I have 2 bucks that does seem to want to breed. I put does in the cage with them and they just sniff and nothing happens. Both bucks are a little over a year old. I have a young buck (one of the 2s kids) and he goes at it just fine. any ideas? They are NZ and cali mix.
I normally give them half a cup of pellets a day, I beefed it up to 1 cup. I have them inside my barn with not much light so I turned on the lights for a while now. I also got black oil sunflower seeds to give them.
Are you sure the buck in question is a buck ?
And are the two bucks in separate cages ?
Depending on how long they were together as youngsters ,
it is possible that one castrated the other one during a squabble .
A cup of pellets a day is probably not enough for a Cal or NZ rabbit.
I raised my share of Californians and sold quite a few for breeding stock.
Keep hay in hay racks for them and fresh water 2x a day.
And it is possible that the doe was not ready. Sometimes it takes more
than a few tries.
I am sure they are both bucks, They have made baby's before. They are in separate cages right next to each other its possible that a doe did damage to them however i have never seen any blood below their cages. All of my rabbits have unlimited water via a 30 gallon tank filled with my well water. On food How much would you feed a "mutt" rabbit that is mature? I dont have hay for them, I will add some when I mow. Thank you for all of your help.
Your best bet would be to reach into the cage and get your hands on the bucks.
FEEL them / pet them. Can you feel their backbones...then too thin.
Flip them over in your arms, check their privates. Are they intact ?
Check their teeth, and ears while you have them out of the cage.
A rabbit that has a health issue is not going to want to breed.
I keep grain in my rabbit j feeders. I don't let them run completely out.
I am feeding rabbits 5 pounds and under currently. ( for their breed size. )
Usually give them a handful, maybe two per feeding, which my handful is a maybe a half cup.
I also have a measuring cup in the pail which I sometimes use. I do have a few that
are borderline overweight but I would rather have a fat rabbit than a skinny rabbit.
I keep second cutting hay in hay racks attached to the outside of their cages 24/7.
If they eat their grain, then they have hay to munch on. Keeps fiber in their bellies.
I don't breed in the winter. Too cold here in NY. I don't like losing babies.
My building protects them from wind, rain, snow. I can't control the temps however.
Not sure what your rabbit weighs but thinking around 10 pounds maybe.
NZ / Cal mix. I would not call him a mutt.
Crossing a Californian and a NZ gives you hybrid vigor. Fast growing babies.
I would think a cup of grain in the morning and maybe the same at night.
If you were feeding them hay, that would help the grain bill.
Adjust accordingly the grain to what they eat.
Last weekend I harvested New Zealands. They all had too much fat. Although they had access to pellets all the time, I estimate that they ate about a cup a day, so don't know why they had a lot of fat. They were all about 2 years old in cages.
I have a proven Cal buck and normally he is a champ. However, I have two new does that are just under a year and are ready to be bred. I put doe #1 in the buck's cage and she chased him and mounted him and now he is cowering in the corner of the cage. So after leaving them together (supervised) for a few hours with no action, I removed doe #1 and put doe #2 in with the buck. The same exact thing happened!! In fact, doe #2 literally threw herself at him, rolling on her back, and putting her head under his chin, etc.
However, I put doe #3 in his cage and she was less assertive and there were three successful matings in the span of 15 minutes.
I haven't seen this before and will have to assume that if I put a doe in with the buck for a day, that things will work out.
Both of the new does seem to be biters, and I wonder if it is because they haven't been bred yet.
I haven't seen this before and will have to assume that if I put a doe in with the buck for a day, that things will work out.
Both of the new does seem to be biters, and I wonder if it is because they haven't been bred yet.
Not a good idea to leave buck and doe in same cage without keeping an eye on them.
She could hurt him. Then he might become more timid than he is now.
Just keep trying them every day until you see results. You may have to hold the doe
and let the buck do his thing. Just young does that need to learn the routine and
should settle down after having babies.
Can I stick my nose in this conversation please? When we breed our rabbits we put the doe in the bucks cage at morning chores. We leave them together for 15 to 30 minutes. I do watch for a few minutes to make sure they are ok. Again at night time chores same drill we do this for two days seems to work great.
So, what seemed to be the trouble is that both does were just too excited at the thought of male company. So, I did basically what you suggested above, and then when I put the doe back into the cage in the morning, she was calm and he mounted her successfully twice while I was supervising. (this happened for both does).
A week later, I put each of the does back in with the buck and they were calm and friendly, but they made that "don't come near me because I am already pregnant" sound.
We feed ours grain and water morning chores and hay and water night time chores. We mix our own grain for the goats and rabbits so we add the salt right into their grain. In their mix we do add black oil sunflower seeds also we give them apple branches year round to chew on.
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