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Post by chowdownsilkiefarm on Oct 9, 2012 13:54:11 GMT -6
That swap that was in Trenton that Bobby ended up buying that grey and a black Lionhead rabbits. The fella thought both where girls. Well..........they aren't. I went out a little while ago to feed and water and saw a bunch of grey fur on the ground by their cage. I just knew they had been fighting and the grey one was hurt bad. That wasn't the case. I found 6 dead bunnies and they where all chewed on. I don't know flip about rabbit breeding. Bobby's said that when the female is pregnant to remove the buck because he will kill the babies. I suppose thats true being what I found today. I need to do research about what the female needs to raise her babies in and etc....
So anybody want to give me an education on it feel free to.
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Post by Backwood Barns on Oct 9, 2012 17:14:36 GMT -6
We were going to breed rabbits but gave up because of the housing needs (we just didn't have time to build everybody their own hutch) and sold them all.
Any rabbits kept together will fight in time...to the death we found out. Your best restults come from keeping the buck in a separate pen and putting him with the doe only when she is in heat (it's better to put him in hers than her in his).
As long as she has a clean pen with some but not much bedding and food and water she will do the rest. Mother rabbits make thier nest from the fur on their chest so if you see bald spots it's normal.
Hope that helps some. I never did breed mine but according to all the books I read, that's how its done....
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Post by chowdownsilkiefarm on Oct 9, 2012 18:03:54 GMT -6
I found an article that said the same thing. I found one that said that if the buck is with the doe when she gives birth which it said it's called Kindling that he will breed her right away and she will most likely get pregnant again. I figure since the babies are dead thats the case here. I started getting the other side of the hutch ready in case I needed to take him out. Apparently I do. I'll do it tomorrow. They aren't fighting or anythng. He is actually protecting her from me. Everytime I open the pen door he comes up to me as if he's daring me to enter. The battle is on tomorrow and he's gonna loose. I'll put some straw in her side. Well may as well put it in both. It's chilly at night. Maybe he'll hunker down in it.
One thing I didn't find is how do I know she's in heat?
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Post by Timbo on Oct 9, 2012 19:03:04 GMT -6
We keep our bucks and does housed seperatly and breed when we are ready. Once you get them together it dont take about a day or two and then remove her and wait. We built a nesting box that is really simple to make in a matter of minutes.
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Post by Backwood Barns on Oct 9, 2012 19:04:29 GMT -6
I never could figure that out either but from what I read she will start taking the 'mating pose' if that helps...
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Post by Timbo on Oct 9, 2012 20:51:59 GMT -6
Sorry you had to go thru that Marie. Hope things get better.
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Post by chowdownsilkiefarm on Oct 10, 2012 12:43:51 GMT -6
The boys where with me when I found the babies so they got a hard lesson on how animals can be. Blaine just kept saying "Awww poor babies". I don't think the coming winter is a good time to be raising bunnies. I just hope she's not pregnant again. She is making a point to keep her backside towards a corner or a wall so I'm hoping he didn't do the deed and she prevented it. I really don't want to get into the bunny business. We where actually talking about selling these two. If we had somebody would have had a surprise and probably thought we knew she was pregnant.
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Post by herb on Oct 10, 2012 13:43:58 GMT -6
Now is a good time to breed rabbits. If there is no nest box often the does will eat the babies. A buck and a doe should never be kept penned together as you will often end up with a doe and a neutered buck or like in this case babies and carnage.
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Post by chowdownsilkiefarm on Oct 11, 2012 7:22:48 GMT -6
Do you mean the doe will neuter the buck herself? If we had known they where a pair instead of 2 girls they would have separated already long ago. But since she may be pregnant again already what kind of nest box does she need? I'm sure made of wood and we have plenty of straw around. The rabbit hutch is a double sided one. There is a solid wall that divides it but the floor and 1 wall is wire. We will be closing the pens this weekend providing it don't rain on us We use plexiglas sheets so they still get light. The rabbits will get covered too but the bottom will also get covered since they are about 3 foot off the ground with the wire bottom. We close in where the legs are to keep out as much draft as possible.
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Post by herb on Oct 11, 2012 9:51:43 GMT -6
Rabbits need fresh air and they have fur coats. Closing them up real tight can lead to respiratory problems. As long as they can remain dry they can take a whole lot of cold temps. I use a wind block on the north side.
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Post by Backwood Barns on Oct 11, 2012 10:14:19 GMT -6
Lesson learned the hard way....does can't room together either. They will kill each other. We lost 2 before we figured out why they were dying.
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Post by chowdownsilkiefarm on Oct 15, 2012 23:16:31 GMT -6
Rabbits need fresh air and they have fur coats. Closing them up real tight can lead to respiratory problems. As long as they can remain dry they can take a whole lot of cold temps. I use a wind block on the north side. The hutch is sitting so the side the doe is on is on the south side of the hutch. There is a solid wood double wall that divides the hutch. The east side has the door and feeder so there isn't much wire, the south side is wire and so is the bottom. The box she needs, would it need to be with an open top or enclosed with just an opening at the end? I'm sure she's pregnant again so we need to be ready in a little less than a month. How much room does she need in the box? If somebody has a pic that would help.
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Post by Backwood Barns on Oct 16, 2012 9:30:27 GMT -6
I don't have a pic and box size mostly depends on her size. As long as she can lay down comfortably and turn around its big enough. Main thing is plenty of quality food and water.
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Post by herb on Oct 16, 2012 12:04:14 GMT -6
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Post by chowdownsilkiefarm on Oct 16, 2012 20:09:11 GMT -6
Thanks. Thats similar to the chicken nest boxes that TSC sells. Thanks and I reckon we can just measure her and just make it the same size on all sides so she can move around. I finally caught him and got him moved but Gavin said he saw him doing the deed so it's too late. I figured it was already. So we'll have babies in less than a month. Not what I was wanting but lesson learned. Anybody want any lionhead bunnies? Maybe we'll keep one and let all the others and parents go to new homes. We can tame one for a pet alot easier than starting with an adult. Hopefully we'll get another grey one like the momma. She is soooo pretty.
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