How old does a NZ have to be to reproduce?

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Mags

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Hi, I'm Mags. A while back ago, I bred a pair of my New Zealands and had a litter of 7. We raise for meat and butchered a few kits from that litter late because we had a lot going on in past months. We just never got to them because I've been at school, and Mom would rather have us sell them to 4h kids. It hadn't donned on me how long we had had them. They are now 5 1/2 months old. I have 3 does and a buck together. The buck is showing genitals, but I don't think his testies have dropped. He has not shown any sexual behavior with the girls that I've seen. I have separated them. Do you think I should be concerned about pregnant does? And at what age do NZ bucks become fertile?
 
Edit for clarification; we butcherd 3 of 7 kits and I still have 4 (3 Does and 1 Buck) that we never got to processing. We ended up deciding to sell these because we didn't have the time, but because it is winter and 4h is now just starting to kick up, we havent sold them yet.
 
Hi! I start breeding NZ does at around 5 months, and have succesfully bred bucks at 5.5 months as well. I would suggest planning for litters at any time from now through 35 days or so from when you separated them as there is a good chance they are pregnant.
 
assume they are all bred. assume kits could come any time. they might not... but assumptions are better than dead kits. Remove the buck asap. And you might not see any sexual behaviour... it happens quickly and often very quietly.
 
Hi there, @Mags ! It's great that you recognized that this could be an issue and are thinking ahead to deal with it! I definitely agree with the above posts: New Zealands do have litters at that age and younger. Do you have a way to provide them with individual housing and nest boxes?
 
Yes I do. This will be my 4th time if they took. I've had rabbits for 4 years, but this is only my 1st year breeding. Thanks to all of the responses, it is appreciated.
Perfect! Sounds like you've got things covered, then. :)
 
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