breeding

Breeding Rabbits

2 week old Dutch

One of the fun things about having rabbits is breeding them. I have been breeding rabbits
for 11 years now, and have finally found a routine that works for me at keeping my
babies alive, which I'll share with you.

First
Before you even think of breeding, you need to make sure you know what to do, and are
prepared for it. You want to make sure that you, and especially if you have kids, are able
to deal with the death of baby rabbits. Not all rabbits keep their litters, especially if it's
their first litter. There is also always the chance of losing the mom if there are
complications. You also want to make sure you know what you're going to do with the
babies that live, that you aren't going to be keeping.
Make sure to fully research breeding rabbits. This is not just something to jump into to
have cute baby rabbits or to give the kids the “experience”. It’s not as easy as just putting
two rabbits together and having babies born. Go to the library and get books on rabbits.
Search on the internet. Email breeders and ask questions. Please note though, that there
are many different methods, and not all are right so you will have to figure which to use
and which to not.

When to Breed
Keep in mind that the rabbits must be at least 6 months of age before being bred. For
larger breeds (breeds that have an ideal weight of 10 pounds or more), they should be at
least 8 months of age. If it’s an older doe over 2 years old, and has never been bred
before, I recommend not breeding her. Older does who’ve never had a litter before
usually have more trouble than if they were younger. It’s best to breed the doe for the
first time at under a year old.
Even though rabbits should not be bred until 6 months of age, they can get pregnant as
young as 3 months, so make sure that bucks and does are separated by 8 weeks of age, as
to not have any accidents. It is not good for a doe to have a litter before she is fully
grown, which they smaller breeds are fully grown at 6 months of age.
Rabbits do not go through heat cycles like most animals. To be able to tell if the doe is
ready to be bred, check her genital area. Does who are ready to be bred will be really
pink, almost a reddish, purplish color down there. Also, when petting them over their
back and bottom, they will stick their bottom up in the air. They are setting up, showing
they are ready to submit to the buck.

Picking the Date
A rabbit’s gestation period is 30-32 days. Before breeding, pick a date on the calendar
that you want the litter to come on. You want to make sure it’s a date that you’ll be home
on. You then count backwards 31 days, which will be the date you breed your doe.

The Buck
Once you decide you do want to breed, you need to find a buck to use, if you don't have
one. I recommend breeding rabbits of the same breed together, as purebreds are easier to
find homes for than crossbreeds. When looking for a buck, keep in mind that most
breeders do not allow their bucks to be bred out to other people’s does, because diseases
can be spread through breeding, and they don’t want to risk it in their rabbitry.
Those that do breed out usually charge a fee of $10-30. However, I have seen some
people advertise prices a lot higher than that. In my opinion anymore than $20 the buck
should be a Grand Champion buck with many big wins to it’s name and a proven
producer.
If you bought your rabbit from a breeder, you could check with the original breeder to see
if they’ll let you breed to one of their bucks, as some breeders allow people who’ve
boughten from them breed back to their bucks for no charge or a discount price.
If you’re breeding for show, ask to see rabbits that the buck has produced to see how he
produces.

The Buck & the Doe
Most people think that you have to leave the two rabbits in a cage together for a couple
of days. It's a 10 second job, so there's no reason to leave them together in a cage. Plus,
sometimes when you leave them unsupervised, one rabbit might bite the other or worse.
When you breed them NEVER put the buck in the doe's cage!! You always put the doe in
the bucks cage, because the doe can become territorial over the buck, and may attack
him. If it doesn't work in the cage, you can try putting them on a table (make sure you put
the buck on it first), and see if that'll work better. Sometimes you might have to hold the
doe still for the buck. Make sure her tail is up.
When the two have connected, the buck will fall off the doe. Sometimes he’ll make a
grunt sound or even scream. The buck usually starts thumping after breeding. Take the
doe away and hold her on her back. Check her genital area, you should see the sperm
there which will show that they connected.
Continue holding the doe on her back for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes put her back in the
cage with the buck to follow the same procedure again. This is to ensure that they have
connected, and also helps the litter size.
If the buck is unresponsive to the doe, try cleaning the doe’s vents, and wave the q-tip in
front of the buck’s face.

