Basic Tips to Consider When Breeding Rabbits

9 Tips for Better Breeding

1. Both the buck and doe should be appropriate breeding age, in most cases they should be at least six months old. Many does will be unable to breed if not first bred by nine months, due to pelvic bone fusion, so the ideal age is somewhere in between.
2. Ideally, both rabbits should be of same breed, unless you’re breeding purely as pets.
3. The buck should be somewhat smaller than the doe.
4. They should both be as healthy as possible and free from any major genetic defects that could be passed on to potential offspring.
5. Never breed brother to sister. Other combinations are usually ok; mother to son for example, but this is not a recommended practice for a beginner, as it requires a good understanding of line breeding genetics to be successful.
6. Unless you are planning on keeping all the kits you will need to find them suitable homes,(depending on the breed rabbits can have between 3-12 kits in a litter). You may have to advertise for, then screen, potential adoptive parents, which may involve a considerable cash outlay.
7. You will need a separate hutch to keep the kits in once they are weaned. If they haven’t been sold by sixteen weeks you will need to separate sisters and brothers into larger separate hutches. It may also be necessary to keep a spare cage on hand for any animal that becomes sick and needs to be kept way from its siblings for the health and safety of them all.
8. Consider the costs of the extra bedding and food involved with a new litter of kits. If you do manage to sell your rabbits, it is a good idea to supply the new owners with a small supply of the food that the animal is used to eating, to avoid upsetting his delicate digestive system.
9. The most important thing is that you have the time to devote to the proper care of your rabbits. Parents and kits will need regular feeding, watering and grooming. The cages in which the babies live must also be kept especially clean, as these young rabbit, still too young for vaccinations, can be very susceptible to diseases that would not impact a older rabbit as harshly as it might a kit.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, January 3rd, 2009 at 11:50 pm and is filed under Rabbit Breeding Tips & Genetics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.