Learning Time: 3 minutes
In the event you want to attempt your hand at elevating rabbits for meat, fiber or as pets, you’ll want to find out whether or not or to not preserve them in rabbit cages or in colonies. Every have their benefits, along with their pitfalls. I’ve used rabbit cages and saved bunnies in colonies. Whereas rabbits revenue mentally from colonies, and may really keep a life similar to their wild cousins, using large rabbit cages to partition the animals is safer.
Making sure the safety of your animals is important to every proprietor. Nonetheless notably within the occasion you’re sustaining rabbits as working livestock for each meat or fiber, then giving them a protected place to start out and sustaining them free of tussles with their neighbors is paramount.
Let’s take a look at the advantages and drawbacks of colonies versus rabbit cages.
Rabbit Colonies
Rabbit colonies do have many advantages. Rabbits require a dwelling house 3-4 events their dimension, and in a rabbit colony, this space requirement is easier achieved. Your bunnies are free to maneuver a few bigger space, and may work along with completely different rabbits as they may throughout the wild. Rabbits have superior social hierarchies, with various smaller groups coalescing into one warren (group of rabbits). Residing collectively in a colony allows them to indulge on this pure conduct.
To some extent, elevating rabbits in colonies could cut back your workload, since you are not required to scrub specific individual cages (although you proceed to have to scrub their dwelling house in a colony).
There are some disadvantages to colonies that anyone keen about elevating meat rabbits or fiber rabbits must study. When housed collectively, I found that our does, particularly, acquired into further territory disputes than I had bargained for. After various bloody ears and mornings discovering fur in every single place, I decided colonies weren’t for me.
Rabbits will mate to find out social dominance, and between males, we found this to be a particular problem. One male saved hounding one different to the extent that neither had been consuming, and their fastened working disrupted the rest of the warren. Because of does sometimes want one buck of 1 different for mating, merely having only one male simply is not an alternative at events, notably within the occasion you’re breeding rabbits for a relentless present of meat.
Rabbit Cages
Like colonies, sustaining rabbits specifically individual cages has its advantages. Although rabbits saved in a smaller house might have a lot much less room to maneuver, I’ve found specific individual cages let territorial does arrange their very personal territory with out having to battle it out with one different bunny.
Feeding, although further labor intensive with specific individual cages, grew to develop into a further streamlined course of that diminished nicely being factors since I could also be sure that everyone are the proper amount of meals. When we started elevating rabbits collectively in colonies, we found that does would bully each other. To defend herself, the less-dominant doe would conceal, forgoing her meal that day – not an effective way to spice up rabbits! In case you’re questioning what to feed meat rabbits; an excellent industrial grain is an excellent place to start out out.
Points With Breeding
I moreover found that via the usage of rabbit cages, sometimes moreover often known as rabbit hutches, I’ll larger administration breeding. In a colony, does and bucks could breed indiscriminately; for the proprietor, this has certain advantages on account of it’s a lot much less labor intensive. Does can select the bucks they like, and preserve the birthing and nesting course of themselves. Barring a large problem, an proprietor can elevate rabbits in a relatively hands-off means in colonies.
Nonetheless every coin has two sides, and on this case, I found that indiscriminant breeding led to dropping further litters. Sustaining a doc of breeding dates means you possibly can help the doe larger put collectively for her new arrivals. That’s notably an issue in winter, when it’s more durable to provide a warmth enough house for the kits. After dropping litters to the chilly, although we provided enough hay and the mother did her job by filling the nest with fur, I decided it was time to keep up larger observe of conception dates.
By housing my bunnies in rabbit cages, I can larger put collectively for kits by guaranteeing my doe has a nesting discipline accessible (since rabbits pee and poop in every single place, leaving a nesting discipline throughout the cage is unsanitary for newborns). I may even be sure that she’s going to get additional feed whereas she’s lactating; in colonies, I could not guarantee it, notably if it was a a lot much less dominant doe.
Since using rabbit cages means my bunnies socialize with me on each day foundation, I found that I can moreover maintain a higher eye on the kits. The rabbits are used to me touching them and aren’t as territorial as soon as I take a look at on the kits.
As a cheerful medium, given that psychological nicely being of our rabbits is important, we maintain our rabbits specifically individual cages, nevertheless nonetheless allow them the possibility to see and get in touch with completely different rabbits through the wire. I moreover give each rabbit every day consideration so that they’re even a lot much less socially isolated.
If it is advisable to research further about elevating homestead rabbits, you could go to my weblog FrugalChicken.
Do you keep your rabbits in cages or colonies. Inform us your want and why throughout the suggestions beneath.