Most of the time, breeding meat rabbits is not hard. It’s a simple matter of putting a doe and a buck together and letting nature take its course. However, it’s important that this is done right for the safety of both rabbits and for the highest likelihood of success.
Here’s what you need to know about breeding your doe and buck meat rabbits.
Jump to:
- Rabbits Can Breed Almost Any Time
- Checking the Doe for Readiness for Breeding
- Always Bring the Doe to the Buck—Never the Buck to the Doe
- Observe the Mating
- Look for “Fall Offs”
- A Breeding with Fall Offs is Considered a Success; Consider the Doe Bred
- Don’t Leave Bucks and Does Together Unattended
- Do Not Leave Breeding Pairs Together Overnight
- If Breeding Doesn’t Seem Successful, Remove the Doe and Try Again at a Later Time
- Start Counting the Days
- Treat All Exposed Does as If They’re Bred Until 35 Days Post-Breeding
- Successful Breeding Will Happen with Your Meat Rabbits
Rabbits Can Breed Almost Any Time
Rabbits do not have a heat cycle like other animals do. They are induced ovulators, which means that sexual stimulation causes does to release their eggs. So, if a doe has been bred by a buck, she should release her eggs about eight hours later. The sperm deposited by the buck should still be in place and will fertilize the eggs.
Some sources say that rabbits do have a breed cycle but that it is subtle and cannot be determined by observing the doe. By contrast, other animals show signs of heat, but even if a doe rabbit does have such a cycle, there would be no way to tell it, so you can mostly disregard this anyway—all you can do is try!
If doe rabbits have a distinct cycle like this, it is thought to be a 12-day cycle, followed by a couple of days in which they will not or cannot breed, then 12 days on again, and so forth. What this means, practically speaking, is that there is a chance that when you breed you are hitting one of the couple of days in a month (no more than four consecutive days) in which she won’t breed. This is why it can be helpful to try again four to seven days after breeding—but there are risks to this that you need to be aware of, too. (See below)
For all intents and purposes, assume your doe meat rabbit can be bred at any time.
Checking the Doe for Readiness for Breeding
This is optional, and truth be told, a lot of rabbit breeders don’t do this.
Before you take the doe to the buck, if you want to get an idea of whether she is likely to breed or not, look at her genitals. If she is ready to breed, the genitals will be reddish purple in color or perhaps a dark pink-purple. They should not be pale pink or skin-colored.
Color on the vulva indicates the doe is ready and able, and probably willing, to be bred. It’s time to put her with the buck of your choice.
Many breeders don’t bother doing this because it’s not that often that a doe isn’t ready, and even if she isn’t, putting her in with the buck may stimulate her.
Always Bring the Doe to the Buck—Never the Buck to the Doe
This is the cardinal rule in keeping meat rabbits and in breeding them.
Always bring the doe to the buck’s cage. Never take the buck to the doe’s cage.
Does are naturally very territorial and protective of their cage, what they consider to be their home and their nest, the future home of their kits.
If you take the buck to the doe in her cage, she is likely to fight and try to defend it and to oust the invader.
Instead, take the doe to the buck’s cage. His scent should intrigue a ready doe. Also, he will not be distracted by the unfamiliar scents of the doe’s cage, and he will be ready to get to work.
Observe the Mating
Stay nearby while your pair is mating. Most of the time, things happen quickly (it often happens quicker than you can get your hands off the doe or out of the cage!). You should plan for a spare half hour or so, but regardless, you should plan to be there the whole time.
If all you can give is 15 minutes, that’s fine, but do plan to be around.
There are two main reasons why you need to stay nearby and observe while your meat rabbits mate.
The first is the safety of your animals. Rabbits will sometimes fight. This does not happen often, but it does happen. A doe may be unwilling and aggressive towards a buck. A highly agitated doe can do great harm to a buck and can even castrate him.
Some bucks are overly aggressive with females. They can bite, scratch, and cut the doe. (Some nudging and light biting to hold her in place are normal, but it should not get to the point of injury).
This can occur at any time but may be more likely to happen the longer the two are kept together to breed.
The second reason you need to stay nearby and observe is so that you know a successful mating has occurred. We will talk about what successful breeding looks like in the next section, but for now, suffice it to say that you need to know what to expect as far as pregnancy and birth and whether you think breeding has taken place.
Look for “Fall Offs”
A fall off is just what it sounds like—the buck rabbit will fall off of the doe after he inserts his sperm. He may do this several times in the course of a mating session.
The buck will mount the doe, move quickly and obviously, then freeze up, stop, and fall to the side.
A fall off is different—obviously so—than a buck simply stopping or stepping off the doe’s back. Once you see a fall off, it will become obvious what is and isn’t a fall off. During a fall off, the buck will become rigid—almost appearing to seize or become paralyzed. He will then fall off the doe, resume his ability to move, and will most often go right back and mount and attempt to breed her again.
Some bucks are very dramatic when they breed and fall off. They may scream out as they fall, and they may take a few moments to recover. Others will be more subtle. They may make no noise at all. But even for a subtler buck, the action should be clear and clearly distinguishable from when he just stops and steps off.
