BREEDERS: Cages - Brood/Show/Weaning ratio

[Shaded Night Rabbitry]

Sorry. Another thought came into my head, and I wanna know how everyone else manages it.

So how many holes do you operate?
How many buck cages, how many doe cages?
How many brood cages, how many weaning cages?





Personally:
I have 12 holes (to be 16 at the end of the month) to work with. Out of those, I have:
4 18 by 18s, which hold my 3 bucks and one junior doe.

4 18 by 24s, which house the weanlings. These also work as overflow for bucks, and non-breeding does. I currently have 7 rabbits in 4 cages.

4 24 by 24s, strictly brood doe w/litter cages. If the litter is smaller than 3, and the space is needed, they'll downsize to the 18 by 24s. I currently have 3 does with litters, and one soon to kindle doe in them. I do need to expand, seeing as I somehow managed to climb up to 7 brood girls. XD

My total at the moment is 15 bunnies in 12 cages. =/ I have about a month to find some more, so I can separate the litters out, or to try to condense them into same sex pairs. (At the moment they're ALL opposite sex pairs, two from the same litter, and one pair thats... not.)

=/ How do the rest of you will small set ups function? It's sooo hard! Same to the big ones! Even though theres so much room, you still have to cull a decent amount. It's not like you can buy 5 more cages for each litter you have! LOL!

 

[TinysMom]

Shaded Night Rabbitry wrote:

Sorry. Another thought came into my head, and I wanna know how everyone else manages it.

So how many holes do you operate?
How many buck cages, how many doe cages?
How many brood cages, how many weaning cages?





Personally:
I have 12 holes (to be 16 at the end of the month) to work with. Out of those, I have:
4 18 by 18s, which hold my 3 bucks and one junior doe.

4 18 by 24s, which house the weanlings. These also work as overflow for bucks, and non-breeding does. I currently have 7 rabbits in 4 cages.

4 24 by 24s, strictly brood doe w/litter cages. If the litter is smaller than 3, and the space is needed, they'll downsize to the 18 by 24s. I currently have 3 does with litters, and one soon to kindle doe in them. I do need to expand, seeing as I somehow managed to climb up to 7 brood girls. XD

My total at the moment is 15 bunnies in 12 cages. =/ I have about a month to find some more, so I can separate the litters out, or to try to condense them into same sex pairs. (At the moment they're ALL opposite sex pairs, two from the same litter, and one pair thats... not.)

=/ How do the rest of you will small set ups function? It's sooo hard! Same to the big ones! Even though theres so much room, you still have to cull a decent amount. It's not like you can buy 5 more cages for each litter you have! LOL!

I'm not going to count the lionheads as I don't breed them anymore so I will count them as pets for this thread.

For flemish giants - my "main" breed - I have two adult bucks - Hermes who is white, Merucry (Puppy) who is light gray and Mercury's son Big Jake who is 6 months old. I also have Remington - a steel that I am watching and considering keeping. I will most likely keep a buck from Harmony's litter also - he'll probably be Ranger (Lone Ranger). So that is....5 bucks. I have reasons for each of the younger ones....

My does are: Sophia - retired and a pet, Nyx (black) - adult, Harmony - adult, Athena - adult, and for juniors I have Lily Langtree, Sweet Pea, Molly Brown and Calamity Jane. I am also keeping Schioppi - a steel doe (the others are light gray). I will probably keep at least two does from Harmony's litter - one for sure to "replace" her and keep her lines going - and another one because I want to make sure to kep her lines going. That is 11 if I keep two from Harmony's litter.

So total herd count will be at 16 for now - I imagine that it will eventually reach about 25-30 for adults/juniors at some point in time.

For Hollands I currently have three does and two bucks. Each doe is currently pregnant and depending upon what I get - I'm hoping to keep at least 3-4 does and possibly a buck if I get something really nice.

I want to add a line of chocolate hollands (a trio) and possibly one or two tris that I can breed with my tort holland bucks.

I don't "cull" as far as putting an animal down. I will rehome it as a pet - or keep it myself as a pet until I can rehome it. I will go out and buy cages so I can stack them higher or even have them coming into the living room (for now) because I'm waiting for our 16' X 24' (may take it to 32') bunny barn to get built this fall.

My flemish are in large dog kennels - some are in medium (growing out) - others are in large, xlarge and giant.

My flemish girls get lots of playtime - my bucks not so much - I need to get a better system set up.

The cool thing is - Harmony who is very much litter-box trained - has pretty much litter box trained most of her kids simply by her example. That makes life so much easier.

 

[lelanatty]

Yay! I am very glad you are thinking of such great topics :biggrin2:

I have 20 rabbits right now and they are housed in 10 cages.

I have 6 24 by 24 cages in three stacks of two. They hold my two bucks, one below the other on the far left side, and the other four hold all but one of my brood does. Two of which are nursing litters of 2 kitsand 4 kits,and two are due in a couple of weeks.

I also have a 4 ft by 4 ft two-level "bunny condo" type cage that is divided in half. My father built it for me when I only had two rabbits. That didn't last long haha.On one side I have my Californian doe, and on the other side are 5 male 3 month oldbabies from two litters which I am keeping to sell to my fellow FFA kids once school starts again. I just have to keep praying that they don't start fighting each other.

I also have two pet-type cages. One holds my last brood doe who isn't pregnant at the moment, and the other holds my Mini rex buck.

I am hoping to get another stack of two cages and downsize tojust those 8holes. Once I get rid of those two oddballs and sell those babies, if I have gottenthe two cages I will just have enough room for my brood animals, and use the other four cages for show animals and weanling babies.

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

I try to keep at least 2 cages for bucks, 2 cages for does, and the rest are for juniors/weanlings, and non-brood stock.