Test Breeding and Palpating
On the 14th day of the pregnancy, some breeders test breed to ensure that the doe is
pregnant. They put the doe back in with the buck. The theory is, if the doe refuses to be
bred that means she’s pregnant. If she accepts the mating, that means she wasn’t
pregnant. The problem with this though, even when pregnant, does can still accept the
mating and when not pregnant might refuse to be bred. Rabbits have two uterine horns,
meaning the doe could already be pregnant in the first one from the first mating, and
become pregnant in the second one with the test breeding resulting in the doe carrying
two litters at the same time. This can be very dangerous for the doe and the litters. This
could cause mummified fetuses and could kill the doe.
A more accurate way of telling whether the doe is pregnant or not is by palpating her.
Palpating is a skill that not everyone has. I know of a breeder that can palpate and tell
you exactly how many babies the doe will have, how big they are, and how far along the
doe is.
A rabbit can be palpated as early as 10 days into the pregnancy. The larger the breed, the
easier it is to be able to feel them. For learning how, I recommend having an experience
breeder show you how.

The Nest Box
On the 28th day of the pregnancy, you put a box in their cage, like the one above. It's to
be made of either wood or steel. You can buy the steel kind from cage vendors. The
wood kind, you can build yourself. The size of it matters on the size of your rabbit. I use
the size above for my Dutch. It's 15" by 10", 10" high. The front goes up 4" high, which is
high enough, so the babies won't start jumping out at a very young age, and freeze to
death. Then the top is 6" long. That is for when the babies do start hopping out of the
box, it gives the mom a place to go, to get away from them. You don't put the box in
before the 28th day, only because the doe will then use it as a bathroom.
You will want to stuff the box with straw or hay. I prefer to use straw, as it’s more of a
bedding than food, so the does won’t eat as much of it as they would with hay. Some
people put shaving at the bottom of the box before putting the straw in. When you put the
box in, the doe usually immediately starts throwing the straw around to put it in how she
wants. Most experience does will immediately start pulling their fur to line the nest.
However some does will wait until right before they give birth before pulling fur. Pulling
fur helps expose the nipples for the babies to nurse. The does put it in the nest box to
help keep the babies warm.

                                               Roxy building her nest
The Due Date
Do not handle the doe much when she's pregnant. Do NOT handle her the week before
the due date. You can feed her normal amount of food up to when the babies are born.
Once the babies are born, you can increase her feed a little.
As mentioned above, the doe will start pulling fur to put in the nest box. If she doesn’t
put the fur in the box, put it in for her. Some does will take their fur and the straw from
the box and try to build a nest somewhere else in the cage. If she does this, put everything
back in the box, and move the box to where she was building the nest. Most does will
settle and make their nest there, however some are just plain stubborn and might take
everything out again and continue to build their nest on the wire. If this happens, stick
another nest box or two in the cage, where she’ll have no choice but to have it in a nest
box. On the wire that is not covered with the boxes, cover it with straw, so if any babies
are born on the wire they won’t die from exposure on the wire.

Sometimes the doe gets a little excited about having babies and might start picking her
fur up to 2 weeks before the due date. If this does happen, take the fur out of the cage and
put it in a plastic bag, and save it for the 28th day when you put the box in. Put that fur in
the box for her.
By the 31st day (sometimes they might come on day 30 or 32), she should have the
babies, which she should have in the box. If she's a first time mom or has had litters
before, but never kept them, you'll need to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't
have the babies on the wire. I always breed all of my does at the same time, that way if I
have a rabbit who doesn't keep litters, I can put their babies under the good moms, or if
you lose a doe, you’ll have another one to foster her babies to. With Dutch, you get
mismarks, so I put my mismarks under the new moms, and the good marked babies under
the good moms.

                                             One day old Blue Dutch
Born on the wire
If they are born on the wire, if they’re stiff, try rubbing them inbetween your hands to see
if they’re fully gone. If they’re dead they won’t do anything, however if they’re still alive
they will start slowly kicking, and moving their mouth, making little squeaks.
If they do start moving, bring them into the house to warm them up. You can take a
heating pad, lay a towel over it, then put the babies on it. After the heating pad gets
warmed up, keep it on the lowest setting, as to not burn the babies. Keep a constant eye
on them, so they will not crawl off the heating pad or get burned. Once they feel warm
enough and are kicking a lot, you can remove them from the pad and put them back in
their nest box. You do not want to leave them on the pad too long as it can kill them.
If the doe did not pick any fur to line the nest, you can pick fur from her stomach. it
should come off easily. Put that in the box for the babies.

False pregnancy
There are times that does will build their whole nest, picking fur, ect, however end up not
having any babies. These are called false pregancy’s or phantom pregancy’s. I usually
give the doe up to the 35th day of the pregnancy before rebreeding her, as sometimes
they can have the litter late.