One fall off is all it takes for a doe to be bred. To increase the odds of successful breeding and large litters, try to keep the pair together until you see three fall offs. This isn’t always possible, and you may get only one or two fall offs but do try for three (this should take no more than half an hour).
A Breeding with Fall Offs is Considered a Success; Consider the Doe Bred
As mentioned, it only takes one fall off for a doe to be bred. If all you see is one sure fall off, consider your doe bred. Treat her as is she is bred. Odds are close to 100% that she is unless the buck is sterile or there is something wrong with the doe, and she can’t conceive.
Most of the time, with one or more fall offs, the doe is bred, the eggs will fertilize, and you need to act as if your doe is bred and is now pregnant.
Don’t Leave Bucks and Does Together Unattended
You may see some people say that they leave their mating pair together for an hour or more. They’ll often say they leave them alone, go do something for an hour, and come back an hour later and assume the doe is bred.
Don’t do this!
For the reasons already discussed, don’t do this. Willing and receptive rabbits only take minutes to mate. Even a half hour is probably much more time than they need to be together. If it’s going to happen, it will almost always happen quickly, with three or more fall offs easy to achieve in 15 minutes or less.
If a half hour goes by and one has not convinced the other, it is probably not going to happen at this time. Don’t leave them together and assume they will grow on each other. You’re risking a fight, a maimed animal, and even if breeding does happen, you’ll have no way to know it.
Do Not Leave Breeding Pairs Together Overnight
Some people say they leave bucks and does together overnight. They seem to think they will get to know each other better and eventually give it up and mate. Or they figure that an overnight stint of 8 to 12 hours will cover the egg release period and result in more assured breeding.
Once again, don’t do it. Don’t risk your animals. Don’t leave them unattended, and don’t leave yourself having to guess or assume the doe is bred.
If Breeding Doesn’t Seem Successful, Remove the Doe and Try Again at a Later Time
After 20 to 30 minutes, if you are not seeing successful fall offs, take the doe out of the buck’s cage and return her to her own. Usually, by this point, both the doe and the buck are getting quite tired (or irritated) of trying. It’s time for a break and a rest.
You can try again later. If it’s morning, bring the doe back in with the buck at night. If it’s night, try again in the morning. It is said that rabbits may be more receptive in the early and later parts of the day. Dawn and dusk are naturally active hours for rabbits, which are prey animals that feed and move about at these times of the day.
Try breeding two or three days in a row. If you still are unconvinced and see no fall offs, you can expose the doe to the buck again in three to five days. By this time, a doe capable of breeding should be receptive, and if there is a cycle of days of infertility in does, it would be over by now.
Does that are bred can get quite cranky and will not be receptive to a buck. Their instinct to defend their budding brood can kick in quite early, so if you put the doe in with the buck and she becomes aggressive, take her out immediately. Assume she is bred.
Start Counting the Days
Start counting the days from the day after the doe was put in with the buck. For the sake of readiness and a smooth birth experience, count from the first time you put the doe in with the buck, even if you didn’t see fall offs and you don’t think she was bred that first day.
If you had to put the doe and buck together several days in a row, or you took her back three or five days later, still count from the first day, but add days to the possible gestation time to account for the second and subsequent exposures.
For example, if you re-bred a doe three days later, you need to add that to the possible gestation and birth period. The average gestation is 28 to 35 days, with the typical kindling day being day 32. Count 28 days, starting the first day after the first breeding. Put a nest box in. Look for nesting signs.
Keep the nest box in the cage until the entire possible gestation and birth period is up. This would be 38 days after the first exposure to the buck because she was given another chance to breed three days after day 1. You need to account for that possibility so you don’t risk having kits born on a wire in the cold and dying at birth.
Treat All Exposed Does as If They’re Bred Until 35 Days Post-Breeding
If nothing has happened by day 35* after breeding (or the adjusted date—in our example, day 38), then assume the breeding was a miss. Remove the nest box and try the mating over again. You can try immediately since she is not bred. The sooner, the better to get litters born and does in production!
*Note that some sources consider 40 days to be a possible gestation for rabbits, and it has been known to happen for some rabbits. This is not the norm for most meat rabbit breeds. There is an outside chance, though, so if you are more comfortable using 40 days post-breeding as your cutoff date, then do so. My experience has been a consistent 31 or 32 days post-breeding; I have never had a rabbit go as long even as 35 days, and certainly not to 40. In my rabbitry, I used a 35-day cutoff and rebreed at that time.
Successful Breeding Will Happen with Your Meat Rabbits
Though some of the information and scenarios here may make it sound like breeding meat rabbits is hard, most of the time, it really is not. Yes, there is the chance a doe is infertile (or a buck, for that matter). It helps to know if either or both are proven.
With new young does, if the buck is known to be able to breed, most breeders follow a “three strikes” rule—three failed breedings or birthings, and the doe will be culled and replaced so production can get back on track. It’s tempting to want to keep otherwise seemingly healthy animals, but you are only losing time and meat harvests the longer you try with a rabbit that is unable to breed or unwilling to care for the young.
Have faith and confidence in yourself and in your rabbits’ nature. Breeding will happen quickly and easily most of the time. When it doesn’t, it is usually only a matter of adjusting and trying again in a short time. Eventually, almost all rabbits do what rabbits do best—breed and raise their young.
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