Breeding Duckie???

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Duckie

Duckie

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Rogers, Minnesota, USA
Hello everbody! :) Weare considering breeding our Holland Lop, Duckie, and we were wondering if anybody has some good tipson breeding bunnies. We're I guess you could say, bunny beginners, and have only read a little bit about them :p

Also I'm wondering where on this website I could read about breeding bunnies.



Thanks!
 
One of my first questions is....why do you want to breed. Please understand - I'm not being sarcastic....really I'm not.

But I've seen people (and had this happen to me) - people breed pet bunnies and wind up with complications and lose their rabbit or have their rabbit not be quite the same.

So I guess I'm wondering if you're a "bunny beginner" why you're wanting to breed. :D

With that said - it would help us if you could give us Duckie's age (you don't want to do a first time breeding when they're too young - or too old) and any specific questions you might have.

I'm editing this to add a link that I think is awesome Oak Ridge Rabbitry: Do and Do Not (Breed)
 
Duckie is about 6 or 7 months old now. We were thinking we could sell the babies. I've been wondering if Duckie needs a bunny companion... maybe we could keep one of her daughters? I don't know. We want to know enough about breeding that we could do it if we wanted to, or we could decide not to. Just want to look into it I guess you could say :):bambiandthumper :rabbithop
 
Generally, selling the babies is not a money generating proposition. If you are going to keep a daughter, you will have to have them both neutered or you'll end up with "the battle royal".
 
If you want to get a companion for her, I suggest a neutered male would be the best bet. They can bond; he may mount her occasionally and make her think she's pregnant and they will be content together.

Some does are never the same after their first breeding, which is definitely something you should consider as a potential risk.
 
I just thought I'd say that profit is almost never made with rabbits. Once you buy the feed, hay, cages, and god forbid there are any medical complications, you're lucky if you break even. Also, the kits can be surprisingly hard to sell and you need to have cages prepared for if you keep them longer than expected. As for bonding, the mother and daughter may get along for a while, but then again, they might not.
 
HappyFarmBunnies wrote:
If you want to get a companion for her, I suggest a neutered male would be the best bet. They can bond; he may mount her occasionally and make her think she's pregnant and they will be content together.

Some does are never the same after their first breeding, which is definitely something you should consider as a potential risk.
Click to expand...


What exactly do you mean by the does not being the same after breeding???
 
It depends from doe to doe (and again, this is only my personal opinion through experience) but I have seen does change from being mellow and laid-back to being more nervous and/or protective and/or aggressive after they are bred and have their first litter. Sometimes this goes away after the litter has been weaned and left, and other times the change has been permanent.

I don't know why this is; perhaps the process of mothering changes their behavior and their personalities deep down. I had a doe that was very friendly and personable, but with her first litter she became VERY jumpy and nervous. She would lunge whenever anyone came near her cage. She as an amazing Mom though and I thought "Well, this is normal protective Mom behavior, she'll get over it when the babies leave." but she never really did. She never truly went back to the way she was before.

As a breeder, it is *somewhat* of a trade-off because shewas such an amazing Mom and she wasnot like some rabid crazy rabbit to where I would be worried that she would be passing off bad personality traits to her offspring. But knowing what I know now with more experience, if I had intended to just keep her as a pet (and there was a very good chance of that as she was so sweet and calm) I would maybe not have taken the risk and bred her.

Plus there was the superficial downside that when she pulled a bunch of hair for the nest, it grew back a different shade and she just wasn't as pretty anymore.

So I would say that if she is a beloved pet to you, don't risk it.
 
:yeahthat: Had a doe that was sweet become so evil as a mom I had to wear leather gloves and arm guards to check the litter. She would lunge and bite. She never went back to her sweet self afterward either, but like HappyFarmBunnies she was an awesome mom and I bred her 1 more time then I couldn't deal with her evil ways anymore and she went to a cull buyer.



However, that is 1 out of at least 100 does that I have had and bred, I only had 1 other so far get unruly like that.

Consider mostly the Why do you want to breed your rabbit question. Be honest with yourself. If she is a pet ask yourself how bad you would feel if there were complications and you lost her. Consider also the vet costs if there are complications. Hopefully you already have a Rabbit Savvy Vet because finding one last minute is never a good idea.
 
Agree'd above.. I have had a couple does myself get very mean, being pregnant, and after having babies! It's not just for fun, And you do not make money for breeding, When breeding you usually put the money back into the rabbits (food,stuff they need).. I never had a problem with a doe having problems except a doe dried up her milk when babies were 1 week old. I lost 5 out of 6 babies!
 
Uffda! That's sad! Maybe there'll be a sweet neutered Holland Lop on Craigslist for cheap or something. I have yet ANOTHER question. Duckie is kind of nervous when I hold her and I was wondering, what would be a good way to get her trust? Maybe, MAYBE if I could get her to trust me enough, she would do okay breeding. I guess otherwise I'd have to get another female bunny to breed. WE love Duckie alot (even if she IS rather jumpy)
 
From my experience - hollands are just jumpy and active anyway.

Lay on the floor with a book (and maybe some treats) and just pretend to ignore her and read the book....and let her tire herself out playing and then come to you to explore you and use you as a jungle gym.

It may take an hour or two every day for a few weeks to build up a level of trust...
 
I think your best bet will be too get her a boyfriend, a neutered one of course! I have been having a hard time trying too find a vet that will spay a female. So I posted a want add looking for a neutered buck. I had a breeder contact me he was retireing a 6month old smoke pearl, not fixed. So I got Smokey, I found a vet who will neuter for $80(yay its $100+ less then in town and only a 15min drive) so he goes in on the 19th. This vet I found will also spay my girl, when she is 6 months old.
Did you try petfinder? There are alot of rescues/shelters that fix buns before adopting them out. Good luck :)
 
Is petfinder a website? That sounds good. :) Thanks! Today we went to a thrift store and got a HUGE cage for her. I think now maybe we have enough room for another bun :)
 
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