# Breeding questions



## Jesusfreak101 (Jul 20, 2018)

So I have a buck who I was breeding with two does but one of my does died (predator related) I was thinking since my other doe has five kits I might keep a kit from her to breed to him when I figure out which ones female. I intend to use them for meat. I could buy another doe I was also thinking about doing that. My current buck is show quality my current doe is not. I had thought to add a show quality doe but I have to wait on that. ThoughtS?


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## promiseacres (Jul 20, 2018)

are you askng if you should keep a doe to breed back to her father?  
if so I don't see any problem in line breeding. in fact have 2 litters of a grandson/grandmother breeding   very happy with the results


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## Jesusfreak101 (Jul 20, 2018)

Yes I know you can't breed siblings I just forget if father and daughter are okay.


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## Tale of Tails Rabbitry (Jul 20, 2018)

Jesusfreak101 said:


> Yes I know you can't breed siblings I just forget if father and daughter are okay.


Actually, you can bred siblings in an attempt to lock in desirable traits, but you can also lock in some undesirable ones as well. I had a whoops! when we thought a doe was a buck and she was impregnated buy her brother(s). Not a problem.

Many breeders prefer father to daughter, mother to son, or half-siblings, and further out like uncle to niece and so on.


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## Jesusfreak101 (Jul 20, 2018)

Ooooooo ok yeah I just want fat healthy rabbits lol at this point I just breeding for family meat.


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## Jesusfreak101 (Jul 20, 2018)

When can you sex them mine came sexed I had to reset so I knew who was who but when do you sex for the first time?


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## Bunnylady (Jul 20, 2018)

If you know what you are looking at, you can sex them at birth.


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## Tale of Tails Rabbitry (Jul 20, 2018)

I usually know their sexes at two to three weeks and mark their ears with numbers, because I weigh each one about once a week starting at three weeks, but you can wait until they are weaned. Kind of depends how hands on you want to be and how you manage your rabbitry.


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## Tale of Tails Rabbitry (Jul 20, 2018)

Bunnylady said:


> If you know what you are looking at, you can sex them at birth.


Yes, with very good eyesight or very good reading glasses.


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## Bunnylady (Jul 20, 2018)

Tale of Tails Rabbitry said:


> Yes, with very good eyesight or very good reading glasses.



Seriously! Teeny, tiny little body parts - especially on the dwarf breeds. I don't usually want to know that badly these days . . . I kinda want to see if they are likely to make it, first.


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## Jesusfreak101 (Jul 20, 2018)

Lol ok I thought  on Californians it was tiny lol dwarfs my goodness no thanks lol. I was afraid I would hurt them lol I tend to be clumsy. Plus if I get to hold kits my two year old and five year think they can too. Lol


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## Tale of Tails Rabbitry (Jul 20, 2018)

Bunnylady said:


> Seriously! Teeny, tiny little body parts - especially on the dwarf breeds. I don't usually want to know that badly these days . . . I kinda want to see if they are likely to make it, first.


Speaking of which, I read a post of someone who claimed to have kept a peanut alive for 8 weeks by fostering after the mother dried up and then bottle fed for several days. I guess it had a slightly more developed digestive system than most peanuts do, but right after he posted about it, it died. Pictures showed it was about a quarter of the size if its siblings with the enlarged peanut head and tiny, tiny ears.

I get the curiosity, but newbie dwarf breeders still seem determined that they can keep one alive. Sad, really.


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## Bunnylady (Jul 20, 2018)

The longest I have had one survive was about 10 days; I couldn't believe it when I went out day after day and it was still hanging in there. It's always a relief to me  to have them just die at birth.


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## Bunnylady (Jul 21, 2018)

Bunnylady said:


> The longest I have had one survive was about 10 days; I couldn't believe it when I went out day after day and it was still hanging in there. It's always a relief to me  to have them just die at birth.



I saw an article in Domestic Rabbit (I think that's where it was) many, many years ago that was written by a German guy, discussing what was then new anti-cruelty legislation. According to him, in his country it was illegal to knowingly breed an animal that would die or "suffer" due to inherited characteristics. This could create interesting issues for rabbit breeders. For example, English Lops sometimes step on their own ears, which can causing bruising and scratches, so with this law, it was now illegal to breed an English Lop with ears long enough to step on. And of course, the lethal dwarfing gene would be a prime example of why this law was created. A Dwarf breeder_ can_ avoid the whole "peanut" issue by only doing true dwarf/false dwarf crosses, but recognizing superior type in a false dwarf is something of an art form. I'd be curious to know how the European breeders deal (dealt?) with this problem.

@Jesusfreak101  what you look for on a rabbit that young is the urethra opening. On a male, it's just a dot, on a female, it's a tiny slit; and there's a tiny bit more space between that opening and the anus on a male than there is on the female:


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## Jesusfreak101 (Jul 21, 2018)

Ahh ok so it's some what different then i how to tell on adult rabbits ok I don't push on anything that's makes me more comfortable with doing it. I need lots of hands to do the adults (back when I had four and one male that blended in)


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## Jesusfreak101 (Jul 21, 2018)

Ok either I have all females or all males all of them looked identical to this I pretty sure slit equals female correct?


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## Tale of Tails Rabbitry (Jul 21, 2018)

Jesusfreak101 said:


> Ok either I have all females or all males all of them looked identical to this I pretty sure slit equals female correct?


That is a doe. However, the way you press can make a buck look like a doe or a doe look like a buck. I always check more than once.


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## Jesusfreak101 (Jul 21, 2018)

Will do I give them some more time as well. Thank y'all. I have a lot of learning to do.


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