WARNING: This diary discusses the raising of rabbits for human consumption. If this topic disturbs you, please do not proceed.
This Diary has been updated with a correction.
The previous diaries in this series are as follows:
Part 1: the argument for raising rabbits for meat.
Part 2: Shelter
Part 3: Nutrition and climate
Part 4: Breed Selection
First we'll talk about reproductive anatomy. Female rabbits (does) of meat breeds have a uterus that's divided into two branches or "horns". It's kind of shaped like a Y with each branch having 4 ovaries for a total of 8. Correction: Word of this series reached the "Meatrabbits" yahoo group and I was politely informed that rabbits actually only have 2 ovaries. I think I mistook a graphic I saw of a rabbit's uterus that had 4 "bulbs" on each branch thinking they each had ovaries attached. My mistake. Does also generally have 8 nursing teats (some can have 10 or more). A good meat breed often has litters larger than 8, but rarely more than 12. Male rabbits (bucks) have a split penis that enters each branch of the uterus during mating.
Rabbits do not reproduce in a cycle, like many mammals. Instead they reproduce based on "opportunity". The process of mating stimulates the doe to release eggs for fertilization. This is part of what makes rabbits such easy breeders.
For most meat breeds, 8 months is the recommended minimum breeding age. Does can get pregnant earlier, but (much like humans) they really need that extra time to develop physically before being impregnated. And bucks bred sooner will likely not know what they're doing (much like humans. LOL!) and may end up trying to impregnate the wrong end. Humorous as it is to watch, it doesn't produce rabbits. It is also important that does get bred at least once before they're 1 year old otherwise fat can accumulate around the ovaries making the rabbit less fertile for the rest of her life.
The process of breeding rabbits is very simple. You take the doe out of her cage and put her in the buck's cage (never the other way). If the doe is in the buck's territory, she's more likely to accept breeding. Putting the buck in with the doe may distract the buck while he tries to mark everything with his scent, and that will just irritate the doe who has her cage just like she likes it and doesn't need some MAN stinking everything up.
Here's a video that shows the process (he gets it right eventually and you can see him "fall off" the doe at finish):
Once the doe is in with the buck things proceed rather quickly. The buck will almost immediately try and mount the doe (hopefully on the right end). The doe may avoid the buck at first, but eventually she'll either settle down and lift up her rear and accept the buck, or she'll plant her rear on the floor of the cage, preventing access to the buck. The breeding literally cannot complete unless the doe lifts for the buck. Now she may not be in the mood right then, and that's fine. If that happens take her back to her cage and try again in a couple days. Another option (that many commercial breeders use but I'm very uncomfortable with) is holding the doe down with one arm and using your other arm under the doe's belly to physically LIFT her rear up. This is a bit too close to rape for my comfort and a lot of the best breeders do not do this. Most does have no problem being receptive to breeding and if you have a doe that consistently refuses to be bred, it's better to just take her out of the breeding cycle as those traits tend to pass down to her offspring.
Once the buck is mounted, and the doe is lifted, it can take anywhere from 15-30 seconds for the buck to finish. The completion literally causes the buck to lock up and fall off the doe like he just passed out (which he does). This lasts for just a couple seconds and if the buck is any good, he'll probably get right back on and try again. You usually want to go through this process twice, and then take the doe out and put her back in her cage. Successful breeding will cause eggs to release within 8 hours, which is why many breeders will put a doe back in with a buck after 5-8 hours to go a couple more rounds to make sure every egg is properly fertilized. But you never want to breed the doe again after days or weeks have passed, because that can cause another round of eggs to be released that may either cause a miscarriage (due to overcrowding), or cause a certain percentage of the litter to be underdeveloped when born.
Once the doe is bred the clock is ticking. After 10-14 days, many breeders will do what's called "palpitate" the doe, which is where they take their hand and gently feel around the doe's belly to see if they can feel the little hard "beads" under the skin which would be the developing fetuses. It's not recommended to palpitate a doe after day 14, and it's also not recommended to rebreed the doe if you don't feel anything because she may still be pregnant. So I have no idea why people do it, I guess they like the certainty of knowing.
