Breeding english angora rabbits

We hope it helps someone else out so they have a nice and healthy litter of bunnies!  If you think we are missing something that would be helpful, please let us know because we are just starting to add educational info and can't remember everything! This is to help anyone interested in learning.

Do not put the buck in the does cage.  Always bring the doe to the buck.  She will not be so territorial and does are more prone to fight when breeding. You can choose the bucks cage he lives in or you can use a playpen/x-pen (pictured below) where you can get in and assist if needed.

We will skip the search for the perfect breeding pair and start with the actual breeding of rabbits. One thing you want to do is watch to be sure your male has a "fall-off".  We were told about this but had no clue what it meant.  So we turned to YouTube and of course found several videos showing what a fall-off of a buck was.  It makes it simple to know if the buck actually bred the doe.

Below is one of our bucks breeding a doe.  He did have a fall off and she had a successful pregnancy. Excuse the messy floor, this video was taken in the wash room of the old barn.

Some does are difficult to breed.  They may not accept a male and they may drop their rear end.  We have experienced many of these problems, including grunting and fighting.  We have fortunately, been able to come up with solutions for all of these issues. One photo above is actually a holland lop (we no longer raise this breed). You can see how the doe is trying to escape the buck. This happens when the doe does not want to breed as well.

When we breed our does, we allow no more than just a few minutes for the buck to breed.  If he doesn't get the job done quickly, we remove the doe and let him rest.  They know what they are doing and they can get the job done in less than 60 seconds 99% of the time. I rarely leave the doe in with the buck for more than just two minutes.  If it is not working, I remove the doe, go about my chores and try again later.  A lot of the time it works that day or one of the next few days.

Be sure to free-feed your pregnant does. They need extra food during their pregnancy.  Towards the end we give our does a little more treats (calf manna especially).  Calf manna is supposed to help with milk production.  We give this to does more after kindling and while they nurse as well.

Count 31 days from the date of mating for your due date.  This is not set in stone just like any pregnancy.  Your doe could kindle a few days early or a few days late. We had a doe kindle a week early and by the time we found the litter, there were no survivors.  We haven't' had anyone kindle really late but have heard several stories of does having their babies 5+ days after their due dates.  The latest we had a litter was two days past due date and the babies had fur on their bodies!

We have also had a doe build a nest, kindle two kits and then several hours later she kindled 7 more!  We had a new, first time momma doe kindle 5 healthy kits and 24 hours later she kindled one more kit.  We would have just thought we miscounted that litter that morning, but we took the nest box in the house, pulled all babies out for a newborn photo and there were only 5.  The next day, there were 6 babies.  That sixth kit that was born was healthy and survived! The most recent experience we have had was a doe kindled 5 healthy kits and two days later, kindled two additional healthy kits!

Make sure you put a nest box in the hutch for your pregnant doe at least three days before she is due.  Sometimes they will build their next two weeks early and sometimes they build it within minutes before giving birth.  I have had several build nest and not have any babies. I always give them extra hay for their nest building and most of the time they do not pull much hair if they aren't pregnant.  They can have phantom pregnancies just like other animals do. Some of my does pull very little hair before kindling.  

When the doe finally has her litter, you will find lots of pulled hair on top of her litter to cover them up.  Make sure the hair is under an inch long.  We learned this the hard way as well.  The hair will turn into yarn and wrap around (strangle) the babies. When they are born, they have no fur and everything thing sticks to their bodies, especially hair/fur!  We lost a baby due to being strangled by the fiber spinning into yarn, wrapping around the neck.  We then learned to cut the hair in the nest box.  Even if you cut the fur down to small lengths, you still need to check it multiple times a day in the beginning because of the skin sticking to it.  We found it wrapped around a foot AFTER cutting it down one time.  For this reason, we continue daily checks and cutting the hair. Don't think that cutting the hair once is always enough. The most recent episode of this happening was to our Miracle bunny. She got tangled and felted in the wool over night at three days old. It caused permanent damage which you can see photos and read about on our herd doe Krimmling Miracle's page.

After a couple of days we start to pay close attention to the nest bedding.  If it is getting too soiled, we change it out.  We use hay in our nest boxes and we always have momma fur bagged up ready to cut and replace what she pulled.  Every time we groom a doe, we make sure we keep her fur in a bag with her name on it so we have extra for when she has babies. We have found that it doesn't have to be that does hair.  You can use any angora hair for nesting.  Ours don't seem to mind.​

If it is too cold outside for the baby bunnies, you can bring the nest box inside and it will not disrupt the mother bunny at all.  In shelving, you must take the box back out to the hutch with the mom a couple of times a day so she feeds the babies.  She will hop inside the box when she is ready to feed.  She will stay in the box for anywhere from 5 to about 15 minutes feeding the kits.  You will know if the kits have nursed when their bellies are nice and round.  If they are sunk in or shriveled up, that's a sign of a weak bunny or one that is not going to thrive.  You can hold momma and let the baby try and nurse without the other kits in the way.  There are other options as well.  If you have another doe with kits, you can add the weak bunny to her litter if she has less kits to care for. You can hold her and let the kit nurse then put the kit back with its own litter.

Do not put the buck in the does cage.  Always bring the doe to the buck.  She will not be so territorial and does are more prone to fight when breeding. You can choose the bucks cage he lives in or you can use a playpen/x-pen (pictured below) where you can get in and assist if needed.

We recently had to order more of this powdered goats milk and noticed they changed the packaging. Click on photo for a link to WalMart.

Below is us bottle feeding or syringing goats milk to a new baby bunny that needed that little extra help getting started.

Below is hubby feeding the runt of the litter who LOVED getting his supplemental feeding!!!!

By the time a litter of bunnies are two weeks old, we let them stay with momma at all times.  They start to open their eyes and want to navigate outside the box.  Once the babies all have their eyes open they will begin showing interest in eating hay.  We turn our nest boxes on its side (see photo).  This prevents a bunny from hopping out and not getting back into the nest.  It also entices bunnies to go out and find the feed and water.  We use water dishes and water bottles both.  The white bunnies in the photo are four weeks old.  You see how quickly they get out and are already jumping on top of the nest box to lounge. That used to be moms get away spot!