Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Wow. You can catch and keep the bunnies over here. If you can catch em that is!! Aussie rabbits are ultra placid. In fact the nastiest bunnies I've ever seen have been 'tame' does.

Anyhow... Who knew rabbits had two wombs? We've just had another litter with (apparently) no conception, a further 6 babies was quite a surprise when the current litter was only 4 weeks old! Guess I left the boy on a little too long

So I ended up making a lapin au vin with some chardonnay. It was excellent! However, as the market price of the rabbit is $7/lb for the whole carcass, I won't be buying there regularly.

This confirms for me though that the rabbits are worth raising for meat if I can do so economically.

Imac-rodent conception

They are definitely worth it. You can raise 40 rabbits to eating size on $50- $60 feed. Price starts going up quick after your friends find out and you start giving them away!

yeah, I second that, they are worth raising for meat, for me, for lots of reasons, cost, tast, confidence in how your meat was raised and what they can contribute to a vegi patch! and the experiance, not to mention the small amount of space they require.

they are a grest addition to a backyard farm IMHO, although with the hot weather we have been having here in the west i have let mine have the run of the yard and I have been reminded of how they can do some damage if you dont fenc off your faveret plants, even small palms are not safe!

Hi all,
Latest determination on keeping rabbits in QLD.

http://www.parliament.qld.gov.au/view/E ... 271-09.pdf

Good old QLD, always to the forefront of the rear Guard!!!
Cheers IanK

Umm... are they worried they might get out and add to the billions of wild rabbits already rampaging the countryside?

Cow's out of the barn. Quick, shut the barn door!

Treated the bunnies ears for ear mites, a couple of them were starting to get crusty. The stuff I use is like a lanolin/cocoa butter hand lotion with mite poison in it. They usually heal up in just a few days after treatment. The fellow I bought the rabbits from uses Avon Skin-so-soft bath oil as a deterant. I need to get some and maybe mix up some of the liquid drops in with it as preventative medicine. I put one of the does in with that giant buck for a few hours so I should have baby bunnies in 33 days. I'm going to give the buck a day off and breed another until all the does bred. 49 days after that I should be harvesting rabbit meat!

The mother that I got my babies from had a bad ear mite infection. The owner did not want to treat her as she was still nursing. Any early signs to look for?

It's nothing to worry about. Check the bunny's ears for crustiness, normally near the edges, not in deep.
If you find some, get a spray from the LPS apply, and all is taken care of. I would happily treat a feeding mother, I think that was just an excuse of his.

Sounds like it to me also. Any oil, mineral oil, olive oil, body oil, or hand lotion will have them heal up really fast. As nasty as the crusty stuff was yesterday it all fell off and is a bright pink today. They heal really fast, ear mites are a type of menge mites. Preventative medicine of a few drops of oil weekly will keep them clear even without actual medicine in it.

Just Oil Eh? Interesting... That's the last time I buy the medicinal spray then! (although it does last a long time)

A lots to be said about good medicine if you can irradicate them from the herd and disinfect the entire rabbitry. If not a regimen of light oil will keep them at bay. Same for dogs menge, a good treatment of sulfur and burnt motor oil will cure the most hairless mengy dog. Of course he will roll around on the lawn and kill a few spots of grass but he will be menge free for plenty long enough to completly regrow his fur and heal up. Not very nature friendly though.

Turns out the rabbits in the grow out pen are old enough to breed. The black and white one had 9 kits. Unfortunitely there was no nest box in there so she tryed to have them in the feeder. While I lost the kits I did identify a potentionally very good doe. I guess I will throw togather another doe cage for her.

young does often ignoer the nest box and have the first litter or two on the wire cage floor. Perhaps they do not know what is happening. After that she usually learns to prepare the nest box and have her kits live. I have one doe, a Belgien giant, that has lost three sets of babbies. If she loses another one she gets culled. I have 13 young ready to harvest so will replace her if needed. A friend tells me that if you place a block of wood under the pelvis and press down gently a young male will plop out of the shith and sexing young rabbits is a cinch. I will check it out before harvesting this lot for the freezer.