I have 2 brood doe cages, which right now, I have one brood doe in one, and in the top I have 3 junior does. These are 30x30 cages, with Mini Rex in them, so they have lots of space.

When I sell the two bucks I have right now in order to purchase non-related stock, I will be getting just one buck for two does, so I'll have some more cages for juniors/weanlings, etc.

I have to keep my herd small since my rabbitry is so small, but I would definitely love to expand even more than I already have! lol. Right now I have 10 rabbits in 8 cages, with 1 empty hole.

Emily

 

[woahlookitsme]

So how many holes do you operate?
How many buck cages, how many doe cages?
How many brood cages, how many weaning cages?

Total Holes. 8 holes (not including the three that have yet to be set up) five 24 x 36 and three 36 x 36 (those were for my califonians, now used for moms and babies)

Bucks. Two tans, One himi, and One Brit

Does. Two tan does, One tan brood, One himi

Weanlings. They aren't weaned yet But a total of 6 and I'm not sure how many we are keeping till they get bigger.

 

[RAL Rabbitry]

I have 16-24X24 and 4 24X30 holes in stacks of 4 for brood does. The rest of my holes are 18X24 for brood bucks and show rabbits. They are also in stacks of 4.

My rule of thumb on keeping juniors is they have to be as nice or nicer than their parents. Most of my broodstockare granded. I very rarely keep a rabbit that is not showable just for breeding. The exception is an exceptional doe that is larger. I have one doe that I use for breeding that got 5 legs before she went over weight at 5 months old.

I try to have as few unshowable pets as possible and keep does that have a high ratio of showable kits. I have one doe that has a 75% ratio of showable kits in her litters and her daughters are following in her footsteps. The good thing about line breeding is that you set the type in your rabbits and don't have as many pets.

Roger

 

[polly]

I have 3 sheds

the does shed has 18 hutches we usually keep around 12 does any up and coming youngsters get " put away" in the bottom hutches until breeding age when they move up and older does are passed to other breeders.

The bucks shed has 3 large beveren hutches in which houses a buck and a doe at the moment and a spare that either has a beveren or a nethie who had a big litter. 3 larger corner hutches Bruce has his degu's in one my pet dutch is in another and the bottom hutches are all used for storage. he has 6 polish hutches in this shed and 12 nethie hutches with 8 nethie show bucks.

Then you have my misfit shed lol given the name cause I always keep randoms in it that Bruce doesnt see the quality in till I prove him wrong lol!!I also keep most of the young bucks in there before they move through to his shed once they come into themselves. It has 9 nethie hutches 6 beveren hutches and 3 corner hutches. ususally I have around 5 or 6 nethies plus yoda who gets a corner hutch cause he likes them better lol he is 4 and still shown in fact he recently got best fancy and runner up best in show ( nethies are like a fine wine they get better with age lol)

and usually 4 beverens in there though that will likely go up to 6 as I have 2 really nice litters

 

[timbaland]

This is an interesting thread! I really want to see pictures of everyone set up...wow. @_@

Due to living situations right now I co-own my rabbits. Majority of my fantastical amazing breeders are with the co-owner growing to breeding age. It sucks... I pay for everything. Everything. The co-owner houses them and provides care and space until I can.

I have a hole for each rabbit. Even if they are housed in a pair. They are 30 x 18, 30 x 24 and 30 x 36. Does are housed in larger cages used for life and pregnancy cages. No brood does for me. All of the stocks are for show.

Mini Rex (4)
2 bucks (30 x 18)
2 does (30 x 36)

Holland Lop (3)
3 bucks (30 x 18)

New Zealand (10)
3 bucks (30 x 24)
7 does (30 x 36)

 

[SilverBirchRabbitry]

I have two hutches & eight cages built in to my shed.
The two hutches are huge & will be used to house weanlings when they are ready to be weaned.

I have:
Joe-Kerr's Aidan - Buck
Joe-Kerr's Stunner - Buck
Joe-Kerr's Emma - Doe - Due to kindle tomorrow
Joe-Kerr's Scarlett - Doe - Due to kindle in two days
Joe-Kerr's Teaspoon - Doe

So I currently have five Mini Lops, with two does due. Out of my eight cages built into my shed, two are used for bucks & the other six will be for does.


So I have 10 holes to work with.

 

[Jaded]

My rabbitry is in my basement, it has 2 rooms, the feed room and the rabbitry, the feed room also has the pedigree shelfs and a bay qurantine cage, Storio and phone etc...

The second room the rabbitry...
On the left wall I have my show cages, weaning cages and a 2 stacker cage I use for my lop does, On the right wall I have another 2 stacker cage for my dwarf does, and on the north wall I have a 2 bay cage and a stacker I house my dwarf bucks in them.

My brood cages are wood but have good mesh doors and a solid floor, the weaning cages are all wire, bucks cages are wire aswell.

I will get photos for you:biggrin:

 

[leo9lionheads]

My rabbitry is 30 holes.

I have 12 brood stock cages (anything retired from show)
4 of which are for bucks and 8 for brood does. These are all 24x24s

3 24x 36's for weaned litters (until seperated) or does with 3 or more kits that are no longer in the nestbox.

and 15 jr/show stock cages which are 18x24 I dont normally keep a ratio of bucks to does in these but since I have higher standard for bucks there tends to be less bucks in these.

I also have a 24x48 cage in a hutch for my pet but its not kept in the rabbitry so its not counted and 2 12x24 for the week of quarantine I keep new rabbits in. but also but counted either.

 

[lelanatty]

My Plans actually came true!

I have sold all of the 3 month old babies, and I got my two more stacking cages.

Now hopefully everything will work out well.