Jan 12
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Tips On Rabbit Breeding
Important Considerations as you engage in building a rabbitry.
• It’s an excellent idea to join the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) http://www.arba.net in order to get their book on Raising Rabbits, the membership roster, and the subscription to Domestic Rabbits Magazine. These will provide great material for raising rabbits. Membership will also allow your rabbits to get grand championships, thus increasing the rabbit’s and its offspring’s value.
• Check out National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service. P.O. Box 3657. Fayetteville, AR 72702 and the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) web page to find a rabbit show near you. Go to it and investigate the breed you are interested in raising. You can get insights as to how a judge evaluates the rabbit breed you are interested in. You can also ask other rabbit fanciers to share their experiences with their rabbits. Finally, you can purchase your rabbits at the show.
• Only purchase rabbits from an established breeder who will stand behind the sale with a signed certificate of pedigree. Any other way invites problems such as genetic defects, disease, and bad specimens of the breed. You also must have a pedigree to show a rabbit or to sell pedigreed offspring.
• Select a breed that you want to become an expert in. You should love that breed. Concentrate on what judges are looking for in that breed. Strive to attain the perfect standard. When others know you have high quality rabbits, they will beat a path to your door.
• Your cages should give you easy access, be self cleaning, and provide good protection for your rabbits. They should not be too small.
• Feed rabbits the correct amount of rabbit pellets for their size and occasionally supplement their diet with alfalfa hay. Do not feed them too much – a fat rabbit loses stamina and doesn’t breed well.
• Do not put rabbits together after they are 3 months old until you are ready to breed them at 6 months.
• As a side note, when you get your book on raising rabbits from ARBA, memorize the section on diseases. When I say, memorize, I mean, MEMORIZE! Always be vigilant for those diseases in your rabbitry. Finally, protect your rabbits from other animals, especially from dogs and raccoons. They’ll do a number on your rabbits if given the chance.
Keep the following principles in mind when you want to breed your rabbits:
• Only mate rabbits of the same breed. Exceptions to this include breeding for meat, pets or genetic experimentation. You cannot sell a pedigree rabbit that has mixed blood in its background going back 4 generations.
• Do not keep more than one rabbit in each cage when the rabbit is 3 months or older. Rabbits mature faster when alone, do not fight, and do not breed, thus eliminating unexpected results.
• Before breeding, check the bottom of the cage of both the doe and buck for evidence of diarrhea or loose stools. Do not breed the rabbit having this condition until it has been adequately treated. Also check the genitals of both rabbits for any signs of disease or infection (for example, extreme redness, discharge, sores or scabbiness). Refer to the
ARBA Official Guidebook section on diseases.
• When ready to breed the doe, take it to the buck’s cage. Never bring the buck to the doe’s cage. The reason for this is that the buck has fewer tendencies to breed in the doe’s cage. He’s too busy sniffing around the cage.
• Some leave the doe with the buck overnight. Others put the doe in, watch it, and when they have mated, remove the doe. If you do the latter, put the doe back in with the buck 1 to 12 hours after the initial breeding. This will increase the likelihood of pregnancy and may increase the number of offspring.
• Keep a calendar and accurate records of the day you breed the doe. You should test her for pregnancy between the 10th and 14th day after the initial breeding. There are two ways to do this. The overall preferred method is to palpate the lower abdomen of the doe with your thumb and forefinger checking for nodules about the size of a marble. The other method is not only more risky but also more inaccurate. This method is to mate the doe with the buck again. This can cause problems because the doe has two uterine horns, each of which can carry babies. It is possible for one horn to be fertilized on the first mating and the second to be fertilized on the second mating. This will create a hormonal imbalance and cause the babies in both uteri to not form right, causing her to pass blobs instead of babies at the date of kindling. There is also a chance these “mummified” blobs could cause complications leading to the death of the doe.
• You should place a nest box in her cage on the 29th day after breeding. Thirty-one days after breeding, she should kindle her litter.
• For meat rabbits and other breeding purposes, depending on the method of breeding the breeder chooses to adopt, the baby rabbits are weaned at between 4 – 7 weeks (See chapter 6 on Reproduction and mating). The number of rabbits per cage is determined by the weight, size and age of animals. (See chapter 4 on housing and caging).
• Finally, before starting off, make it a point of duty to visit a rabbit farm, join an organization like American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) http://www.arba.net in order to get their book on Raising Rabbits, the membership roster, and the subscription to Domestic Rabbits Magazine. These will provide great material for raising rabbits. Membership will also allow your rabbits to get grand championships, thus increasing the rabbit’s and its offspring’s value. With these tips, you are on your way to being a successful rabbit farmer.
Conclusion
The secret is to study and get to know as much as possible. Then put what you have learnt into practice. Every venture carries its peculiar associated risk. But if managed well, with great commitment and visionary planning, you can become a successful rabbit farmer.
