12/09/2020
How to Breed Rabbits
Rabbits are known for their quick and effective breeding in the wild. Because they are a prey species, it is important for them to have a lot of offspring in order for the species to survive. However, breeding rabbits at home can be a lot of work and may not be for everybody. If you are simply looking for a pet, it might not be a good idea to breed rabbits yourself. However, if you are looking to breed rabbits for food or attempting to reproduce a specialty breed, you will need to have a good breeding pair, prepare for success (or failure), and understand how much work you have ahead of you.
PART 1 of 4
PREPARING TO BREED RABBITS
1️⃣Decide why you want to breed rabbits. Breeding rabbits is a huge responsibility that takes time, commitment, and patience. Before you begin breeding rabbits, decide why you want to do this. Are you planning on selling them? Do you want them as pets? Are you breeding them for meat? Decide if this is something you truly want to commit to doing.
2️⃣Research available rabbit breeds. There are a wide variety of rabbit breeds available to home breeders. Before you choose a rabbit just because it is cute, be sure that it will fulfill your needs.
3️⃣Choose the right rabbits to breed. The breed you choose might depend on availability, price, and preference. What you plan on doing with the rabbits also determines which breeds you choose. Some people want to sell and show the rabbits, while others want to keep them as pets, and others breed for meat.
•If you want to sell or show the rabbits, make sure to mate rabbits of the same breed. If you are planning to sell the rabbits, mixed breeds have little value. Mixing the breeds when you mate the rabbits also lessens the quality of the stock.A rabbit can't be considered pedigree if there is mixed-breed blood.
•If you want the rabbits for meat or genetic experimentation, you can mix the breeds of rabbits.
•Never breed full siblings. You can breed half siblings, father-daughters, mother-sons, cousins, and so on. Unless you have a lot of knowledge about genetics and inbreeding, try not to breed pairs that are too closely related.
4️⃣Breed your rabbits at the proper age. You want to start breeding does (female rabbits) when they are reaching maturity. For small-medium breeds, they can be bred at 6-7 months old. Larger breeds can be bred at 8-9 months.Bucks (male rabbits) are usually ready around 6 months old if a small breed, 7 months if medium, and 9 months for a large breed.
5️⃣Ensure that you will have homes for the kits (babies) before you breed. Check that you will have spare hutches for when the kits are weaned, and that you will be able to afford the costs of breeding. Decide what you are going to do with the kits when they have been weaned.
•Male and female kits must be separated when they are 8 weeks old. By 10 weeks old for bucks and 3-4 months old for does, rabbits need their own private cage. You must have enough cages for these animals in case you don't sell them.
•If you overcrowd young kits, they could fight and injure each other, or live in poor conditions that will affect their health.
•You also should have a large, safe enclosed garden for the rabbits.
•If you plan on selling the rabbits, try to talk to friends, other breeders, or advertise so that you can line up potential customers ahead of time.
PART 2 of 4
MATING THE RABBITS
1️⃣Breed from healthy, happy rabbits only. The physical condition of your rabbits when mating them is extremely important. Take your rabbits to a veterinarian before breeding them, just to make sure they are in tip top shape.
•Rabbits should not be underweight or overweight because this affects the success of the breeding. You should monitor what you feed the rabbits and make sure you provide the best nutrition so they are healthy.
•Check the cage of both the buck and doe for any evidence of diarrhea or loose stools. Check the ge****ls on both rabbits for any signs of disease of infection, such as extreme redness, discharge, sores, or scabs.These conditions need to be treated before breeding the rabbits.
•If your rabbit is aggressive or unhealthy, don't breed it. Breeding aggressive rabbits is not recommended.
2️⃣ Put the doe in the buck's hutch. A female's cage will smell like her, so the buck may get distracted by the unfamiliar smells and try to mark the territory. They may also fight. Always take the female to the male.
3️⃣ Leave the breeding pair together for half an hour. You want to give the rabbits time to mate, preferably 2-3 times.Having them mate multiple times can help with the litter size and the success of the breeding.
•Some people breed them again after an hour or later the same day to ensure a mating instead of letting them breed 3 times in a single session.
•If the female is anxious, aggressive, or trying to get away from the male, separate them immediately.
•You may want to check the doe's vent to make sure that the breeding didn't misfire. If you find the doe's back or tail wet, the breeding was not successful. Leave the rabbits in the cage and let them breed again.
