Rescued rabbits got questions

[hobbyfarmrookie]

I currently have a dwarf buck who lives alone in a hutch. I am rescuing several lionheads this afternnoon to help out a friend who found them abandoned in her apartment building. There are a few babies.

Just wondering can I let my dwarf live with my chickens where the lionheads can have the hutch?

This would only be temporary until I can build them a new hutch.

 

[Nicki]

Like anything it will depend on how they get along but I had a rabbit that lived with my chickens for one year we finally had to move him as he LOVED the chickens to much he would try and take straw to them to help build a nest and would not stop trying to mate with them he really loved his chickens.

 

[FarmerChick]

yea it is a catch 22
they might best of friends or you got a kill war on your hands??

rabbits, who knew they could be so nasty...LOL
rabbits can and will attack chickens.

if you do it watch carefully.


some have no problems at all, others have dead chickens or possible diseases transmitted (?) not totally sure on this one.

 

[Bunnylady]

My advice is to go to your local department store, buy a medium-sized pet carrier, and let your Dwarf live in that. A carrier wouldn't be my choice of living space for a rabbit long-term, but it'll do in a pinch. If you are taking on several rabbits, they are going to need to be separated before long, so you'll need to start building cages, like, yesterday!

You say there are several babies. How good are you at sexing young rabbits? Males should be separated from females by the time they are 10 weeks old. Females can be capable of conceiving as young as 12 weeks of age, so you need to be sure the boys and girls aren't together before then. If you are taking on any adult does, and there was an adult buck in the bunch, you may have litters on the way to plan for.

I'm afraid I'm about to let my bias show, badly! Lionheads are about the only breed of rabbit that I wouldn't take, if someone were giving them away (and yes, I have refused offers of free Lionheads!) When the mutation causing the Lionhead coat first appeared, it caused such a sensation, that it seems everybody wanted to jump onto the Lionhead bandwagon. People are breeding them everywhere, to anything. As a result, there are very few "good" Lionheads, and an awful lot that look like molting Jersey Wooly crosses. Such haphazard breeding is resulting in animals with a lot of health problems,including epilepsy (some pet shops won't take them for this reason). It sounds like these rabbits didn't turn into the cash cows that someone was hoping for, so they, in essence, threw them away.


Hopefully, your rescues are reasonably healthy. I applaud you for taking these animals on. Every bunny deserves a home. May they turn out to be the lovable pets everybody dreams of!

 

[hobbyfarmrookie]

I know the lady who owns the apartment building, it is a no pet facility. The lady who rented the apartment was put in jail and the rabbits were going to a shelter to be adopted or uhhhhhhh be put to sleep. I figured I could take them and hopefully give them away. I do have a friend who breeds rabbits for fur and meat and they are fairly accurate at sexing them. The carrier is a great idea since I already have one not in use. I should be able to have a new hutch constructed by Monday. Thanks for your help.

 

[hobbyfarmrookie]

If the little ones turn out to be really cute; I have plenty of nieces and nephews to give them too. Provided the rabbits do not have litters ALL the time.

 

[Bunnylady]

If the little ones turn out to be really cute; I have plenty of nieces and nephews to give them too. Provided the rabbits do not have litters ALL the time.

How often they have litters will depend on you. A doe "comes into use" immediately after kindling; she could conceivably (no pun intended) give birth every 31 days. Some people will tell you that bucks will kill babies, but I have never seen any evidence of this. What I have seen, is the single-minded way bucks pursue an open doe (think Animal [the Muppet]) "WOMAN!!!" The doe, on the other hand, is like, "My babies! My babies! My babies!" and running around, jumping in and out of the nest, stomping her feet, and acting generally brainless. Is it any wonder that babies might not survive this chaos? The usual arrangement is that bucks are kept in separate cages, and does are taken to them for controlled, planned breedings. Believe me, it's much saner this way!