our success.

Consistency

We try to keep things the same as much as possible. Feeding is always done at about the same time daily. Rabbits are kept in the same cage or pen as much as possible, with moves minimized. While of course changes happen, like feeding at a different time on a day where we have a conflict, change is the exception because consistency is the norm.

Living Environment

We give the rabbits living quarters that are spacious, clean, and free of undue stress.

Each breeder is kept in her own breeder cage all the time. We don’t bounce her to a small cage when she’s pregnant, and then move her back to a larger breeder cage when she’s going to kindle. She gets a breeder cage to call “home” all the time. We have experienced rabbits that are excellent mothers, but once moved even to a new location in a similarly sized cage will have problems with a couple litters until they are moved back to their “home” spot.

Clean living quarters are key for healthy rabbits, which contributes to their emotional wellbeing. For our breeders, we use wire cages suspended over trays to collect waste. This keeps rabbits off their droppings all the time. We empty those trays every week, so the stink, flies, and disease potential is minimized. We’ve been in rabbitries where the poop’s been sitting under cages for a quite a while, and that has to affect the rabbits! This has the added benefit of producing valuable manure for our gardens and orchard!

Weather permitting, our junior rabbits grow out in “rabbit tractors” on pasture. The tractors are 3ft by 5ft, giving the rabbits plenty of access to grass, and space to run around. We pull the tractors forward to new pasture every day. This keeps rabbits off their droppings, and gives them new forage to eat. To help boost their growing we will supplement them with a cup or so of rabbit feed pellets once a day.

We have all our rabbits housed in quarters where they’re not stressed out. They don’t have loud children shrieking and poking them all the time, or dogs barking at their cages. They are subject to plenty of noises, including barking dogs, but the noise is never directed at the rabbits. They wouldn’t feel attacked by the activity. So a lively environment can be fine, as long as the rabbits feel like they’re bystanders.

Regular Handling

We handle our rabbits on a regular basis, which yields many benefits.

First, by handling them we can see if something’s wrong with them. Maybe a rabbit has dry skin, or isn’t keeping itself clean, or has some other physical problem. By handling the rabbit, we can find the issue early, before it’s a huge problem.

Regular handling also teaches the rabbit that being held is normal and not threatening. That way handling the rabbit isn’t a stressing situation. This  means when we take a doe to a buck’s cage for breeding, or perform a routine health check, we’re not putting undue  stress on the rabbit. This is especially important since we’re handling the rabbit if something is wrong with it. We wouldn’t want the act of handling it to make the situation worse!