Pink Fox: its Raining...IN MY HOUSE! :/

[Myhouseisazoo2]

So glad to hear your doing better!

Boy oh boy do I know that feeling of waking up and conquering the world with the fantastic I'm gonna do everything and everything and no one can stop me feeling... Upon which I make breakfast, clean a bit and go outside and maybe do two things. Then make the awful mistake of I'm think I'll take a five minute break
May I ask what the rabbits where being raised for?

 

[pinkfox]

this morning a monster migraine joined the party...
I think I just did too much over the past 2 weeks and now my body is showing me its protest...
fibro is a fickle mistress, one day fine the next day Crash...

the rabbits have been a long term project primarily for meat and wool, but my back is just not happy with trying to groom he 4 I have now especially when 3 of them are fighters (they don't like to be groomed) so I want to thin them down to just a couple of woolies for fun (a doe I like and one or 2 of her babies) I can breed them to my rex boys and use their babies for meat if I need to too...
the English lops were a project for my enjoyment, but they just arnt selling as well as I like (I was hoping theyd pay for the feed for the meat litters/rabbits) ill sell 1/2 the litter o issues then sit with the other 3-4 kits sitting in a grow out pen for 12-16-18 weeks...and e-lops eat...a lot...so I need ot move them on.
im keeping back an elop x rex buck and a young elop doe (and mabe 1 of my 2 proven does) for my "giant velveteen" project...(which my first gen buck I kept back is definatly promising for meat which e-lops are NOT lol)

 

[Britesea]

I'm so sorry you are still not feeling well. Fibro is such a difficult thing to live with

 

[Myhouseisazoo2]

Ah! I thought meat I am curious as I'm looking into getting rabbits for meat and fur, do they taste much different? All the sites I read say that new Zealand's, Californians and champagne de argent's are the best types but I'm not sure if that's because they produce better or if it's a flavor thing. Mums suggests I get a Flemish male so that I can produce larger rabbits but they have such a frail backbone that I'd be scared of hurting them before they got to eating weight. But I don't want a tiny rabbit either....

 

[hqueen13]

Hope you feel better soon! I'll be cheering you on the band wagon! Yes, the family should be making their own carb food if they want it. That's not fair for you to make it!
I bought fruit yesterday and will be getting greens from the farm today or tomorrow, so smoothies here I come.... I need more greens in my diet!

 

[pinkfox]

I did well yesterday but then about 11:30 my bloodsugar whent haywire, thinking not enough fat since with low carb you need high fat to give the body something to burn...

did manage to get the girls stall cleaned out and fresh bedded, well be deep bedding over the winter and do another deep clean in spring and so on and so forth...
the 2nd stall where the rabbits will be going will get done tomorrow.

 

[pinkfox]

honestly rabbit meat is rabbit meat no matter what the breed.
cals, and Nzs are commercial brees, they took over popularity because they are pretty much the fastest growing of the bunch, have good meat to bone ratio and typically produce good sized litters.
I have 3 cal x nz mixes in my rabbitry (with a little flemmish thrown in apparently) that I breed to my rex specifically for butcher as my rex just sell much too well to put enough back in the freezer lol)
but I must say I don't like their personality nearly as much as my rex and well if your taking to fur too theres nothing more luxurious than a rex pelt lol...
if you don't mind waiting an extra 2 weeks to butcher, some of the heritidge breeds like rex, silver fox and chinchilla are wonderful, they tend to have been bred focusing more on maintaining a "pet" temperament as opposed to soley meat and forgetting temperament which ive found happens in the nz's and calis.

flemmish on their own NOT a good choice, despite being huger they are high in bone and grow SLOWLY, but mixing in with something else they are great
you could always do a flemmish doe with a cali nz rex champagne,silver fox whatever buck (always go for the buck being smaller than the doe) to get a slightly larger meat kit.

if your raising strictly for meat and pelt then id suggest going for some kind of mix in your favorite colors lol.
the meat tastes the same no matter what, look or something with a round body type (looks like a ball from above) ie rex, champagne, chinchilla, florida white, ect) that matures out around 9lbs by 8-10 months and youll typically have a good meat choice.

 

[Myhouseisazoo2]

I personally for fur purposes would love to get harliquinn/calico rabbits. Haven't decided o. The breed yet but it has to be something hearty and heat resistant as I don't have much room in the house for them :'(

 

[pinkfox]

If you got a couple of New Zealand Red does and a Harlequin Buck youd have fast growing meaty babies with harliquinized coats (the harlequin gene is dominant to the red gene)
or those same NZ red does with a nice Tri-colored Rex Buck (keep a couple does from that back and breed back to daddy and you shoudl get 50/50 on the rex pelts in 2nd gens)
the NZ would give you the faster grow out rate and slightly larger size than the rex or hali, but the ej gene in a harli (or tri-rex) would give you that patterning.
youd need a broken red to get the tri-color/calico out of the harli buck which you wouldnt need with a tri-rex...but a harli might be easier to ind depending on your area
a trio would be plenty to start you off

 

[frustratedearthmother]

HUH??? Dang girl, you got those genetics DOWN!