I have not tried a heated thermostatically controlled system. Our watering system is a simple one. No power is used other than solar energy. Is this something your using?
@@TheRabbitryCenter I am planning one out. It would be nice to not have to check water bowls in freezing weather so often. During the hot weeks one could add ice to the large insulated container so the stock will have very cold water to relieve heat stress.
We use the take out plastic bowls for the water in the hutches. Thin plastic and disposable if it cracks. Plenty of them. Check water at least twice a day in the winter. About a gallon a day. A dozen rabbits over winter.
Can I ask why there’s extra hardware cloth attached right above the water dishes? I’ve finally gather my supplies to start this water system set up and just re-watching to make sure I don’t miss any tip& tricks! Thanks!
I took a large sink and built a insulted box around it and about 12 inches higher with one 4 inch drinking access hole and have a 60 watt light bulb on a cheap plug in thermostat .it works really good and they have clean water for about a week with out change it also to change it I have drain plumb to outside. Anyone want more detail s can contact me. Plan on building something similar for my rabbits but using nipples when I can find the time
I live in camden MI I know how bad the weather is I'm using bottles of water with salt in for the chickens and it's working keeps the lower half from freezing the rabbits are in a building so I remove there bottles defrost replace most stay unfrozen unless we are really cold hasent been to bad unless we go below 0 yikes. Thank you for videos
Thank you so much for sharing. I have always been too scared I was going to dehydrate my rabbits by doing that. I haven't used salt in the water because I assumed( I don't remember where I read it?) you'd upset the natural water balance in your livestock by doing so. Maybe this is a myth like "Don't eat Rabbit cuz you'll get protein poisoning!" It's good to know this can be done. How much salt do you add? It sounds like your keeping it at a safe level. I think it's worth mentioning another reason I don't use salt in the cage is due to the rust that may occur on cage wire right around the welds. This happens on cage wire that was galvanized prior to welding. Thanks for commenting and Happy Holidays to you!
We live in South Alabama, so the issue here is the unrelenting heat for most of the year, along with mosquitoes, flies and predators. I've decided to have an enclosed shed for them built, with the ability to run fans. It's going to be located in the shade of some large trees. We are lucky enough to be able to drive a couple of hours to sell our kits, I don't want anyone coming on property.
You’re so right! Wish I would of stated “For those northern states...” before suggesting folks slow their Rabbitry down in December. We have a setup for business rabbitry set up at the very front of property for our business that way our family still has privacy in the back of the property. Sounds like your setting up a great Rabbitry. Best of luck!
New to rabbits… I bred a doe I bought to my buck, after three fall offs she started growl. Can I put her in again without her attacking him? She’s a 8 month old proven NZ doe. And she’s mean.
Id recommend wearing mechanic gloves when handling mean rabbits it’s a shame how many people dispatch mean Rabbits because they are often terrific producers and great moms. I still try to re-breed 8 to 10 hours later but watch carefully if she gets aggressive remove your buck immediately
@@TheRabbitryCenter wouldn’t dream of dispatching her. She’s a proven full NZ and her first litter was 11 successful kits. She can growl at me all she wants, I just don’t want to damage my buck
Your videos are packed with thoughtful ideas and sensible strategies. I always take away something new or just a slightly different way of thinking about something. Merry Christmas to you and your family!
Thank you SO much for these videos! How do you keep track of who needs bred, who’s reached 4 months (for processing) etc? Hoping to get our next rabbits from you. We are about 2.5 hours away in Indiana
We breed all our rabbits on the schedule we document all dates of birth so we know how old our rabbits are Here’s s video to help you with our system. Thanks for watching! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-b_F7GZfjTG4.html
Another excellent video!! I remember an ice storm in KS sent a tree limb right through one of my doe’s cages-thankfully she didn’t get hurt!!?? Oh, question: what colors do kids want for pet rabbits?
Well that’s a good question. I know kids don’t regularly like the whites here in bath so blues and blacks are popular but I found that the size is the most important. Small breed rabbits. Dwarfs and lops and lion heads are very popular for pets and house rabbits
Why does it matter if your doe pees after breeding? I ask because peeing right after sex is strongly suggested for women to avoid UTI's. That said, I've never tried to conceive so I have no idea what the effect of this practice would be on conception but there are two separate holes so there presumably is no effect. Is it different for rabbits?
