First attempt at breeding

Made my first attempt this weekend to bread on of my does to the buck. They are both about 5 months. I found out that handling them isn't as easy as I would like it to be. I have a two tier system and they are on the top. I finally got her, but I now know that I need to spend some time reviewing how to handle them better. Moving her to the bucks cage was a challenge. She is a little more tame than my other doe. I tried to move her yesterday and it was a no go. I had to stop due to time constraints.

It took the first doe about ten minutes before the buck hopped on. I am not sure if they had success since she didn't seem to raise up. I left them for an hour and when I came back they were both smoking a cigarette. I think that is a good sign. right? lol

Anyways, I am going to give the second doe another shot this evening if the weather holds off.

Any tips would be great.

First tip, fingerless welding gloves and a canvas jacket. :lol: Rabbits will rip you UP!!!

Taking the fingers out of the gloves will let you control the pressure so as to not hurt them while the gauntlet stile gloves will protect your forearms. The slick jacket will protect your belly and chest.

Trust me, its well worth doing. My joy of rabbits really began when the buggers stopped making me bleed.

Second tip, pick your time to breed for when you can watch them. NEVER leave them alone together, I had a buck take a does face off. Well, he ripped her nose half off but at first glance it looked very bad indeed. :shock:

None off my rabbits are picked up often enough to make them easy to handle, they all love to be petted but NOT picked up so if you want buns easy to handle you need to pick them up lots and lots. And if you are working on making them easy to pick up do it several times a day for short times each.

The main thing is though, ENJOY your rabbits, they are a fun (but addictive) animal.

I spend at lot time handling my rabbits, new, and old. Just to insure I don't get the crap kicked out of me like I did when we first started. Had a doe give a deep cut across my neck! :x

After that I decided I'd spend a few hours a day handling each of my rabbits. Rabbits feel more secure when held close to your body, and having their hind end, and feet supported. I hold when that way until they get comfortable enough to stuff them under your arm, lol.

As for breeding, I personally do not leave my bucks, and does alone together. A doe could flip out at any point, and harm the buck. Even if she does not physically hurt him a crazy doe can ruin a good buck by making him gun shy, or skittish around any other doe you throw at him.

If you see your doe refusing to lift you can help out by gently lifting her rear when the buck jumps on.

Sadly I don't have the time to spend with them each day in handling them. My hope was to handle them as little as possible since they are food.

The doe that I did breed was good once she was out and i was holding her as you said. The trick is getting them out.

I am not sure how either would do if I stuck my hand in with them. They are all skidish. I think they would stop the action. <br /><br /> __________ Mon Jun 13, 2016 11:23 am __________ <br /><br />

GBov":26soij75 said:

First tip, fingerless welding gloves and a canvas jacket. :lol: Rabbits will rip you UP!!!

Taking the fingers out of the gloves will let you control the pressure so as to not hurt them while the gauntlet stile gloves will protect your forearms. The slick jacket will protect your belly and chest.

Trust me, its well worth doing. My joy of rabbits really began when the buggers stopped making me bleed.

Second tip, pick your time to breed for when you can watch them. NEVER leave them alone together, I had a buck take a does face off. Well, he ripped her nose half off but at first glance it looked very bad indeed. :shock:

None off my rabbits are picked up often enough to make them easy to handle, they all love to be petted but NOT picked up so if you want buns easy to handle you need to pick them up lots and lots. And if you are working on making them easy to pick up do it several times a day for short times each.

The main thing is though, ENJOY your rabbits, they are a fun (but addictive) animal.

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I got cut up pretty good once moving them. From then on it is a long sleeve shirt for sure.

The gloves sound like a good idea as well.

I thought about using a towel. Throw it over her and then wrap her in it to get her to the other cage. Anyone ever tried that? :?:

I haven't tried it but it sounds like it would work well....defiantly take precautions to protect yourself though!

Another thing to consider...rabbits bred now will be kindling in mid-July...in Alabama heat. I would be keeping a very close eye on the does as they get close.

My does are tame enough for me to pick them up but when it comes to trying to hold them near my body all I see is claws and death. I've started using a laundry basket with something to cover the top of it so they can't hop out. But only reason I do this is because my does aren't near my bucks right now. Although I will soon be moving the bucks to the opposite side of the fence from them if I'm not wrong.I have to say laundry baskets make a worlds difference when the doe can hop into the cage. *I haven't figured out the part where they hop into the basket yet lol

Marinea":s8r1uz6x said:

Another thing to consider...rabbits bred now will be kindling in mid-July...in Alabama heat. I would be keeping a very close eye on the does as they get close.

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I have them under my back deck. They never get sun directly on them. I have checked the area and low 80s so far is the highest. I wanted to try to get the first litter before august in then not go again till September. I am also starting the frozen two liters.

The breeder I got them from breeds them all through the summer and he is in Alabama as well. They have handled the heat well. I am keeping watch on them to make sure I don't see any signs of heat stress. <br /><br /> __________ Tue Jun 14, 2016 8:07 am __________ <br /><br /> Just wanted to give an update and hopefully it will be of some help to others. I got the second doe in with the buck. I used the towel and that was a huge help. She didn't like it much, but that is ok. It got her pinned in so I could grab the neck flap and get her to me to secure her better.

