When to breed a doe??

[Tbgb1912]

I know I'm not commercially breeding or anything - my doe got pregnant "on accident" (we all know the two same-gender rabbits story) and she was four months old - bare in mind she is a ND x ML. She was a stroppy cow to say the least, but after becoming pregnant and raising two litters to date, she is the sweetest bunny - and a fantastic mother. *shrugs*

 

[ladysown]

The main personality change I've noticed lately, is that Sprinkles seems to want to dig ALL of her litter out of her litter box.

I'd be watching her for breeding....... Just saying...

 

[Preitler]

Hm, behavior is a sign, but watching my buck gives me a sure clue. When he tries desperatly to get to one does cage, even climbing up where no rabbit is supposed to climb, sits there grunting and nosing with her through the wire, and the doe is interested too - good time to set a new record for breeding...

Last autumn after the sex change fairy paid a visit I had a healthy litter of 7 at about 5 months (Just in time for her to postpone freezer camp, I keep them 16-20 weeks).
The other time I noticed one of the fryer does doing that short, 2 second digging bursts on the lawn when coming out of the cage, although does don't do it that way, but bucks when mature, well, too late, they were with my breeding doe and I had a second unplaned litter before winter :x .

If the digging fits are related I don't know, mine sometimes dig tunnels several meters long, then from one day to the next fill up and hide the entrance and show no interesst in digging for several months. When I left the old, rented house this winter it was half a day's work with the shovel to find and fill up all hidden tunnels in the garden.

 

[Susie570]

Well, it sounds like all of my does are ready when I am. If I'm ready to breed Sprinkles, I guess I could just let them try and see what happens.

I'm trying to use some judgement in planning the timing of litters though. Thanks for all of the replies!

 

[Zass]

Most of my rabbits start to become sexually mature around 3.5 to 4 months old. Sometimes the bucks take until 5 months to fully descend, and sometimes they are ready and willing closer to 12 weeks... But I try to hold off on breeding the does until they have reached most of their adult weight.

Since the signs of doe readiness can be subtle and vary between individuals, it's hard to state definite "this means she's ready" behaviors.

Ladysown did a nice job writing up what to look out for.

 

[Nyctra]

3.5...yeah that sounds like someone I know. Had a little angora doe harassing her sister, and had to doublecheck to make sure she wasn't a he...was met with the readiest vent I've ever seen. :shock: Definitely a doe! lol The thought of pairing her with my mini rex guy has been tempting...but I know I shouldn't. :lol: I've bred a meat mutt doe that young before, but she was basically full grown. :?

With my last meaties, expected to reach 9-10lb, I started checking around 16 weeks or when they looked close to full size. Considered anything about 7lb+ fair game, but opted for larger or older does if they were available or if I wasn't too eager for the younger's kits. I recall they usually weren't agreeable or just didn't fit into my breeding schedule until around 20-25 weeks.

 

[ButtonsPalace]

With Hollands, I haven't had much luck with getting young does to take, I generally breed around 7/8 months with the Hollands, occasionally if a doe looks really ready around 6 months I will give her a go. I think there are wide variances in maturity though, even within a breed. I'd say go on an individual basis, if a doe looks and acts ready to breed and is in good health, she likely is mature enough.

I have a doe acting "ready" but she's only 4 months old *Guessing* I got them late February on about the 22nd if I'm not wrong and they were "2-3 weeks" says the guy. If I had to guess I'd say they were in the later part of 3 weeks when I got them and have grown a lot. But she's a Silver fox only weighing about 6 pounds right now I'd say. So how much longer should I give her? She's already big but only about half the size of her mom.

 

[Zass]

Silverfox does typically grow between 10 and 12 lbs. If she were mine, I would give her a little more time to put on weight, at least into the 8-9 lb area, especially since you know her dam is a nice big girl.

 

[ButtonsPalace]

That's what I was thinking. She still seems a bit to small plus she had no interest in bucks when I put her on top of his cage. I'll watch her over the next month or two and see how she looks and acts