Babies born during colder weather
During the winter or cooler weather, I bring my babies in at night. If it’s really cold out,
I’ll bring them in during the day too, and only put them outside once a day for 10 minutes
to be nursed, then bring them back in. Rabbits only nurse once a day, and it’s not for very
long. After putting the babies out with the mom, leave her alone. Most does do not like
people standing around watching them nurse. It’s a natural instinct of not wanting to lead
predators to their nest. Even though you are the owner and they know you, they still do
not want you standing around.
After a week, when they have fur, you can start leaving them out during the day, and after
two weeks leave them out during the night. However, if you feel it’s still too cold you can
leave them inside longer, or if you feel that they’re ready to stay out earlier.

                                           Riley nursing her litter
Does not nursing
To be able to tell if the doe has nursed the kits or not, the kits’ bellies will be solid to the
touch if fed. If they were not fed, it’ll be soft and they’ll look puny.
If you suspect that your doe has not been nursing her litter, what you can do is take her
out of the cage and put her on her back inbetween your legs like you were to clip her
nails. Then you let one baby at a time on her belly to nurse. When kit’s nurse, they
normally turn onto their backs, to nurse upwards. Even though the doe is on her back, the
kit’s usually still try to flip over. Just to warn you, they do not stay on the same nipple for
very long, and are usually moving back and forth between nipples.
If she’s a jumpy doe, it’s best to have someone else hold her ears so she does not
accidentally try to flip over and hurt the baby.
Even though you are hand nursing the babies, still leave them in with the mom.

                                          Tans with their foster mom
Fostering
When breeding, it’s best to breed all your does on the same day, if you have more than
one. That way if you have problems with one doe not nursing or if you lose a doe, you’ll
have other litters to foster the babies to.
Does do not care if you foster babies into their litter. I have never had a problem with a
doe rejecting a baby or litter just because they were fostered. My Dutch, in addition to
fostering other Dutch into their litter have had Tans, Havanas, and Polish fostered to
them without no complications.
When fostering litters, if you’re mixing more than one litter make sure you know what
kits are from what litters. Mixing different breeds or varieties together makes it easier to
tell them apart. However, if they’re different breeds, make sure they are similar to the
same size when fully grown, as a larger breed will push the smaller breed off the nipples
when nursing. If they are all the same breed and variety, you can mark the back of their
ears with nail polish, a different color for each litter. You’ll have to repaint the ears every
few days though, as it wares off after awhile.

                           Rhinelanders just getting ready to open their eyes

Opening Eyes
Rabbits open their eyes at 10 days old. If by day 12 they’re still not open, you’ll want to
take a damp wash cloth and gently wipe their eyes to clean any gunk that is causing the
eyes to remain close. You will want to do this a few times a day, every day, until they’re
open. If they still do not open on their own, you’ll then want to gently pry them open. Be
very gentle, as it can scar the eye.

                                                  Two week old Dutch
Jumping Out of the Box
Between 2-3 weeks of age, the kits will start jumping out of the nest box. They will start
experimenting with solid foods at this time. You want to make sure that the feeder is
always filled with food and the water bottle is always filled for them. You’ll want to
make sure the water bottle is down low enough for the kits to reach.
You’ll want to keep an eye on the babies as they first start jumping out of the nest box, so
their legs do not get caught in the wire. You can put a board in the cage in front of the
box for them to sit on.
Mattering on the weather outside, you can take the nest box out once you see them
staying out of the box more so than inside of it. This is usually at about 3 weeks of age.

                                              6 week old Black Tans
Weaning
Weaning age is between 6-8 weeks of age. When selling the babies, keep in mind that
some states have laws how about how young you can sell baby animals (dogs, cats,
rabbits, ect). Some say that you can’t sell younger than 8 weeks of age. Not all states
have these laws.
Washington state does not have this law, however it has become a rule at most shows
here that no rabbits are allowed in the showroom that do not make their breed’s
minimum junior weight. This means you can not sell any rabbits that do not make the
weight. Most breeds do not make their minimum weight until 8-10 weeks of age.
By 8-10 weeks of age, all the rabbits should have their own cages. Does can usually stay
in the same cage together from 2-4 months, unless you see fighting which means to
separate them. I, myself, prefer all my rabbits to have their own individual cages by 8
weeks of age.

                            Asia, Conner, Rufus, Andrew,& Kenya at 7 weeks
Contact
That's just the way I do it, everyone else has their own way. If you have any questions
about breeding, don't hesitate to email me.

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