Hawthorne Hollow Rabbitry - TAMUK Composites

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Hawthorne Hollow Rabbitry - TAMUK Composites Raising fast-growing, heat-tolerant, well-tempered rabbits, originally created by Dr. Lukefahr at TA&MU-Kingsville.

Located in Central Texas, we are a small rabbitry focused on quality over quantity.

Alright, for the results of the big batch of 7 littermate does, born 7/11/26 from Maggie x Hickory:Total starting weight...
10/16/2026

Alright, for the results of the big batch of 7 littermate does, born 7/11/26 from Maggie x Hickory:

Total starting weight for all 7 combined: 36.63 pounds
Total ending weight after processing, including hearts, livers, and kidneys: 21.5 pounds

That's a 58.7% yield! Right on target for commercial rabbit dress out rates (55% - 60%) and I'm super pleased with that. The largest of the 7 is pictured below, weighing in at 5 # 11.7 oz. The smallest was 4 # 9.7 oz (the runt, which never caught up).

If I didn't include the organs, the yield would be 54.5% (1.5 pounds of the after weight was organ meat). Which is still awesome, just under the low end of the dress out rate for commercial rabbit breeds. I'd like to see more uniformity in weights- there was over a pound difference between the largest and the smallest. But for being born and existing in triple digit weather their entire lives, I'll take this all day long.

Are we ready for some numbers?! I'm ready for some numbers! Post 1 of 2 with processing results. Starting with the lone ...
10/16/2026

Are we ready for some numbers?! I'm ready for some numbers! Post 1 of 2 with processing results.

Starting with the lone buck from Phoebe x Nimbus, born 7/9/2026, litter of 9 with 4 surviving through weaning.

Starting weight: 5.09 pounds
After processing weight, including his heart, kidneys, and liver: 2.76 pounds.

That's a 54.2% yield! Not great in my opinion but he was the smallest in the litter so not completely terrible. He'll taste just as good regardless!

All the parts I use that aren't meat or organs: pelts, front feet, back feet, tails, and not pictured, heads and ears. E...
10/16/2026

All the parts I use that aren't meat or organs: pelts, front feet, back feet, tails, and not pictured, heads and ears. Everything has been divided up and sent to either the freezer, an alcohol soak, or the dehydrator. Heads and pelts to the freezer, ears, front feet, and "ugly" back feet to the dehydrator, and "pretty" back feet and tails to the 70% alcohol soak for the first step of preservation.

10/16/2026

Heart muscles still firing! Thank you to my husband for holding it so I could get a video. This rabbit was humanely dispatched using cervical dislocation and within minutes, skinned and gutted. Doesn't get fresher than that!

First 2 recruits this morning, at about 5.5 pounds each. 5 more to go! *The scale had locked the weight before I had my ...
10/16/2026

First 2 recruits this morning, at about 5.5 pounds each. 5 more to go! *The scale had locked the weight before I had my hands on them so I could get a picture!

😍🍂I have sweatpants and a jacket on and I'm LOVING it 🙌🏻
10/16/2026

😍🍂
I have sweatpants and a jacket on and I'm LOVING it 🙌🏻

Sir.... What in the holland lop is going on here?!Sometimes you see ear drop in large eared breeds. This happens for a c...
10/16/2026

Sir.... What in the holland lop is going on here?!

Sometimes you see ear drop in large eared breeds. This happens for a couple reasons, and usually isn't permanent. When it's hot (which it has been here!) all the blood in the ears makes them heavy, and they flop. Other times, the cartilage is still forming and hardening while the ear is growing, but the ear grows faster than the cartilage can keep up. Until it hardens up, the ears look floppy.

I suspect it's a combination of both in this buck kit. It cooled off briefly before getting hot again (it felt like 101 yesterday 🙃) and these guys are in their 8-10 week old growth spurt and have just exploded in size.

As cute as he looks, ears like this are not practical for TAMUKs and if they do not correct themselves, the rabbit should be hard culled.

Processing day for these 7 tomorrow. I'll weigh each one before dispatch, add all their weights up, then weigh the proce...
10/15/2026

Processing day for these 7 tomorrow. I'll weigh each one before dispatch, add all their weights up, then weigh the processed carcasses and any organs kept to find out how much meat they yield! These 7 are all litter mates, all does, and were born 7/11 this year. I processed the 8th littermate last week with Angel and Juniper because she was well over the 5 pound mark.

10/15/2026

Second round of Fall breeding complete!

BB was paired with Nimbus for their second litter together (that's how I got Mira!). I will be curious if we get any kits with Dutch marks again.

Mira was paired with Comet for her first litter! I expect those to be quite the rainbow, lots of different genes at play with those 2, but they will all be chocolate based since both are chocolate, bb! Full color, chinchilla and pointed are all possible because of their c loci. Mira is Cc and Comet is c(chd)c(h). Since Mira is lilac, she is dilute, dd. If there are any lilacs of any variety born, then I'll know that Comet also carries dilute behind his full density D. Very exciting!

I went to the thrift store today and found the farmhouse/cottage core dishes of my dreams! I love that they're all diffe...
10/15/2026

I went to the thrift store today and found the farmhouse/cottage core dishes of my dreams! I love that they're all different!

Address

Killeen-Temple-Belton-Copperas Cove
Killeen, TX

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 6pm
Tuesday 9am - 6pm
Wednesday 9am - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 6pm
Friday 9am - 6pm
Saturday 9am - 6pm
Sunday 9am - 6pm

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