•It is not ideal for bucks and does to be left together for long periods of time. Although they may get along well, they may also fight if the doe becomes annoyed with the buck. Does have been known to castrate bucks. Contrary to popular belief, however, there is no danger of a doe becoming pregnant with two litters at once (unlike hares, which CAN carry two pregnancies, but the embryos are stored until she gives birth).
4️⃣ Feel the abdomen of the female to determine if it is pregnant. Palpation is the best way of telling if a doe is pregnant or not. This is the method of using your hands to examine her body by feeling her abdomen to see if there are any babies inside. If she is pregnant, you will feel grape-sized embryos. For beginners, this method is most easily done 10-14 days after breeding.
•Pregnancy lasts approximately 28-33 days depending on the breed. Dead litters are usually delivered after day 34, but does have been known to give birth to live kits up to day 40.
•If the doe is not pregnant, you can breed her again immediately.
PART 3 of 4
TAKING CARE OF THE PREGNANT DOE
1️⃣Provide plenty of extra hay and bedding. Around day 25, a nesting box should be put in the doe's cage. This is for the doe to build a nest with. The nesting box should have soft straw or hay. Leave extra material around for her so she can make her nest. She will also pluck her chest and stomach hair to fill the nest.
2️⃣Give the doe peace and quiet. The mother needs a quiet, stress-free environment while pregnant. Don't lift her up unless you absolutely have to. Unnecessary lifting can damage the litter.If you do lift her, don't lift her by her stomach.
3️⃣Expect the mother to give birth 28-33 days after breeding. The mother will start nesting around days 25-27, and by day 32-33, she will give birth. Leave her to it if you do catch her giving birth, though chances are all will be done and cleaned up long before you are awake. Babies tend to be born before dawn.
•Listen for cheeping. Kits sound like baby birds, and hearing them is one way to tell if the mother has given birth. You can also tell by seeing movement in the nest, or if the doe has a little blood on her nose.
•The doe will clean the hutch to ensure no predators smell the blood or other scents and investigate.
•Inspect the litter after they are born. Remove any dead kits. Do this daily to check for dead kits.
If you have bred multiple does at one time, you can foster kits with other mothers if one has too many and another has too few kits, just make sure to mark the fostered kits with either nail polish on their toe or permanent marker in their right ear to be able to tell them apart from the foster mother's kits.
PART 4 of 4:
Taking Care of the Doe and Litter After Birth
1️⃣Feed the doe more. Once the kits are born, give her as much dry food as she likes, as feeding kits will drain her. Don't stop with her vegetables, but don't increase them. If you increased the food during the last week of pregnancy, don't increase again until 3-4 days after giving birth.Stop completely if her droppings become loose.
2️⃣Know how to treat the mother. If the doe is happy for you to stroke her and is acting normally, and you have a very good relationship with her, it might be a good idea to let her out for a little exercise. You should let her out for about an hour if she is used to it. This will give you a chance to inspect the nest and remove any dead kits.
•Be careful if you attempt to go near the nest if the doe doesn't trust you or gets upset.
•Some people say the doe will abandon the kits if you touch them, but others claim you can handle the babies without the mother being upset.
3️⃣Check on the kits daily. You want to check the kits during the day and night. Check them while they are feeding so you can make sure they are feeding normally. If they are not, you may need to give them supplementary feed. You also want to make sure they are eating well and gaining weight at the proper intervals.
•Checking them multiple times daily can also help you catch any kits that have wandered out. If they are left unattended outside the nesting box, they can freeze and die.
4️⃣ Clean the hutch and box. Poor conditions can cause kits to die. You want to make sure the nesting box isn't overrun with urine and f***s, and you want to make sure the hutch and outdoor run is clean and hygienic. Sometimes mothers can defecate a lot, which may attract flies. These flies can cause infections in young kits.
•Change the nest material a week after the litter is born. Keep an eye on the litter the days after changing the hay. Kits have a tendency to leave the nest box after changing the hay, and if it is cold, they can freeze. Continue changing the hay every few days. Remove the box after 3 weeks.
•Replace the paper when used as needed.
5️⃣Wean the babies at 6-8 weeks. Remove the doe from the litter at 7 weeks. Put out food so that the kits can feed freely, ensuring that they get enough feed. At 8 weeks, move the kits into individual cages or in pairs. You can also move all the does to one cage and the bucks to another.
The period of weaning can be stressful for the mother and kits. Make sure that they are all have enough water and food. You can also add probiotics to the water, to help with the digestive health of them.
