the day has finally come for breeding! am i doing things right?

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todd131

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yay! i am finally at the point where i can breed my bunnies. i have a couple of questions to ask please. i put the doe into the bucks hutch and watched, the buck seems to be chasing the doe around however, i have tried a number of times over the last 2 days with 2 different does (one each day) and i dont think they mated any of the times. yesterday i put the doe in and watched for about 15 minutes. then i left for about an hour and came back and they were both laying down in different areas of the hutch. same thing today with the other doe, with the same result.

<1> should i leave her in overnight?

<2> should i try to re-breed the doe from yesterday?

<3> i have another doe, how long should the buck wait between doe encounters?

<4> am i doing things right as stated above?

thanks for any information you are willing to share.

todd

edited to add: i cant believe i forgot to mention this, the buck seemed confused when he did get the doe to settle down however, he tried to breed her face. then her side. not sure he knows what he is doing. lol




 
How old is your buck? Sometimes a buck takes a while to figure things out. How old are your does?

The first thing you should do before you put the doe in with the buck is to check her vent. If it is light pink she probably won't breed. If it is darker in color up to a dark purple she is ready to breed. It doesn't mean she will breed though. After they breed I would check the vent again for moisture. It will be pretty dark colored after they breed.

I wouldn't try and breed them again until you determine if they are bred or not. You are not sure if they bred or not if they were left alone for an hour which is something I would never do. You could end up with a castrated buck and injured rabbits.

Bucks will normally try and breed the wrong end. I have never seen one yet that hasn't at one time or another. A buck can breed another doe right after he breeds the first one. If it is hot or he exerted himself chasing a doe around for awhile I would give him a few hours to rest.


 
RAL Rabbitry wrote:
How old is your buck? Sometimes a buck takes a while to figure things out. How old are your does?

The first thing you should do before you put the doe in with the buck is to check her vent. If it is light pink she probably won't breed. If it is darker in color up to a dark purple she is ready to breed. It doesn't mean she will breed though. After they breed I would check the vent again for moisture. It will be pretty dark colored after they breed.

I wouldn't try and breed them again until you determine if they are bred or not. You are not sure if they bred or not if they were left alone for an hour which is something I would never do. You could end up with a castrated buck and injured rabbits.

Bucks will normally try and breed the wrong end. I have never seen one yet that hasn't at one time or another. A buck can breed another doe right after he breeds the first one. If it is hot or he exerted himself chasing a doe around for awhile I would give him a few hours to rest.
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hi. the buck and the does are 6 months old. i will start to look at the vents.

i understand and respect your reason for not wanting to leave them to breed however, according to 3 publications i have read and this website. i am not too concerned about the incidents you write of.

http://www.rabbitsonline.net/view_topic.php?id=59884&forum_id=8&highlight=rabbit+breeding

When [highlight= rgb(136, 255, 255);]breeding, always bring the doe to the buck's hutch. You may increase the amount of conception by rebreeding the doe to the buck 4 to 12 hours after the initial [highlight= rgb(136, 255, 255);]breeding. I just leave the doe with the buck for one day. Never rebreed the doe after 36 hours of the initial [highlight= rgb(136, 255, 255);]breeding. It may cause the estrogen/progesterone cycle to get messed up in the developing womb, causing an abortion or miscarriage. You'll see her give birth to a bunch of "blobs".

thanks for the information on the bucks. and the reminder not to breed until i confirm/deny fertilization. :biggrin:
 
When i was breeding for my FFA show. One of our does got along so much with our buck, we never saw them breed they would always snuggle. So we left them overnight in the cage and we found them in the morning nose to nose. It was very cute. We did that the next night also and of course the next month she gave birth to 6 awesome babies. Just because you never see them breed doesnt mean they didnt do the deed. But i wouldnt do it for more than two nights or you can cause complications. Just wait till the month is up and if there are no babies by day 31 at the latest then breed again.

I would just give them time and dont try to rush things, since there is no time period by which this must happen (unlike breeding for the FFA show)
 
I agree. NEVER leave them in the cage over night. I left my 2 rabbits in a cage together for less than an hour and i came back to a rabbit who almost lost an eye and a rabbit with its foot stuck in the cage squealing. Dont do it. Ever
 
You can do what you want. They are your rabbits. I have been breeding for years and made the mistake of leaving a doe with a buck when I first started breeding. I had a buck that was beat up and bleeding. Luckily she missed when she went fo rhis testicles. I also want to confirm that they actually bred. I don't know of one breeder that will leave a buck with a doe without keeping an eye on them.

One other point to ponder is that they can get overheatedin the summer if they chase and breed too many times.
 
todd131 wrote:
hi. the buck and the does are 6 months old. i will start to look at the vents.

i understand and respect your reason for not wanting to leave them to breed however, according to 3 publications i have read and this website. i am not too concerned about the incidents you write of.
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Good luck with whatever you decide - we're not the rabbit police and we can't make you do it "our" way by any means.

However, I've heard of too many bucks being ruined as far as breeding because they were beat up/chased by a doe (and that doesn't include ones that have been injured) to recommend that folks take chances.

Roger's been breeding for quite a while and knows what he's talking about - and I'm sure that most of our other breeders are going to want to chime in also.

Anyway - once again - good luck!


 
ok. i truly appreciate the replies. i left them alone again with no apparent issues. having said that, i will not be doing so again based on the collective experience of the folks this site. i may have gotten lucky. i would never want to make any decision that would injure my rabbits. in the future i will set aside time and be available to watch them breed.

thank you!
 
I would often leave my does together with the buck longer than maybe some other breeders would recommend (I do have a very gentlemanly buck:))but only in a large run and never overnight in a small cage/hutch.
I find once I see fur around or the doe keeps mounting the buck she's had enough and it's time to remove her.
 
If you see the doe turn on the buck other than both of them running around in circles together, or any other general signs of aggression other than grunting, take the doe out.
 
as always, i thank all of you for the information and i am glad i asked so i can change any bad habit early on.

i am also curious about nesting boxes. do i need them if there is a wood bottom cubby in all of my hutches?
 
todd131 wrote:
as always, i thank all of you for the information and i am glad i asked so i can change any bad habit early on.

i am also curious about nesting boxes. do i need them if there is a wood bottom cubby in all of my hutches?
Click to expand...
you shouldn't need nestboxes, but you will want to put an extra piece of board in front of thecubby entranceso your kits don't crawl out and get cold. Be sure to make it short enough so that the doe can still easily get over it and into the cubby.
 
Have any bred before?

ShouldI leave her in overnight?

shouldI try to re-breed the doe from yesterday? Yes, good idea. Then try 3 days after the last mating if the doe turns on the buck thats a sign that they may have already bred. In about a week palpulate her.

I have another doe, how long should the buck wait between doe encounters? The buck will breed again when hes ready. I would recomand letting the buck have atless a 20min brake between breedings, but the buck beside the new doe to be breds cage.

am i doing things right as stated above?I beleave you are.

do i need them if there is a wood bottom cubby in all of my hutches? Nope, but you do need nesting materals.
 
ok none of the breeding i did a month ago worked. i set up the boxes and none of my rabbits kindled.

so i have been following your suggestions and put the does in with the buck while i am able to watch over the last couple days....nothing.

i leave them in for about 30 mins at a time then i pull the does out.

they'll do a little sniffing and circling and then lay down. he is not even trying to 'hump' them.

please help me. do i need a different buck?

thanks!

todd
 
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