Showroom comments

[bunnytamer]

I was looking at the judge comments and put them all together. I would like some help understanding and finding solutions to them. Any comments would be helpful.

Snickers JCL5: soft in flesh, midsection rough, hindquarters undercut, thin condition, condition down, condition rough

MilkyWay JC964: weak hindquarters, needs more flushing, soft in flesh

AJ SM101: raily, needs more width, lean

Honey HB1: more width, little narrow, broader hindquarters

 

[OakRidgeRabbits]

Soft in flesh, lean, or rough condition all mean that the rabbits are not in good flesh/fur condition. It sounds like you may need to find a higher quality pellet and that they may need more of it if they are lean. How is the protein content of your feed (what percent)? Do they get hay, oats, or sunflower seeds regularly? What is their overall diet?

The other comments on hindquarter, with, etc. are all type comments and cannot be fixed on the rabbits you have. They are faults that you will need to breed out. For example, you will want to breed Snickers to another rabbit that a full hindquarter to hopefully fix the undercut hindquarter. And you'll want to breed Honey to a rabbit that has more width overall.

 

[pamnock]

What breed are your rabbits?

As already mentioned, genetics and good breeding play a major role in the rabbit's conformation as well as muscles and how well it holds its flesh condition. Age and feed can also be factors, as well as parasites and illness.

 

[bunnytamer]

They are flemish giants. They get 2 cups of pellets, 1 cup of oats, and a couple alfalfa cubes. The protein content is 18 %. Snickers is 3 yrs., MilkyWay is 3 yrs., AJ is 1 yr, and Honey is 1 yr.

 

[pamnock]

There are common problems with the Flemish. I would invest in some quality stock to add to your breeding program.

While you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, you can improve a little on what you already have.

Try some steam rolled oats and limit hay. Black oil sunflower seeds and also help plump them up a little. Greens will give added fiber and moisture.

 

[bunnytamer]

I was told that sunflower seeds may cause liver problems? What about finicky eaters? We have a couple that will only eat pellets. We even let them got for a couple days with out pellets and they did not even touch the oats or hay cubes.

 

[TinysMom]

bunnytamer wrote:

I was told that sunflower seeds may cause liver problems? What about finicky eaters? We have a couple that will only eat pellets. We even let them got for a couple days with out pellets and they did not even touch the oats or hay cubes.

I hope they don't cause that cause I feed them to my buns on a fairly regular basis to help with their coat condition. I also add a bit of wheat germ to to their oats so they get the vitamin E for their coats.

Can you take pictures of them for us in a posed position so we can see them?

I do agree that you may need to bring in more "type-y" stock to work with those issues.

 

[pamnock]

bunnytamer wrote:

I was told that sunflower seeds may cause liver problems? What about finicky eaters? We have a couple that will only eat pellets. We even let them got for a couple days with out pellets and they did not even touch the oats or hay cubes.

Any foods in excess may cause health problems. A moderate amount of sunflower seed is fine.

For picky eaters - but a feed with a higher fat content or put a little vegetable oil on it.

However, once again, genetics play a major role. Picky eaters often don't put on flesh well, so you want to breed for rabbits that eat well.

 

[TinysMom]

pamnock wrote:

Picky eaters often don't put on flesh well, so you want to breed for rabbits that eat well.

:roflmao:

Sorry - don't mean to hijack the thread - but Art already jokes that we need to take out another mortgage on the house whenever we head to the feed store. I need to remember to tell him this the next time we pick up several 50 pound bags of feed.....