Question for rabbit breeders?

Question

I own a new and small rabbitry, breeding lionheads. I've only been breeding for about 7 months.

I recently bought a pedigree doe from another breeder who told me that she attempted to breed her, told me the breeding didn't take, and since she was down sizing her rabbitry sold her to me for a knock off price. I kindly requested she give me a copy of the buck she attempted to breed to anyway. After looking at me like I was retarded, made me a copy.

1 day after the does purchase, I then have two kits.

4 weeks after the purchase, I have two 4 week old kits, and 6 newborns.

I than called the lady i purchased the doe from and she advised me she tried to breed the doe AGAIN the day before I bought her and that, that as well didn't take.

So now I have a doe, with two 4 week old, and 6 newborns. My doe pushed the 4 weeks old away, and is being very violant with them. I moved them into their own cage, and am now hand feeding them suppliment, as well as letting them pick at solids.

I was wondering if you thought that was the right thing to do?

I also have a doe with 4 weeks old, and am unsure if she'd except them. Has anyone else tried fostering kits at 4 weeks old?

Do you think they'll be fine being weaned this early?

Answer 1

At 4 weeks they should be eating pellets. That is a little young to wean the rabbits off the mother, but that might be the best solution for this scenario. The two might continually bother the mother for mile (thus why she gets mad) and by doing so they could prevent her from properly milking the 6 newborns. That's a tough decision, but I think you made the right one. Start them out on pellets. If your brand of feed carries a baby starter formula get some of that feed to start them, otherwise stick with the family formula that has 16-17% protein. If they are eating pellets, don't worry about the supplement.

You may want to check with the previous owner to see which buck she used which time. She possibly could have used two different bucks. One for the first litter and another for the second. You'd want to get a breeding pedigree for the buck if she used a different one for the second litter.

As far as pedigrees go, get the pedigrees off the person while you are there if you can. Some breeders are good about sending them and some will never send them to you at all or are at least are bad about sending them.

Good luck with your Lionheads. And one good piece of advice from an experienced breeder to a new one. Stick with the rabbits YOU think are best. That doesn't mean that you don't listen to the judges and other breeders. But it means you keep the ones you think are good whether the judge that day likes it or not. Have the judges and other breeders show you what to look for. If the judge doesn't like your rabbit, kindly go up to the judge later and ask them if they would show you what they like/don't like about your rabbit. Tell them you're trying to learn. They'll normally be glad to help you. Don't try proving them wrong just listen and learn. There's many reasons why your rabbit might place at the bottom. It may not be old enough to compete with the other rabbits. You may be up against really good competition. Your rabbit may just be out of fur at the time. Your rabbit may not have posed when it needed to. The judge could have posed it wrong. The judge may know little about your breed. Your rabbit could have gotten lost in a large crowd of rabbits on the table by the judge. I've seen them all happen over the years. This advice was passed down to me from an excellent reknowned breeder. But I hope you keep it in mind. Let me give you one example to follow it:

At the Ohio State Convention a number of years ago. I purchased a couple of Florida Whites at an auction. The rabbits had been flown in from California and I wanted to get started in Florida Whites. I'm pretty good at picking out rabbits and I picked out three. They showed that day and all of them placed pretty low. About the best any of them did was 26th out of 40. Granted, they were hosting the National Florida White Convention there that day. However, the very next day going against the same rabbits, the rabbits I bought showed again and they all did better. In fact, one of them won the junior doe class. Then she won best of breed. Then she won Best 4 Class and she almost won Best in Show at a rabbit show with over 5,000 rabbits at it. The reason for the difference was that the rabbits were jittery from the flight and being handled so much the day before. So listen, learn, and stick to the ones YOU like.

Answer 2

If they are eating the solids or at least trying you should be fine with the way you are handling it. As far as the breeder I don't think she has any idea whats going on. She should know the difference between taking and not taking. Somewhere along the lines of the doe not taking she took. Apparently both times. If you got anymore questions I can try and help with e-mail me.

Answer 3

I do not breed rabbits, but my daughter does. Sometimes the rabbit will not take her first litter of her life. It could also mean that something is wrong with the babies. You could try to foster them, but you have to be careful, remember animals rely on scent most.