What would you do~ re. timing of breeding/ winter

[TF3]

I'm stuck.

Moona, the crazy Rex I want to go away :x :lol: is NOT pregnant (due earlier this week).
She is 6 months old.
She was bred at 5 mos. to coincide with other does as I plan(ned) to stop breeding until the new year after these litters.

Now I am not sure what to do...
If I process kits to sell, the processor closes by mid-December (until July) so it would be iffy if any would be ready by then
OR if I could have decided on what to keep by 10 weeks or so.
I could do them myself, or hang on to them for another 3-4 months to sell at breeding age in the spring.
SR are very thin on the ground here and I would have spring sales to attend as well.
But cage space is an issue and I really only want to keep the best Rex (in a perfect world).

I am concerned that if I *don't* breed her this fall, she will be nearly a year when we start up again in the new year.
But I don't want to breed only one doe, alone, either.

Then there is Raven, who is just 4 months old, my other SR doe.
She isn't ready to breed yet but if I wait until the new year she will be 8 months or so...

Basically, I don't want both of these does becoming old maids over the next 6 months! :lol:
(Which means my SR buck sits idle, too!)

The main challenge with breeding both in, say 6 weeks, is that the kits will come of age in the dark of winter without processing available (I can't sell them if I process at home, in Ontario).
Which means housing them all, all winter, when cages are full of my meat mutts maturing for spring...

All my other blabbing aside... :lol: :lol:
Would you breed the girls at 5 and 7 months in a month's time and just carry the kits through to spring
OR wait until the new year (the issue being -40C here in January and February)... so it would be march and they would be 10 and 12 months old first time bred...

 

[EnglishSpot]

There isn't really any issue with breeding year old or more rabbits, honestly. I guess the real question is do you really want to hang on to a rabbit you don't like all winter?

 

[Dood]

There is no rule that says you must grow out any kits.

If I was in your situation I would breed them to keep them "in the groove of things" and process the newborns (to 4 week olds if your girls seem chunky) as feeders for reptiles, cats, ferrets, dogs

 

[Zass]

I'd breed them, and process the table-ready rabbits for my own use.

 

[TF3]

Thanks guys!
I will go ahead and breed them in a bit... how young is really too young?
Is it true that size will be affected by too early breeding?
I don't want to breed Raven too soon but I also don't want her to be kindling too far into winter (northern Ontario!).
She doesn't look ready yet (vent) and I have time, just wondering at the wisdom?

 

[Zass]

4 months hasn't been too young for the meat mutts or the harlequins yet, though I do not prefer it.
Than again, if the doe isn't ready to breed, she won't. :lol:

BTW breeding in winter is neither impossible, or particularly difficult. I manage it here in PA without supplementing light. But, I DO pull nestboxes and keep them inside because I hate losing even occasional kits to being pulled out the front of my boxes.

 

[skysthelimit]

My whole rabbitry is jacked up.

Can't get a thing to breed in winter, no matter what.

Have a hard time with does over a year.

So I'd say go for it.

 

[TF3]

Thanks Zass.
We will have walls and the rabbitry is connected to the house, so there will be enough warmth, I suspect.
I will try and get her bred before the light wanes too much (and we close the walls~ we have screens we are going to shutter it)!

So... if I want to breed in January to be ready to sell in March, should I provide artificial light for 12-14 hours daily?
Just for the pre-breeding and breeding timeframe?

 

[imajpm]

I don't breed much in the winter, but when I do I use a K&H Manufacturing small animal heated pad under the nest box. They are hard plastic, pee proof, and have a chew proof cord but you do have to anchor the cord if it's inside the hutch, just in case a doe decides to move things around. I have a winter nest box that I like too. It's long and attaches outside the hutch. The heat pad is totally safe from mother with this box. The does always use the very back corner and not much gets out of that box by accident.

-- Thu Sep 03, 2015 9:30 pm --

Oh shoot, you need electricity too. I am so used to power in the barn that I forgot not everyone has it. I leave my lights on 12 hours in winter. Bunnies breed fine.

 

[Dood]

I'd supply artificial light to kick start their fertility

I breed all winter but my adults are in a lit barn that is heated to just above freezing, mainly so my does will always have access to liquid water during lactation

 

[TF3]

Great! Thanks!
Theoretically I am hoping we can keep things just around 0, but it will depend on a lot of factors...
I had forgotten about light, so this is great! I'll try and get hubby to make one of the shutters so it lifts and we can let in sunlight.