Flemish Giant Rabbits

Since everything on our farm is small, how does a giant fit in? Well, we discovered that the Flemish Giants fit all of our other guidelines for animals.

Our experience with the Flemish is that they do not make tunnels. Instead they dig a trench which they belly into to cool off. They seem to truly enjoy being in the grass and love to run and jump.

Flemish rabbits grow quickly (newborns seem huge) and are quite docile. Most of ours love attention and come for treats. Our experience has been that the mothers are excellent.

Some History
Flemish Giants -- the "universal breed".

The actual origin of the Flemish is unknown. However, it is believed that they were created using a now extinct type of Patagonian rabbit (Coatoam, 1983a). The other idea is that the ancestors to the Flemish giantwere European rabbits that were called Patagonian rabbits due to its large size (Coatoam, 1983b). Giants came from Patagonia. Either way the Patagonian rabbit is tied to the history of the Flemish breed. Rabbits from Flanders were known to be quite large in the 1860's. That is roughly the time period when the English began to import the Flanders rabbit and improve it to its current state and varieties (Coatoam, 1983a).

References & Links
Coatoam, Thomas. 1983a. Origins of the Flemish Giants. Originally in the 1983 NFFGRB Guide Book. NFFGRB. http://www.nffgrb.com/Articles/Article-OriginsOfFlemishGiant.html

Coatoam, Thomas. 1983b. Ancient Origins of the Flemish Giants. Originally in the 1983 NFFGRB Guide Book. NFFGRB. http://www.nffgrb.com/Articles/Article-AncientOrigins.html