Posted in Homestead Barnyard

Your at the point where you have the right breeding stock, cages and equipment.  Your happy bunnies are doing fine nibbling on there pellets.  Time to increase your stock.  Its breeding time.  Simple right?  Many of us have listened to the "ol timers' say "breed like rabbits"........Well this is partially true.  There are a few things to take into consideration.  First is age.   Depending on the breed size of the rabbit you have at what age you can breed.  For example....Small breeds can breed at 5 months, medium breeds at 6 months and Giants at 8 months.  My stocks average breeding age is 6 months. The next thing to consider is weight.  Fat rabbits just don't breed well.  Adjust there food to make them trim and healthy, suitable for breeding.  Bucks become extremely lazy if overweight and does have a harder time conceiving.  Check for good health and fur.  Make sure the does vulva is dark in color (reddish-purple) and the bucks testicles should be fully descended and full.  Now that you've made sure everything is in perfect working order, take the doe to the buck.  Important not to do it the other way around.  Do not leave them--it shouldn't take long.  There may be some chasing and fur pulling at first.  Don't be too concerned.  The buck should mount the doe.  You know you have a successful breed when the buck falls over on his side or goes stiff and falls on his back.  Until this happens, the buck has not been successful.  It will only take once for you to understand what I am talking about.  If you are thinking,  Did it work?, chances are it did not.  It is unmistakable.  If you had a successful session, remove the doe back to her cage.  Be careful, if your rabbit is ever going to bite you, now will be when it happens.  What if nothing happens?  They are either not interested or just chase each other around unsuccessfully.  This happens with new breeders sometimes.  They just don't get it yet.  What I do is put their cages next to each other.  Give them some close time and try again the next day.  This usually works.  If not then I put the doe with another buck.  It is reported that female rabbits are fertile 365 days a year.  This is probably true but I have found that my rates of succesful breeding are greatly increased if I rebreed the doe 8-12 hours after the original breeding time.  So I select the pairs to breed in the morning and return that evening and rebreed the pairs again.  I cannot say how important this is!  Your doe will usually be so much more receptive to the buck at this time.  She will often position herself for breeding without a fight. 

Ok now we are pregnant, right?  Mostly.  There are methods to check.  Some use the palpation method.  Place the doe on a flat surface holding her by the scruff of the neck (10 days into breeding) and reach the other hand under her belly feeling around gently for marbles (babies).  This takes some practice.  Some breeders put the doe back in with the buck at 10 days for a test breed. (I do not do this)  If the doe is pregnant she will growl and strongly resist the buck.  Another way is to weigh the doe. Her weight will increase slightly-up to a pound.  The gestation period of rabbits is 28-34 days.  My rabbits are 31 days exactly.  On the 27th day I put in a nest box and plenty of straw.  The doe will begin to build a nest.  You know the time is close when you see your doe walking around with a mouthfull of straw.(Its very cute!)  On the day the litter is to be born the doe will pull fur from her underside for the youngs nest.  She will pull more to cover them after she delivers.  If you do not see signs that the doe is making a nest this should be your first signal that she might not be a good doe.  This is the tragic part of breeding rabbits.  Some does just don't seem to know what to do.  You can assist by placing fur that you have pulled or saved to cover the young.  In most cases it is extremely difficult to get the timing close enough to save the new kits.  Delivery does not take long, but if you catch the delivery and the doe is delivering in an unprepared nest or cage floor you can adopt the kits to another doe who has room for them.  That is why I always breed at least 2 does together-an experienced doe and a new doe.  As long as they are close in age the other doe should accept the adopted kits without trouble.  Just because the new doe is not a good mommy the first time doesn't mean she will repeat this the next breeding.  I usually give my does two attempts at delivering before they are retired.  I have found that after two failures the likelyhood that they will improve is not high enough to risk another breeding.

In about 10 days the litter will open their eyes and begin to come out of the box.  This is a fun time!  They will be wobbly at first.  Keep a close eye on them now.  Keeping them from harms way.  I usually leave the nest box in until they are a month old.  It depends on the litter size when I wean them from there mother.  Usually 7-8 weeks old.  They should be eating good and appear to be in good health.  You'll know when its time.  Then the whole cycle starts over again.  I hope this has been helpful to someone!  Blessings>faithfarm