Breeding sister and mother daughter pairs?

[Mini Lop Mama]

Has anyone ever successfully kept a sister pair of rabbits or mother daughter pair together? If so, give us some more information on your experience! Or if you have not, but have an opinion, let us know!

 

[ladysown]

i kept two sisters together. Bred them at the same time. They used the same nest. It worked well until suddenly one day it didn't. I separated them at that point.

 

[Mini Lop Mama]

i kept two sisters together. Bred them at the same time. They used the same nest. It worked well until suddenly one day it didn't. I separated them at that point.

They fought?

 

[ladysown]

badly fought. they stayed together for two years.

 

[Mini Lop Mama]

badly fought. they stayed together for two years.

Wow! Any idea why?

 

[ladysown]

must say, taught me a valuable lesson. Watch rabbits closely if you have them together. When you see one tuff of fur, or notice one boxing the other, separate them immediately.

 

[ladysown]

Wow! Any idea why?

absolutely no idea. For all I know one looked at the other wrong and things went downhill.

 

[Mini Lop Mama]

absolutely no idea. For all I know one looked at the other wrong and things went downhill.

Wow! That's crazy. So would you suggest not trying to raise sisters? Or do you think this was a rare thing?

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

I've only tried raising sisters together, and it ended badly
But I do have Netherland Dwarfs

 

[Mini Lop Mama]

I've only tried raising sisters together, and it ended badly
But I do have Netherland Dwarfs

You are able to have multiple Netherlands together?

 

[ladysown]

anytime you have two rabbits together things can go badly.

I've seen colony rabbits with torn ears, bites, and more.
They can be totally fine, and then totally not fine.

I have learned that sometimes things can go very good for a very long time and owners will rarely, if ever see a problem, and then things can go badly quickly.

But I've rescued tons of "pairs" over the years and 9 times out of 10 one of the pair will have scratch or bite marks that their people missed. I separate pairs fairly quickly, the dominant sulks, the beaten up breathes a sigh of relief. So I always tell people, watch them, as long as they are fine, let them be fine. But be hands on, watch for tufts of fur, and separate sooner than later.

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

You are able to have multiple Netherlands together?

Not usually unless they're fixed
The only ones I have together right now is two bucks that grew up together and two 11.5 week old Kits

 

[Hyla]

I often keep sisters and even brothers together of the same litter and haven't had any issues so far! I had 2 sisters I kept together named Rubix and Lindor, they got along great and I housed them together after weaning them from mama but I eventually ended up selling Rubix. I tried introducing Lindor to more of her siblings (both female, Ruth & Clove) that were about 2 months younger than her but she did not want anything to do with them, even nipped at Ruth. I think its more likely they will get along if they're from the same litter/same sex. I also think they would be fine staying in the same area as their mama as long as she isn't going to have another litter soon.

 

[LnD rabbits]

I have a large colony of doe rabbits of different breeds. There is always a "queen Bee" and occasionally they will tuffle for that title but they always settle down. Now I'm not saying they would do well together in a smaller cage but in a large enough space they do fine. They have their pecking order just like chickens but once that order is established there are no problems. One day there may be problems but as of now just an occasional tuft of fur is all I ever see. I do check them constantly as I am very hands on but the little ones never bother the big ones and vice versa. I keep all bucks that are of age separated but will house them together up to 4 months old

 

[MsTemeraire]

It may depend - a lot - on breed. One of my breeds is particularly mellow and appears to be somewhat social. I've had several mother/daughter pairs of this breed that lived together; when breeding, I only had one doe pregnant at a time. One one occasion, when the daughter had a litter, her mother came into milk and helped feed the babies.
To add, they do need a lot of space. Mine were housed in 6ft x 2ft hutches.

 

[LnD rabbits]

It may depend - a lot - on breed. One of my breeds is particularly mellow and appears to be somewhat social. I've had several mother/daughter pairs of this breed that lived together; when breeding, I only had one doe pregnant at a time. One one occasion, when the daughter had a litter, her mother came into milk and helped feed the babies.

Yes I have had several mom's foster babies when their mom didn't produce or was otherwise incapable of feeding. They really do well.

 

[Mini Lop Mama]

Thank you for all the replies! It is great to hear everyone's thoughts!

 

[Robochelle]

This is a mother daughter pair that I got from kijiji. When we got them they were very codependent. We tried to separate them in a bigger cage with a partition (to hilarious results ) but eventually admitted defeat. The mother raised an entire litter with daughter in the cage, with no incidents, but as soon as daughter was of breeding age and on her first pregnancy she became aggressive to mum. Mother is still affectionate to her but we can no longer keep them together because daughter will attack even when not pregnant now.

 

[jmal71]

I have a mother daughter pair that live together , they both had litters within a day of each other, it has a separation in the pen but they can both get past it and usually go in together, last time I only bred the mother, she had her litter in there with her fine, but the pen is quite roomy, the daughter helped take care of the kits once they left the nest too, they all get along great.

 

[Mini Lop Mama]

It may depend - a lot - on breed. One of my breeds is particularly mellow and appears to be somewhat social. I've had several mother/daughter pairs of this breed that lived together; when breeding, I only had one doe pregnant at a time. One one occasion, when the daughter had a litter, her mother came into milk and helped feed the babies.
To add, they do need a lot of space. Mine were housed in 6ft x 2ft hutches.

What kind of breed(s) do to have, and which one were you able to keep a pair?