Question About Breeding

[Weetwoo_89]

So I read that breeding rabbits is aserious hobby and that it never pays for itself. i was just wonderingif that was true. I imagine that if you had a lot of bunnies that itwould never pay for itself. But it seems like a smaller one might getcloser to paying for itself. One day I may breed, but this question isfor curiousity, not because I am planning to start any time soon.Thanks in advance.
RaE

 

[jil101ca]

I have a very small rabbitry, 4 does and 2bucks. It's a good thing I don'tkeep rabbits tomake money as I am a few hundred dollars in the hole

 

[Spring]

Responsible breeding will not make you money,even with a small herd.It takes 100% commitment and a passionfor rabbits and wanting to improve the breed. Hopefully a breeder withmore experience can pop in and help you more .

Here's a good thread with some excellent posts about the costs etc.

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=17782&forum_id=1&jump_to=253935#p253935

 

[TinysMom]

Responsible breeding will only make you moneytill your first outbreak of coccidia...or your first case of a stuckkit...or your first case of some other problem.

From then on...its pretty much downhill....

With that said - I do believe some breeders can make money at this.Cimmaron (lionheads) can sell their rabbits for $100 and up - some ashigh as $400. But..they are top breeder in the nation and have beenbreeding for 15 years or more.

I bred 17 litters last fall for Nationals...I got what I would consider maybe 6 "show" kits...

The rest are brood quality (for does) or pets.

It isn't easy to get show quality rabbits in many breeds..

Peg

Spring wrote:

Responsible breeding willnot make you money, even with a small herd.It takes 100%commitment and a passion for rabbits and wanting to improve the breed.Hopefully a breeder with more experience can pop in and help you more.

Here's a good thread with some excellent posts about the costs etc.

http://rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=17782&forum_id=1&jump_to=253935#p253935

 

[clarzoo]

I agree with what's been said here. It is rare to turn a profit in hobby rabbit breeding for show.

I have a very small rabbitry and make no money off the rabbits. Anymoney made by kits that I sell, quickly goes back into feed, hay, cageequipment, etc... I do it for the love of the hobby and the rabbits,not the money.

 

[polly]

Yeah i am the same i have been breeding fornearly 2 years and i have had many problems with the first few littersso far i have only had 3 babies make it and i have sold 2 of them aspets. I now have 7 kits and think 1 might be showworthy but i need totake it to one of the experienced breeders i know for their opinion.

I got into breeding because i was finding it hard to find blue otternetherlands and a lot of people were stopping breeding nethies causethey thought they were too highly strung, i agree they can be if nothandled enough but they have brilliant characters! really cheeky whichi love so i thought i would try it cause i want other people to get theenjoyment that i get out of the breed. I have 5 does just nowand4 bucks also 2 neutered does that live in the house. Iwould never not do it i really enjoy it but its not always easy and youneed to have money of your own cause it can end up costing quite a lotand it takes a lot of time.

We try to handle any kits we have from the first couple of days afterthey are born so they are happy being picked up and put on their backfor claw cutting they ar ethen handled cuddled, and played with tillthey go to their new home.

 

[pamnock]

Breeders selling on a small scale and marketinglocally often find that the demand is not very high for pet bunnies andit can be difficult to sell stock. You'll need to sell a lotof bunnies just to cover the cost of cages and equipment to start out,not to mention a building, vet care and feed.

Large scale show breeders often spend thousands a year on showing andpromoting their rabbits and are lucky to break even on expenses.



Pam

 

[bluebird]

I sold pet bunnies too stores while i was alsobreeding for shows.the trouble is you have no written contract with thestores .they promise too buy rabbits then in the summer when you havetoo many they are like well we dont need bunnys because we got freeones.they want a whole bunch at easter time when the rabbits dont wanttoo breed.and they want 4 week old babies even though thats illegal inPa.they pay you $6 and resell for $40.you also must deliver thebunnys.nobody is getting rich from rabbits.lionheads are new and a bigfad but the prices on lionheads has already fallen, everybody jumped onthat bandwagon.bluebird