Letting your rabbit pee after breeding isn’t recommended because it’s been known to negatively effect conception success by flushing out some potential fertilization. This is a common practice for breeding and is something you want to try to avoid if possible. But You should breed the way you want and the best way you know how. Of course if this doesn’t make sense to you and you don’t think it’ll help then I wouldn’t even bother. This video is to help folks maximize their litter numbers and that is a breeding tip from Storey’s which is a series of seasoned livestock farmers and I thought it was worth mentioning. Thanks for watching!
Here's how I build them and I don't even frame them out on the inside I just attach the tile to the tote with great stuff works great and will last years. Be sure to use a thick plastic rubbermaid tote that's big. Not your dollar general 9$ special. They'll crack. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fxOwWfRJNrg.html
Try puting honey in the water just a little bit. Also if you can water some grass then put them down to eat the wet grass, I watch our doe do this after it rained she got the kits to eat the wet grass. Now at 7 weeks they all fight over who gets to drink first
I’ve always been cautious of feeding honey to baby bunnies because it’s poisonous to infants. Haven’t tried feeding it to rabbits. how much do you add to the water? Thank you so much for sharing. Be sure to check out her beekeeping channel ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-nQ-Dyi4SEyg.html
Thanks for sharing this information there eh! I also have issues with frozen water here in Southeast Canada... how was your deer season this year? Denis
@@TheRabbitryCenter First time in over 20 years that I haven't tagged a deer lol... I uploaded a video on doing a euro deer head mount for a nice buck my buddy got this year on my channel
That seems easier except Plastic bowls won’t work for some of my rabbits. Some chew right through plastic. Thanks for the breeding tips-although I don’t think that will produce more does necessarily-just more kits in general. Your title can be seen as a little misleading.
Understood I’m sorry to disappoint you. There isn’t any absolutes which often seems to be what folks are really searching for. Rabbit Raisers that want more doe’s in general should entertain producing bigger litters It’s true that at the end of the day there’s no guarantees or promises that your litters will lean towards one sex or the other. There’s a lot of factors that play into litter size. If you don’t breed in a way that your bucks aren’t fertilizing more eggs/embryos you’ll have less bucks and doe’s. But the fact of the matter is this breeding method will up your chances for more doe’s and bucks regardless of which sex(buck or doe)you want more of.
In Australia I tend not to breed my rabbits over dec/ Jan as temp get to 35 Celsius and top out at 45 Celsius I also found having a day aweek with nothing but hay and water is great for their health ( unless with kits or weened) . Not sure my doe's would appreciate larger litters the average size is nine atm. So I am looking at a full freezer
Thank you for this video. It's really nice to hear from someone else in a colder climate! Do you ever put a small amount of apple cider vinegar in the rabbit water to get more does kits? I haven't done it with my rabbits for years, but do use it for my dairy goats & can almost always see a significant difference. God bless!
Too much work. I'm about 50 west of you and I bought my breeding stock from you. I've got them hooked up with a heated 5 gallon bucket for a cistern with the water constantly circulated with a pump through a closed loop made of aquarium tubing connected to a drinking valve in each cage. Since the water is heated and always moving through the system it's unlikely to freeze. The rabbits inside a pole barn with lights timed to sync with sunrise and sunset so they're protected from wind and rain and get adequate lighting without the water in the clear vinyl tubing growing any algae, but it still gets cold enough in the barn for water to freeze. It may seem like a complicated system but once it's set up, fine tuned, observed for leaks, and everything checks out, I can have it up and running for the winter within an hour or two. And all I have to do once it's up and running is keep an eye on the water level and top it up when I do my feeding chores. In spring I remove the heater and the pump from the cistern and run it as a gravity feed system with no return line back to the cistern until next winter comes along. If you're thinking about plumbing of a watering system like mine and your rabbit hutch is in direct sunlight, you might want to use black drip irrigation tubing instead of transparent aquarium tubing to prevent algae growth in the water lines.
Hey Bobby! I'm sure you've mentioned it in previous videos, but.. How large are your cages? I'm wanting to put hide boxes in mine, but I'm worried they might take up too much room. Mine are 3'x2'. The growout cages are slightly larger at 3'x2.5'
