Housing female rabbits together ?

[poultrykeeper08]

I was wandering if i keep all my female rabbits together and one happens to make a nest and have babies will it be fine or will the others eat them like the males do?

The reason i ask is because i go to an auction every monday and if they have any female jersey wooly rabbits there i buy them . All of them . (im a little obsessed with the breed , can you tell) and well i had got 2 and a male and i put them in the quarentine cage and hen i went out the next day there was a dead new born baby on the wire not even in the house part . (th 1 male and 2 female rabbits came in 1 crate i dint breed them on purpose)

I have now put all of the males in thier own cages and have combined all my females into one giant hutch , ANd i fear that some of the other i have gotten are also pregnant .

I felt one and her stomach seems big and then i held another one and her nipples were bigger than all the others but her stomach didnt feel full .

Help would be greatly appreciated

 

[feathersgalore]

If the baby was born on the wire it could have died of cold before you found it. Some first time does don't know to build a nest and have kits on the cage floor. I'd watch the does, it only takes a second to breed a rabbit. At 2 weeks you should be able to feel babies. Most does do better in cage by themselves (unless they are siblings and have always been together).

 

[d.k]

* Pregnant does really ought to have a week or so in their own cage to settle down and "set up house" before the kits arrive. Other does can be a threat, even if it is only by trampling the kits or "horning in" on the new mom and keeping her upset. The time also gives you the opportunity to watch her and find out how well she is doing prepping and lining the nest, or if she needs some help figuring it out.

 

[mastiffsinky]

after raising show rabbits for 15 years in their own seperate cages, the last year we kept them we did community pens (or colony breeding). Provided there is more than enough room, more than enough good feed (protein defecincies can cause canibalism), keeping females together when they have babies is not an issue. Males can also run with them if you are colony breeding, but you want to limit it to one male per colony as the males will fight. We did not lose any babies when colony breeding other than normal losses (first time mom, fader syndrome, etc).

Katie

 

[CindyS]

Any time bucks and does have been together assume they are pregnant. If the does know each other there should not be a problem, make sure they have plenty of space. If the babies are different ages, when the older ones start running around they might all pile in with the new ones. I had that happen once and had to seperate as Im sure the new babies would have not gotten enough milk.

 

[lurky]

Rabbits are solitary animals and should have their own cage.

 

[mastiffsinky]

Quote:
this is not true.

 

[JessieDavena]

after raising show rabbits for 15 years in their own seperate cages, the last year we kept them we did community pens (or colony breeding). Provided there is more than enough room, more than enough good feed (protein defecincies can cause canibalism), keeping females together when they have babies is not an issue. Males can also run with them if you are colony breeding, but you want to limit it to one male per colony as the males will fight. We did not lose any babies when colony breeding other than normal losses (first time mom, fader syndrome, etc).

Katie

Hi Katie.

I have recently aquired some female rabbits, plus I have a young male and 2 young females at home living together with 3 male guinea pigs. I don’t really want to breed rabbits.
The 2 females at home are a lop eared, and a Flemish Giant.
What I’m bringing home are a 3 year old Flemish giant with her 10 month old daughter(currently been living together), a lop eared 4 year old(been living alone and used for breeding), and a 3 year old lop eared (living alone and used fir breeding).

I would like to be able to put them all together, with the possibility of seperating the male.

I have a 2.3 x 2.3 metre wire cage being put together, will have to add shelter.

What is your suggestion on getting this to work?

Thank you.

 

[cassie]

As Bunnylady has said, rabbits get along just fine housed together until they don't. Then it can get pretty bloody. If a mother-to-be feels stressed by sharing a cage, she may well either neglect her new litter or kill them outright. On the other hand everything may turn out just fine. In other words, you pays your money and you takes your choice.