She didn't like being in with the buck who is her cage neighbor. He has gotten the swing of things for sure though. He went right for her. She kept trying to hide in the corner and he went to biting her back and pulling hair. He finally got to it and I experience my first fall off. I wasn't expecting his screeching after he fell off. Almost like he was stuck. Didn't last long. I got her out after I finished my cleaning. Didn't leave her any longer than needed, although he seemed ready for round two.

Thanks for the advice. Hopefully I will have some kits soon!

Something I recently learned is that it takes rabbits 10 hrs to ovulate after the first successful breeding. * I hope that doesn't sound rude, I just recently found this out while looking into some stuff about breeding *

Came home last night to find that the doe I breed second had blood on her face. I thought the worse, but it is just from her cleaning her self after delivering 7 kits! I was beginning to think that neither breeding was successful. Even told my wife on the way home from work that I was going to pull the boxes if nothing happened this weekend.

She had three outside the box that were moving and in good shape. This is her first litter. She must have pulled fur after because it was on top of the kits in the box and she hadn't pulled any that morning.

This morning all the kits were in the front of the box. She had pushed all the hay and them to the front and she was sitting in the back. She jumped out and I checked her. She is all cleaned up now. I did add more hay to the back of the box since she had move it to where there was none and I thought that was best. Will check it when I get in tonight. Thanks for all the support on this site. It has made this first experience a lot smoother. I'm interested to see how many will survive.

Hm, depending on your local temperatures, I think you want that kits covered somewhat (I don't see kits for the first week without digging them out). If there isn't enough fur fine hay, or Fluff from the dryer would do.

Apart from that, it looks fine

In 80 degree weather they don't need much covering. I have never seen as much blood as shes showing in the picture, but I assume it may be magnified since she is white. If shes cleaned herself up she should be fine Their body heat will be enough to keep them warm. You wont be able to do much because once mom nurses them she will cover them back up. Just be careful-I have seen at least one post on here where a litter was lost to heat exhaustion. Congrats tho!

Preitler":2sko7tsp said:

Hm, depending on your local temperatures, I think you want that kits covered somewhat (I don't see kits for the first week without digging them out). If there isn't enough fur fine hay, or Fluff from the dryer would do.

Apart from that, it looks fine

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It is very warm in Alabama right now. The low last night was in the 70s I would guess. The high today is mid 80s. They are in the shade. I will check them today when I get home.

This morning they were buried in the front. I am guessing she did that.

Some suggest pulling the babies out during the day time to keep them from overheating. If decide to try this make sure you put them back in at night to get feed. I am new to so I decide not to breed this summer. I breed mine 12 weeks ago all are doing fine and the ones I sold no one has called to complain or bring them back. By the time the second litter was born now 10 weeks old it jump up to 80 and I notice every time I covered them either the babies or mom was uncovering them. I just let be and it worked out fine 8 weaned.

Sadly I have lost three of the seven. All are getting fed and have full stomachs that I can see. It leads me to think it is the heat. This week will be even worse temp wise. Probably learning a lesson that I shouldn't breed in the summer. Will see if they make it.

I like the idea of possibly moving the kits inside for a couple of weeks except to feed at night. Anyone else suggest this?

They aren't covered up. They do lay on top of each other. The dead ones were found below them. One I couldn't find and my guess is the mother ate it. Not sure though. Searched the nest good.

I did notice one of the dead had a black speck on his belly. I am assuming this is normal since it looked like where the umbilical cord would have been.

That's the umbilical cord probably, and taking them in is what you should do for them during the day.

I absolutely recommend just bringing the kits in during the day. Try it once and see what happens. My mamas go immediately to the kits when I return them to the nest and feed them right away. I would be careful about the difference in temps tho, dont want to shock them by having them in the a/c and then outside at night, and the temps are still high. You could even just leave them out there for an hour or so, then return them to the house. If you are already loosing them tho, there isnt much that could get too worse so I would experiment and see what works!

Thanks for the advice. I placed them in my basement garage. It will be much cooler in there, but not air conditioned. Will put them back out first think when I get home. The mother was a little confused when they left. I am hoping she is glad to see them when they come back. Fingers crossed this works. <br /><br /> __________ Wed Jul 20, 2016 12:19 pm __________ <br /><br /> The day away from mom went well. They are all still alive this morning. With near 100 degree weather this week, I will stick with bringing them in during the day. The big ones outside get the frozen two liter. They seem to be faring pretty well.

Nice to see its working out for you. This is the easy part. I have 12 week olds that I am having a problem harvesting. 5 pounds just does seem big enough for a meal.

Well tomorrow will be two weeks and the kits are doing good. Four of them are going strong. Three of them like to wonder from the box when Mommy is around. Got a cute shot of them snuggling with her early one morning. I do have a question. When do I need to stop taking them out of the heat? We are in the mid 90s and will be for a while.