Breeding a large buck to a small doe

Rabbit Talk  Forum

Help Support Rabbit Talk Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

RubyRed

Active member
Joined
Jun 10, 2021
Messages
35
Reaction score
11
Location
Eastern Shore, US
I've been reading a bit about breeding different breeds together (not that I'd like to) and I was wondering what would happen if you bred a large buck to a small doe. I'm not talking about a 2-3 pound difference, something more than that- like a holland lop doe and an english lop buck.

I've read several articles on this but it's never super specific. I read in one article that 75% of the kits' size comes from the mother, but I'm not sure if that's true. Is it dangerous/risky to breed a large buck to a small doe, and what would you say is the chance of death/injury for the mother and issues with the kits?
 
Don't do it! I did that for a while since all I had was a large buck and I lost a few litters since the doe had a hard time with kindling
 
@golden rabbitry
Did you loose all of the kits? Also how was the doe affected? How many litters did you loose and how many did you breed in all? What breed was the buck and how heavy, and what about the doe? (I'm not planning to breed like this, I'm just curious)
 
the doe ended up losing half the litters and prolapsing. I figured it was just her so I bred him to another and she never lost anything but it took something out of her. The large kits ate everything and in general were a pain for her to deliver and take care of
 
I've been reading a bit about breeding different breeds together (not that I'd like to) and I was wondering what would happen if you bred a large buck to a small doe. I'm not talking about a 2-3 pound difference, something more than that- like a holland lop doe and an english lop buck.

I've read several articles on this but it's never super specific. I read in one article that 75% of the kits' size comes from the mother, but I'm not sure if that's true. Is it dangerous/risky to breed a large buck to a small doe, and what would you say is the chance of death/injury for the mother and issues with the kits?

I will say that I've bred larger bucks to smaller does (I give them extra calcium and I'm 90% of the time at home/there for the delivery). They have delivered fine, BUT the babies did have bruising on the face as they came out. They grew up fine, but I would caution breeding them. You can breed them, but know that you can be putting the doe at risk.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top