Mini/English hybrid question(s)

I have a buck Mini lop and two doe English lop rabbits. Purchased from a co-worker couple of months ago. The buck is 1yr old and according to my buddy has been a successful stud. The two does are 4-5 months old and are first timers. The does are much bigger than the buck. The first doe did not have a successful breeding as we discovered two still borns on the wire yesterday. Don't know if she had additional or not during the night. One of the dead had an ear and leg chewed off so it may be that she ate any additional during the night. That is just a guess.

Doe #2 has shown no signs of nesting and is due tomorrow (Sunday). But doe #1 didn't show any signs either. So I'll wait to see if it's a successful kindle with female #2 if/when she has the kindle. She does have a nesting box filled with hay.

I'm unsure if I breed them too early or not. I had read that English lop are 9 months or 10 lbs. I've not weighed either, but they are large rabbits. I have two cats that are like 8 lbs and 17 lbs so I gauge off of their sizes. I'd say if they're not 10 lbs they've got to be very close, particularly doe #2 as she is noticeably bigger.

Thoughts on this are welcome.

Once I do have a successful kindle, how long for this hybrid to be full sized? What would be a good age to harvest/process? I was thinking 2 months to be about full sized but now I'm unsure. Thoughts on this are welcome as well.

Also, I've read that rebreeding should occur within 3 days. Should I try this with doe #1 that had the still born or would it be best to wait a month or two or three? Thought of course welcome.

Thank you

I breed my NZ at about 5 1/2 to 6 months and have had good luck, no breeding misses and, for me, breeding younger seems to reduce "first timer" issues.

I also breed two does at once in case I need to foster kits or even up litter sizes. That has allowed me to save kits I otherwise may have lost.

One thing to keep in mind is the heat. Bucks often go sterile in the heat, and does can have a very hard time with summer kindling. In your shoes, I would look to give the buns the summer off, and have some frozen water bottles ready to go.

I'd probably look for a third generation cross to be close to the does' size, but you could get lucky and jump a generation. Maybe keep kit weight records and see how they do. I butcher from 10-12 weeks, depending on when we get around to it.

Thank you for that information.

How hot would you consider too hot? They are in the shade and the whole design is very open air concept. Nothing to impede good air flow. And I could easily set up a good fan hooked to solar power so that the air flow is constant. Frozen water bottles are a good idea and that wouldn't be any issue at all as we have our kitchen freezer and another out in the garage.

I would probably get a good thermometer and put it out at the cages and see how the temps go. I have one at each end of my rabbitry, as one end gets a better air flow.

Rabbits handle cold much better than they do heat. If your particular rabbits are from lines long used to the Florida heat, they may do better than rabbits recently introduced to the Sunshine State (former south Floridian here). I would be highly tempted to avoid breeding/kindling from say, end of June through mid-September, depending on your temps.

Another idea for the buns- go to your local building supply place and pick up a couple of scrap ceramic tiles. The bigger ones, like 12' square. Those make wonderful cool resting pads for the buns. Mine all have one in each of their cages- they stretch out and roll over when it gets hot.

Great, that is a wealth of good ideas!

I've got a digital thermometer to use in the incubator that isn't being used just yet. I can hook that up tonight and it gives me a memory of the highs and lows over the last 12 or 24 hours. Good idea.

I'll check with my co-worker to be sure, but I'd be willing to bet the line is all Florida as he got his rabbits from a neighbor up in Pasco county.

I like the tile idea and have left over from when we tiled the house. I'll put that in tonight. Easy to clean and I'm sure they'll love it! Although the offspring will be for meat (unless a friend/family want one as a pet) I want to be as humane as possible and for them to really be comfortable and happy.

As for dispatching I've looked at numerous video on that hopper popper and it looks to be a very quick/clean dispatch. May look into that when the time comes.

Thinking about making a run for them as I have extra cage wire. Something to have on the ground so they can run around the grass, get some exercise and nibble on whatever. Maybe three or four feet or something like that. Set it up in the shade and let each take turns romping around while I'm puttering around in the garden. I do this with my quail and with them I can simply move the whole cage and put in on the grass so they get some nibbles and grit.

Great ideas and glad to have joined the board. Exactly the stuff I'm looking for!

You may be waiting for a while. I've never had an English Lop doe take before 8 months, they need more time to mature. Best of luck though!

Marinea":3hydqqnz said:

Another idea for the buns- go to your local building supply place and pick up a couple of scrap ceramic tiles. The bigger ones, like 12' square. Those make wonderful cool resting pads for the buns. Mine all have one in each of their cages- they stretch out and roll over when it gets hot.

Click to expand...

Okay, added this last night when I got home. At first they were really curious about 'what the heck is this' but then seemed to be just fine with it.

Rebel.Rose.Rabbitry":3hydqqnz said:

You may be waiting for a while. I've never had an English Lop doe take before 8 months, they need more time to mature. Best of luck though!

Click to expand...

Thank you. Today is the due date for doe #2. I didn't see anything this morning when I checked before leaving for work. I'll see if I get a call from my son later. If she does kindle I'll see how it goes and base things off of that. The two does are sisters so if #2 has the same problem then I'll just wait a couple of months or so. If she has a healthy kindle then I may try to rebreed #1 in a month or so.

My long term plan is to add a third doe. Then breed one and when she delivers breed the second and when she delivers breed the third. That way the kindles are a month apart and I've got plenty of room in the grow out pens and a constant supply. That's the plan anyway. We'll see what actually happens.