home*sweet*home
Well-known member
My 13 year old daughter has started breeding Holland lops. We have always had sort of a colony. We kept the girls together (they were too young to breed) and our male in another cage. We recently heard about colony breeding and I LOVE the idea. We also raise city chickens and they have a huge portable coop that moves. We had a small coop (when we only wanted 4 chickens) that they out grew. It has two coop that are about 4ft by 4 ft (on top of each other) with 4 nest boxes on each level (that are external) and they both open into a 4x8 run, that we have wired the bottom. We move the coop every few days (so they have access to the grass.)
The breeder that really got me turned on to colony breeding said with a set up like this we could probably have 4 does and our male. We only want one male because we want to know the pedigree of the rabbbits.
We currently have 2 holland lop does. One show quality and one pet and our male is show quality. We are considering keeping one of the kits and the breeder of two of my rabbits has offerend to sale me the mother of one of my does to maybe help show them how to parent. She is 18 months old and is a grand champion.
I am wondering if introducing her to the colony is a big mistake, or since she is the mother of one would that make introdicing her easier. Our two does are a month apart and have always shared a cage since we got them. We have never even had one fight. No hair pulling,. Nothing. They are super laid back. What are your thoughts?
The breeder that really got me turned on to colony breeding said with a set up like this we could probably have 4 does and our male. We only want one male because we want to know the pedigree of the rabbbits.
We currently have 2 holland lop does. One show quality and one pet and our male is show quality. We are considering keeping one of the kits and the breeder of two of my rabbits has offerend to sale me the mother of one of my does to maybe help show them how to parent. She is 18 months old and is a grand champion.
I am wondering if introducing her to the colony is a big mistake, or since she is the mother of one would that make introdicing her easier. Our two does are a month apart and have always shared a cage since we got them. We have never even had one fight. No hair pulling,. Nothing. They are super laid back. What are your thoughts?