Thanks. And how much does a trio with papers cost? I found a breeder, but I don't know how much they uasuly go for. Do you breed rabbits?
What's the best method to breed rabbits? What style barn would work best? I want a large space but I can't go to big cuz that would raise property taxes( parents would be mad, plus my dads gunna help build it lol). I want to get this breeding system right, my mini Rex's set up is still being built. Do you have any reconde dasions?( srry for my spelling).
Yes I do breed rabbits, and have been breeding Netherland Dwarfs for about two years
The price on the rabbits will all depend on your area, and the market range. In NZ, a good ND buck with papers will cost anywhere from $40- $65. I do know that some breeders will give a discount to 4Hers though, so you might want to ask about that. So I think for a trio of breeding quality rabbits, you would be looking at around $100- $200 to honest. But again, it depends on your area.
Netherland Dwarfs come to breeding age at around 5-7 months for does, and 4-8 months for bucks. You will be able to tell if the doe is ready to breed, by looking at her gentile areas. Her vent will be a dark pink, to a kind of purple colour.
To breed the two rabbits, you ALWAYS bring the doe to the bucks cage. If you do the opposite, then they will most likely fight ( the buck will be in the does territory, does are more territorial), the buck will be too interested in checking out the new cage to bother with the doe. Also, never leave the doe and buck together. Some does get very cranky with bucks, and will even try to castrate the buck if they get sick of him chasing her around. So I always wear gloves JUST in case they start to fight ( Yes, they are only tiny Netherland Dwarfs, but rabbits can do more damage with their teeth that you'd think. I have many scars from rabbits from being careless like that
). I generally let the buck mount and fall off the doe about 3 times, which just ensures that she is pregnant.
The doe will be pregnant for around 31 days. You will need a nest box for the doe to have her babies in. This will be put in her cage on day 28 of her pregnancy. Netherland Dwarfs tend to have anywhere from 1-6 popples in a litter, but we recently had a doe that had 7!
I generally wean kits at about six weeks old, and then because all of our rabbits are sold ( unless we decide to keep one back for breeding purposes etc), let them go to their new homes when they are eight weeks old.
I don't know about the rabbit set up thing, as we don't have any fancy set up for our rabbitry
I'll post some pics of what we do have though maybe later today or tomorrow.
I would definitely recommend joining Rabbit talk ( rabbittalk.com),a forum I have joined that is based on rabbits. There are loads of experienced breeders and actually quite a few threads on rabbit set ups on there- plus everyone is very helpful
I hope that helps!
