Are you ready to get and start breeding rabbits? Rabbits are a quick turn around for small farmers compared to beef cattle and other large livestock. This is one reason that we started breeding meat rabbits. Rabbits are a fairly easy animal to take care of but there are some things that we wish we would have known before we started to breed them. Here is a list of things that you should know when breeding rabbits. Some of these we did not know until we started breeding our own rabbits.
Get your breeding rabbits from a reputable source. This will help make sure that you start out with good breeding rabbits. It might also be best to start out with a pair that has been proven already so you do not get a dud. However, proven stock normally will cost more but you are taking less of a chance with it. With young unproven stock you will also have the cost of growing them out until they are old enough to breed. So, it is up to you how you want to start but those are some things to consider. Most people start out with one buck and two does. We do meat rabbits so we started out with a New Zealand buck and doe and then a few months later added a Standard Rex doe. I would recommend doing the one buck and two doe ratio and breeding within a few days of each other. This is because sometimes you might have to foster a baby bunny for it to survive because its real mom had to many in her litter and could not take care of it.
Ages to breed. In general it is best to wait until a doe is 4-5 months old when you first breed her. For bucks, it is best to wait 5-6 months. It can also depend on the weight and overall heath of the rabbit. They can be bred as early as 6-8 weeks so keep you young bucks and does separated once they reach that age. If they do get bred that early it will probably stunt their growth. We separate our young bucks and does at 8 weeks to avoid this.
3. Interbreeding. In our experience we like to stay away from interbreeding as much as possible. The general rule is to not breed litter mates to each other. We have bred a daughter back to the father and a mother back to her son. But we did experience some problems with this breeding. Most of the kits were healthy enough but they did not grow as fast as we would have liked (especially for meat rabbits) and some had eye problems and would go blind.
4. When to breed. Do not breed in the heat! In the summer time we wait until evening or early in the morning to breed when it is cooler. In temperatures above 70 degrees a buck can become sterile. Also, breeding is stressful on the rabbits and hot weather will only make it more stressful for your rabbits.
5. How to breed. Always take the doe to the buck. A doe can be very territorial and may feel threatened with another rabbit in her pen. Also, if the buck is moved to a new space he may be more interested in checking out his new surroundings rather then getting his job done with the doe. It is a good idea to watch them until you see one or two successful breeding's that way you know for sure that the doe was bred. If you have a good buck and a doe that is cooperative this will only take 2-5 minutes.
6. Keep good records. You need to know when to give your doe her nesting box and when to expect little bunnies in there. Get a calendar or mark it in your phone the exact date that your doe got bred. From that date count 31 days and that will be your doe's due date. From that date count forward 3 days and that is when you should give her her nesting box. We always breed at the beginning of the month so our bunnies are born at the end of the month or beginning of the next month depending on the number of days in the month. We have forgotten to write down the exact dates and just had to guess when to give the nesting boxes. It worked out in the end but it is a very good idea to keep good records when breeding your rabbits.
Give us your tips and tricks in the comments that you have learned in breeding your rabbits or any questions about breeding rabbits.
good info