Rabbits don’t always “breed like rabbits”. Sometimes, breeding rabbits can be frustrating. Sometimes, whole breeding months can go by, and you don’t get fall offs, and your rabbits don’t get bred.
And sometimes, rabbits get bred in those exposures and mating sessions, even though you’re sure they didn’t.
What do you do then?
Jump to:
- Treat Breeding Exposures as Pregnancies, Regardless
- Sometimes Breeding Happens Without Fall Offs
- Sometimes Fall Offs Are Subtle, or Go Unobserved
- Don’t Rely on Secondary Pregnancy Signs
- Here’s Why We Always Give Nest Boxes to Possibly Bred Does! (Even when we’re convinced they’re not)
- When to Add the Nest Box
- Be Sure to Wean and Remove Earlier Litters!
- Nothing to Lose, Plenty to Gain by Adding the Nest Box
- More Reading and Breeding Information:
Treat Breeding Exposures as Pregnancies, Regardless
Any time you have put a doe and a buck together (taking the doe to the buck, not the other way around), you need to act as though that doe is bred.
As other meat rabbit breeders and I have learned, rabbit does can be bred even when things didn’t go by the book.
If you act as though your rabbit is bred, you may be going through some fruitless motions if they really are not bred, but if you’re wrong and they are bred, you’ll be saving lives. Yes, with a little extra work, but not enough work to worry about or even call it a “waste” if the doe is really not bred.
The bottom line is, if a doe has been close enough to a buck that a breeding could occur, you need to mark the calendar on the date or dates of exposure and track 28 days for a nest box and 32 to 35 days for delivery.
Keep in mind that “close enough to a buck” doesn’t only have to mean intentional, arranged conjugal visits. Close enough can also be close enough for breeding to occur if
- Does and bucks share a common wire wall, in which case they may breed through the wire
- Does and bucks were in a box or carrier together, even for a few minutes
- Or in a carrier with only wire to separate them (you should be fine in carriers with solid walls separating the animals)
- Does and bucks were kept together as grow outs or kits for too long -- breedings can happen as early as 16 weeks old, and occasionally even younger, so separate rabbits by sex by 12 weeks for sure
- Rabbits got loose out of their cages
- Any other situation in which a doe and a buck could physically come together for 30 seconds or more!
The most common scenario, however, will be intentional breeding in which we (as breeders) tried to breed a pair of rabbits, but the mating was not considered to be successful.
Sometimes Breeding Happens Without Fall Offs
Though it is not common, rabbits can breed successfully without a fall off.
We look for fall offs when we breed meat rabbits (or any rabbits). A fall off is a good indication that your doe is bred, and probably 90% of the time, or better, if you see a fall off, you have a bred doe.
But that doesn’t mean that the absence of a fall off means no breeding has occurred. Sometimes, does are bred even if there has been no fall off.
Sometimes Fall Offs Are Subtle, or Go Unobserved
We also need to consider the fact that you won’t always see a fall off, but one might have happened. Even when you watch intently, if you turn your attention or turn your back for only a moment, a fall off can happen, and you might not see it.
Breeding in rabbits happens in literally seconds! It does not take long to miss a successful breeding and fall off.
Bucks also vary greatly in how dramatic and obvious their fall offs are.
- Some bucks are loud, dramatic, scream as if they are in pain, and even your neighbors will know your rabbits mated
- Some bucks are quite docile and quiet; you may scratch your head wondering if they had a sure fall off or if the bucks more or less just stopped or slid off without successfully breeding the doe
- Sometimes there is mounting and thrusting and no apparent fall off
- Sometimes fall offs are just too subtle to be noted as a true fall off
This is why we have to assume that when rabbits have been paired for mating, that breeding took place and pregnancy -- obvious or otherwise -- might result.
Don’t Rely on Secondary Pregnancy Signs
Signs and symptoms of pregnancy can be helpful to confirm a pregnancy, but we should never rely on them, and you should not assume that a doe that has been exposed is not bred if she does not display these signs or behaviors.
Just as there are dramatic and obvious bucks, there are does who will quite obviously be bred, and there are does that never act pregnant until there are kits in a new nest, covered in fur.
These signs can include things like
- Gathering and stashing hay
- Building a nest in one corner with whatever materials are available*
- Irritability or protectiveness
- Weight gain or heaviness
- Lying around, sluggishness
- Slow down on eating and feed consumption, or stop eating as delivery gets closer
- Kits felt in the belly through palpation
All of these can be good signs to support or confirm a suspected pregnancy, but even palpation, unless you are very skilled and experienced with it, is not a guarantee. It is easy to miss the marble-sized kits in a palpation. And while some does will have an obvious heavy, extended look to their pregnant belly, others, especially with smaller litters, may not look clearly pregnant at all.
*Note that by "whatever materials are available”, that does not mean that the amount of material your doe can scavenge in her cage will be enough for an adequate nest or a successful delivery. It takes a lot of material and ideally a nest box to adequately provide for and protect kits.
Kits need to be kept in one space where they can’t easily squirm away from the nest, get caught out alone, and die from exposure or lack of feeding because it wasn’t with the rest of the litter. Nesting materials are critical in keeping kits warm. Without a good nest of at least hay or straw, added to by the mother’s fur, kits will get cold and die.
Here’s Why We Always Give Nest Boxes to Possibly Bred Does! (Even when we’re convinced they’re not)
When to Add the Nest Box
If you tried, and even if you think you failed, to breed your meat rabbits, put a nest box in with the doe on day 28 after breeding.
The doe can deliver anywhere between day 28 and day 35, counting from the first day after the mating attempt. While delivery as early as day 28 is not the norm, it can happen, and by providing a nest box a few days early, you’re giving the doe time to prepare her nest.
Be Sure to Wean and Remove Earlier Litters!
Something else that is important to note is that, if you have a previous litter in the cage with your doe, those grow outs must be removed before the possible kindling date. As this breeder learned, bad things can happen when we shrug off a breeding as a failed attempt and leave the litter in with the doe.
It is quite common to breed a doe when she is still nursing a litter, or when the litter is not nursing, but is still living with her. This is not a good situation if that doe is bred and she delivers a new set of kits.
So, always wean and move litters of kits out two weeks or more before a possible delivery date.
Nothing to Lose, Plenty to Gain by Adding the Nest Box
The only thing you have to lose by putting a nest box in with a doe that might not have been bred is a minute or two of your time and a bit of hay, straw, or shavings.
Simply put, you have nothing to lose by putting the nest box in with the doe either way.
She may use it as a litter box if she isn’t bred. You may end up removing it in a week if she doesn’t kindle.
But the alternative scenario is far worse. If your doe delivers without a good place to do it -- at minimum, a large stash of hay in which she can build a nest -- the litter is almost certain to be lost.
There will not be a place that keeps the litter together as a group for warmth and feeding. Trampling can easily occur. Death of one or more or all of your kits is almost certain, especially if the weather is cold.
In the end, it’s just not hard to provide a nest box to possibly bred does. Any experienced rabbit breeder will tell you they’ve had does deliver that they were convinced were not pregnant.
Err on the side of caution. Give her the box and the materials to do the job right. And if by day 35 it is a true and honest miss, take her for a visit to the buck again. This time, good things may happen!
More Reading and Breeding Information:
- How to Breed Meat Rabbits – Important Things to Know Before You Breed!
- What Age Can Meat Rabbits Start Breeding?
- Steps to Take When Rabbits Don't Breed (+10 Tips)
- What to Do When Your Meat Rabbit Gives Birth
- How & When To Put A Nest Box In With A Pregnant Meat Rabbit
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