At around day 28, you want to throw in a handful. of hay in the doe's cage (and actually this is a good thing to do for rabbits every day since hay is good for them). If she gathers it up in her mouth and hops around her cage with it, it's a sign that she's trying to build a nest. So put a rabbit nest box (usually made of steel or wood), in the doe's cage and she'll start making a nest. Sometimes does will go through all the time and effort making a beautiful nest, and then end up eating all the hay out of it so it's a good idea to put in an inch or so of wood shavings or shredded paper litter so there's SOMETHING in the box to keep the kits warm. Put more in the winter, less in the summer. In addition to the hay, the doe will start tearing fur off her chest and belly and line the nest with it.
Around this time you really want to watch your doe closely and visit her multiple times a day. Most does give birth at night and sometimes things don't work out like they should. The doe may think she's done and hop out of the nest, and end up giving birth to a kit or two on the floor of the cage. This is known as having "kits on the wire" and unlike cats, rabbits will not pick up their babies and put them back in the nest. If they're left out too long, they'll eventually die of cold and exposure. If you see a kit on the floor pick it up and put it in the nest with the others. If the kit is still, try warming it up by putting it in a small bowl of warm water (keep the head out of the water) and see if the kit revives.
Kits are born naked and tiny. The first week of life is the most crucial. Keep checking the nest daily, especially if the doe has piled a bunch of her fur in it, to see if there are any kits. It's important to count the kits once they're born and look for any dead kits and remove them from the nest. They'll be covered in loose fur so you just have to sift through it and look for movement. Be sure to check the entire nest because if a rabbit has more than 8 kits, she may divide them into two separate piles and nurse them separately (since rabbits only have 8 nursing teats). This is a sign of a good mother rabbit! Also be sure to cover the rabbits back up with fur after you check them to keep them warm.
Once you've verified there are kits in the nest, check the nest daily to make sure all the kits are all still alive (remove any that die) and that their bellies look full. Rabbits do not hang around the nest and nurse their young like many other mammals. In the wild, to keep from drawing predators with her scent, the mother will spend most of her time away from the nest and return only once or twice in the night for about 15min to nurse the kits and then leave. Rabbit milk is incredibly rich and even this short period a day will cause tremendous growth in new kits. So don't freak out if your never see your rabbit in the nest nursing the young, you may NEVER see that, and that's okay. As long as the babies' bellies are full and rounded they're getting what they need.
This is how it should work, but sometimes things don't work out the way they should. Here are a few common problems and remedies:
1) False Pregnancy. Sometimes you breed your rabbit and everything seems to proceed normally. She may start building her nest and she may pull out a BUNCH of fur and you think "OMG I'll have babies soon" but nothing ever happens or the nest remains empty. If there are no kits in the nest by day 35, then there won't ever be. Sometimes a doe will be convinced she's pregnant when she's not, or she'll miscarry early in the pregnancy and not realize it. If this happens, put her back in with the buck and start over.
2) The doe is a HORRIBLE mother. This can be any number of things. Maybe she births all her kits on the wire, maybe she pulls out all the nesting material and the kits freeze to death. Maybe she's not feeding them properly and a several die. Maybe she's attacking and killing her kits. Any number of things can happen. As any mother knows, mothering is not something that can be left purely to instinct. It's a skill that one has to develop. A young doe may have problems in her first couple litters. She SHOULD get better over time. But if after 3 litters she's still making the same mistakes, it's time to cull her from breeding, especially if she's attacking and killing her young. Bad mothering traits tend to pass down from mother to daughter and any does you reserve of hers for future breeding may have those same qualities. It's next to impossible to hand rear newborn kits exclusively. Once they get past the first week and start growing fur, it's more feasible, but newborn kits are almost impossible to save if the mother doesn't take care of them.
3) The doe becomes a raging psychopath. Rabbits are, by and large, not aggressive to their people. But when they are they can bite and scratch and do some serious damage. Sometimes when a doe has a litter they can become very protective of that litter and don't let their people anywhere near them. They will usually make a loud grunting sound before they attack, but sometimes even not that. This is especially true of a doe's first litter. They may calm down after the second litter but if they're still aggressive after the third litter, she will never calm down and should be culled from breeding. There is a common saying that you shouldn't touch newborn kits with your hands because a rabbit won't take care of them if they have your scent on them. This should not be the case. A good mother should not only let you handle the kits, they should let you take the nest out of the cage with minimal fuss. You might still want to distract them with a treat beforehand. This is part of taking care of and supporting your rabbits. You check the kits, take out any dead ones (so it doesn't rot and sicken the live kits) monitor the kits for size and make sure they're getting enough milk (so you can bottle feed to supplement what they're not getting from the mother). But if you plan on raising rabbits long term, you do not want to tolerate a bad mother. This is also one of the reasons it's best to get a doe that already has a litter or two under their belt so you can ask the breeder what kind of mother they are.
