Wanting to breed my buns soon. Any advice welcomed!

[madforbuns]

This is Lily my doe whos 16 weeks tomorrow. She is an unmaned lionhead. I would like to breed her to my double maned lionhead who's about a year old (we adopted him after the previous owners discovered they no longer had the time for him). They are both the sweetest little darlings and always come to greet me when I go out into the garden (from their separate runs) the other bun in the background of the pic is another adoptee. She is a Dutch/dwarf cross who is 5 years old so too old to breed. Her and my baby bun Lily have bonded completely, all 3 are unneutered.

For some reason my pic of Sooty won't upload but I'll try again later as he is gorgeous I'm sure you'll agree!

Anyway, I'd like to breed my lionheads in the hope of gettkbg single lionheads and then in a few generations, get some doubles in the mix.

What age is best to start my female though? I've read different things from 4 months to 8 months to start lionheads. What do you do? I don't want to harm her development or do anything to affect her health by doing it too early or too late and with winter coming up I want to be sure on the timing. I'm living in the uk and all 3 buns are in outside hutches.

Should I bring her in before she kindles? Cold weather here will be starting any time soon and ends around March time when spring finally sets in x

 

[madforbuns]

Here's my darling Sooty

 

[Bunnylady]

Are you sure Sooty is DM? In the US, Double-maned Lionheads look like this:




If Sooty is SM, you'll be getting SM and non-maned offspring if you breed him to a non-maned doe, even if both of the doe's parents were Lionheads.

Some people will start breeding dwarf rabbit does as early as 4 months, but I've never been comfortable with that. Considering that does frequently manage to mess up the first time out anyway, I figure that giving them a couple more months to mature makes it more likely that they will at least have a clue about what they're doing!

I bring my does in during cool weather; it's something I started doing when I got to the point where I felt like I couldn't stand to see one more frozen litter. I call my hall closet "the maternity ward." It's a quiet, dark place where the does won't be disturbed; most of my girls go right on and do what they were supposed to do without any problems. Even if they do kindle outside of the nest box, the babies usually survive, so I can put them where they belong when I find them in the morning.

 

[madforbuns]

Yeh, he was an indoor rabbit when we took him in, he's now outdoor and getting his coat back. That photo was taken about a week after he came to us at 10 months old. He's now fluffier than ever and has a lighter brown little quiff that comes down between his ears lol. He was stuck in a little cage in the living room shared with a noisy 2 year old and a rather unfriendly cat before so was pulling out his fur. He's now looking happier and gets peace and quiet to relax.

The 'maternity ward' sounds great! Gives them a similar environment as what they would experience down the burrow too by the sounds of it which is wonderful! I may bring her in before kindling then and place her in sootys old cage and have her out in the garden during the day. Thanks for replying!