Breed A Rabbit BB Ideas

Those sound like pretty good minimum requirements and required photos.  For this BB, the only thing I'm thinking we'd need to worry about is someone using pics off the internet to say they succeeded.  Is nesting and rearing done in the same cage?  And is breeding done in a different one?  I'm just trying to tell if we could see from the photos (and the junk in the background) that it's the same rabbit.  Maybe the last photo should be of the kits with their mom?

Good job!

Mike Haasl wrote:Those sound like pretty good minimum requirements and required photos.  For this BB, the only thing I'm thinking we'd need to worry about is someone using pics off the internet to say they succeeded.  Is nesting and rearing done in the same cage?  And is breeding done in a different one?  I'm just trying to tell if we could see from the photos (and the junk in the background) that it's the same rabbit.  Maybe the last photo should be of the kits with their mom?

Good job!

Thank you for the feedback, Mike!

I agree with your concern about internet photos and I'm not sure how to mitigate it.  Perhaps take a photo of owner and rabbit on breeding day - since the animal will (likely) be moved anyway?
Also, it can be hard to capture the doe actually making the nest as they tend to get skittish as they near kindling.  I have captured a few photos of the doe with straw in her mouth or with her in the nest box.  

An EDIT:  either the requirements or the documentation needs to say how many kits (6 minimum) - that is an appropriate number for meat breeds but fiber animals range from 3-10 and I would not want to encourage someone to rebreed too quickly (for the doe's health) to get their badge.

I house my rabbits in long runs of large cages that are mounted on a shipping container or raised 3-ft off the ground so that the chickens can enjoy their droppings.  
They are not individual cages that might have different stuff behind them.    
Each adult has their own cage and the doe is put in the buck's cage for up to an hour for breeding then returned to her cage for gestation.  
About three weeks later, I move her to a bigger cage where she will kindle (have babies) and raise them.  I also add a wooden or metal nest box (with a layer of pine shavings to soak up baby urine) and plenty of straw for bedding.

Here are two photos of my cage runs:

18-ft long cage run mounted on shipping container


Another cage run - there is a metal nest box in the second and fourth cage from the left.


At 7-10 days old the kits will still be in the nest box, so getting a picture of her and them might make it difficult to count noses in the box.  See photo below and this blog page (we call them Notes from Windward).  Please look at the article so you can see how difficult it is to count noses - I put the litter size in the caption for each photo and I'm having trouble finding all of them.  This article also shows what 2 day-olds, 7 day-olds, and 18 day-olds look like.


Here is a nesting box which is in the same cage as the mom and the kits are 5-7 days old:

how many can your count?

I think it's clear that you know way more about rabbits than I ever will  As long as we try to make cheating hard and make documentation as reasonable as possible, we're on the right track.

So based on that, do you think your requirements above are good or should we tweak them a bit?

I think I see 7 bunnies.

Hey, I noticed that Shear a Rabbit is not a BB.  I propose that Shearing A Rabbit be added to the Animal Care BB list as 1 point.  

I'm curious about the reason for a minimum of 6 kits. In my show/fiber stock, the litter sizes are smaller, with an average of 3-4. My Californians have bigger litters on average, but even that can vary depending on the time of year and the temperature (my summer litters averaged 5-6).
Personally I tend to consider the doe successful if she raises all viable kits to weaning (instead of, say, a doe with a 50% survival rate at weaning), and I value a doe who just has 4-5 and weans all more than I do a doe who has 8-9, but loses half before weaning.

But, either way, I think it's a good idea for a badge bit! I usually breed 6-8 does at a time, so I could always combine multiple does/ litters in my data collection/evidence, although it might be a longer process for someone who only has a pair/trio/quad for home-meat production.

Kc Simmons wrote:I'm curious about the reason for a minimum of 6 kits. In my show/fiber stock, the litter sizes are smaller, with an average of 3-4. My Californians have bigger litters on average, but even that can vary depending on the time of year and the temperature (my summer litters averaged 5-6).
Personally I tend to consider the doe successful if she raises all viable kits to weaning (instead of, say, a doe with a 50% survival rate at weaning), and I value a doe who just has 4-5 and weans all more than I do a doe who has 8-9, but loses half before weaning.

But, either way, I think it's a good idea for a badge bit! I usually breed 6-8 does at a time, so I could always combine multiple does/ litters in my data collection/evidence, although it might be a longer process for someone who only has a pair/trio/quad for home-meat production.

Good Points Kc,
I appreciate you chiming in on your litter size and I too value a successful mother (as you defined it) over a prolific but doe with poor mothering skills/talent.

I initially assumed that this BB was for one litter but let's ask the PEP Team.  

To the PEP TEAM: Is it your intent that this BB is for one litter or multiple?  Either way, I think it needs to be a clarification point, I think.

I believe the intent is to show that you nurtured a mama critter and she raised her babies well under your supervision.  I think we attempted to pick numbers that aligned with one mama critter.  Your bunny experiences vastly exceed those of the drafters of the BB on the badge page so I'll make the executive decision to change it to 3.  

As for the shearing a rabbit, could you put that on the "to do list" over here - PEP refinement ideas

Thanks!