Once the kits are born, they will grow VERY fast. They'll start growing fur after their first week, they'll be hopping in an out of the nest box after 3-4 weeks and they can be weaned at about 5-6 weeks. Once the rabbits are large enough to hop out of the nest, they'll also start sampling mom's food (as well as bugging her for milk). Once they start spending more time out of the nest than in, you can take the nest box out entirely. Make sure you're feeding them as much as they can eat because once they start eating solid food they eat a LOT.
At about 5-6 weeks, it is time to wean the kits. You want to take them out of their mother's cage, sex them (to see if they're male or female. I don't have any pictures but it's not hard to find on the internet) and put them in dedicated "grow out" cages. This should be a gradual process. Take out 1 or 2 kits at a day until they're all out. You can either put them in the same cage, or separate them by gender (which will be easier to know who's what rather than sexing them every time). Once they get to 5-6 lbs., they've reached butcher weight (usually at about 8-10 weeks for a good meat breed) and you will need to decide whether you'll save any as future breeding stock (for yourself or to sell) and we'll discuss that more in-depth further down.
So you have successfully raised a litter of kits. Congratulations. How soon can you rebreed your doe? You can rebreed a doe as soon as 2 weeks after giving birth IF she hasn't lost a lot of weight and is still in good physical condition (feeding calf manna can help with this). By the time the kits are ready to be weaned she'll almost be ready to give birth again, but you want to make sure all the kits are out by the time that happens. This is known as back to back breeding, and should only be done if the doe is receptive and she's at a healthy weight. If she's not at a healthy weight you want to wait until she gains back what she's lost before you breed again. If you don't want to be that aggressive in breeding, or if you have rabbit meat coming out of your ears, you don't have to breed her back that quickly. You can rebreed her whenever you're ready, but once the kits are weaned, if you're going to hold off on rebreeding, it's important to scale back on her pellets to about the same amount you're feeding your buck. If you have multiple does, you also want to stagger your breeding so you aren't flooded with kits all at the same time.
There are also temperature considerations when deciding when to breed. When it's really hot, bucks become temporarily sterile. When it's really cold, newborn kits may freeze to death even in a nest full of fur and hay. Unless you have a climate controlled environment for your rabbits, it's best to hold off on breeding until you can get good conditions.
Additionally, if you breed meat rabbits for any length of time, you will need to replace your stock. Bucks can keep on ticking for 5 years or more, but does generally need to be culled from breeding rotation somewhere in her 3rd year. And by culled I simply mean removed. That can mean being slaughtered, or sold as a pet, or kept as a pet. Many breeders get so attached to their breeding stock over their years that they will keep the most special rabbits as pets after they are no longer breedable. And that's fine if you have the space for it.
This brings us to proper rabbit husbandry as it relates to familial breeding. It is perfectly acceptable to breed a male to its daughter or a female to its son (this process is known as "linebreeding"). It's also perfectly acceptable to breed aunts/uncles to nieces/nephews and first cousins. You want to avoid breeding full or half siblings together, but doing so for one generation isn't in and of itself going to pose a problem and some people do it for one generation to reinforce a particularly good quality that both siblings have. However closely you choose to breed your rabbits the main consideration is to always breed up, not down. What this means is that any offspring you KEEP for future breeding from any pairing should have only the good qualities of their parents and not the bad. The closer the relationship between sire and dam, the more discriminating you need to be in what you keep or else you will run into a problem of progressively worse stock over time.
You can selectively breed for almost anything. For body type, for temperament, for color, for fur quality, for litter sizes, for good mothering, for resistance to sickness, whatever qualities are important to YOU. But you usually want to focus on improving one thing at a time and once you get that one quality the way you want it, work on the next one. This is why it's important to make sure you start off with good quality stock, and not accept inferior stock because you'll just have more work ahead of you to improve your lines. Any outside stock you add to your rabbit lines should only improve the quality of your rabbits, not reduce it. You also don't have to eat every rabbit you raise, selling rabbits to other breeders or as pets is a great way to subsidize the cost of feeding them.
Here's another video from the same person (he has a series on his breeding rabbits which is really good) and it covers a lot of what is in this diary.