How Many?

Another thing you need to ask yourself before you dive in is how many rabbits you need.  Obviously if you want to breed them, you want at least one male and one female.  If you want several colors and are concerned about what colors are acceptable to the breed standard, you will need to make sure that the pairings are of compatible colors (I'll lay that out for you in another post).

The general rule of thumb is that each male can service about 8-10 females.  If you figure that each doe will have about 6-8 kits per litter (average for meat rabbits, although some may have 13 or more; if they're producing less then they're not worth your time), which should each provide about 2 pounds of meat when butchered, and you should have 2-3 litters per year (up to 5 if without wearing them down too much) out of each doe, you get 24 to 80 pounds of meat per year per doe, depending on litter size and how often you rebreed her.  Get as many does as you need to provide a share of your family's annual meat requirement, and get enough bucks to service them.

I advise starting with as few rabbits as possible (a trio of compatible colors is a good start) until you've got the hang of it, and then add more later if you decide you really like it.  This goes for those who are raising to sell for pets or show, as well.