Mating rabbits: rules at home for beginners

For an experienced farmer, mating domestic rabbits is a normal production process. The owner takes into account not only the individual characteristics, but also the pedigree qualities of the animals. You need to have a special flair to accurately determine which couple will become the parents of he althy, beautiful babies. The success of a delicate event depends on the age, weight and even the nature of the pets.

Features of choosing partners

Cattle breeders practice 2 types of selection of animals for mating:

1. Uniform. A farmer selects a pair of rabbits with the same breed characteristics and productivity.
2. Different. In this case, on the contrary, a pair is formed by animals endowed with opposite qualities. For example, a large short-haired female happens to a small long-haired male. The principle of heterogeneous mating is used to breed rabbits for meat purposes.

When selecting pets for mating, the age of the fluffy beauties is taken into account. High-quality offspring are most often obtained from 1.5-year-old males. It is this age category of producers that is suitable for young rabbits.

How to tell a rabbit from a rabbit

Finding out the gender of a pet is not difficult. To do this, you need to put the animal on its back and, pressing it against the table, examine the genitals of the rabbit. In females, the reproductive organs are shaped like a pink loop, while in males, the reproductive organs are curved, cylindrical.

How to choose rabbits

For mating, only he althy individuals who have fully reached maturity are selected.The female already at the age of 3 months is capable of fertilization and bearing cubs. However, the offspring from a young rabbit is likely to be unviable. Real maturity comes to females at the age of 5 months. Males are ready for procreation only after reaching 6.5-7 months.

The best age for mating is the first 2 years after birth. During this period, rabbits bring the most viable offspring with pronounced pedigree qualities. Mating is allowed for individuals with:

• weighing at least 3 kg;
• good immunity;
• fertility;
• no genetic abnormalities and deformities;
• maternal instinct.

Mating is carried out only after observing the behavior and habits of furry pets.

What is rejection

Sires are selected from the first 2 litters of young, strong animals.The owners of a beautiful, shiny skin are considered promising animals. Rabbits should be harmoniously built and he althy. After reaching maturity, the pets are re-examined and culled.

Individuals are not allowed to breed:

1. Females killing their young.
2. Female rabbits suffering from infertility (less than 5 babies per litter).
3. Females who often fail to mate.
4. Lazy, phlegmatic males.
5. Rabbits having problems fertilizing females.

How do you know when it's time to mate rabbits?

A he althy male is ready for mating at any time. He is able to give attention to 4-5 females per day. In some cases, the cold in the room can become an obstacle to knitting. The female is ready to breed during a period called hunting.At this point, the female becomes nervous, the animal suffers from frequent urination. The rabbit's genitals swell and acquire a bright pink hue. By these signs, it is easy to find out when the female is walking and ready for a date with the gentleman.

Favorable time for mating comes every 5 days and lasts up to 3 days. Ripe eggs do not leave the body of the animal, remaining in a state of "combat readiness" for up to 10 days. This unusual property distinguishes the rabbit from most females of other animals.

Until what age can you have rabbits?

For the first time, the female is allowed to mate at the age of 5-6 months. By this time, puberty ends in young rabbits, animals acquire strength and endurance. After reaching the age of 3, rabbits become old-bearing animals. From time to time they bring more and more weak offspring, so these females are replaced with young individuals.

Maturity in males occurs only by 7-8 months, but their ability to fully reproduce is also limited. The resources of a breeding rabbit-producer are exhausted by 3-4 years.

Mating methods

Despite their "lovingness", pets obey the laws of nature, therefore, in the dark, cold season, their activity decreases. In winter, rabbits are mated during the daytime. During these hours, the air temperature in the room rises slightly, and the pets feel more cheerful. In spring and summer, mating is arranged in the morning or evening hours.

In order for the rabbit to cover the female chosen by the owner, the individual is placed next to the cavalier. After short games, the animals mate. Sexual intercourse does not last long - only 2-3 seconds. The end of the mating is signaled by a characteristic posture (the rabbit lies on its side) and rumbling sounds made by the male.

The covered female is taken out of the cage and returned to her own quarters. After 5-6 days, the procedure is repeated. The result of the event will be known in a few days. The pregnant female becomes irritable, the gentleman no longer lets her in.

Cattle breeders practice 2 ways of breeding eared beauties - manual and free. Experienced farmers and breeding specialists prefer to hand-craft their pets. Rabbits are kept in cages, preventing unplanned matings. Having chosen a suitable pair, animals are allowed to mate. Thus, you can bring pets at your discretion. The method allows you to preserve the breed characteristics of animals and reduce the number of genetic abnormalities in offspring.

Hand mating is often practiced by owners of home-raised pets, but for beginner farmers, the procedure is not so simple.Rabbit breeding requires knowledge of the intricacies of breeding thoroughbred animals. It is difficult for a beginner to immediately notice the errors that inevitably arise in the course of work. Only an experienced owner can easily identify walking rabbits and identify female rabbits by touch.

Having chosen the manual method of mating pets, the owner:

• selects the best breeding animals;
• determines if the female is in heat;
• Gives rabbits the opportunity to mate and records mating results;
• repeat the procedure if necessary;
• after 14-16 days reveals pregnant and single females;
• rejects pets that are not capable of full reproduction.

Followers of natural reproduction prefer free mating of animals. The method is used for breeding rabbits in a pit. In Spartan conditions, the male has a hard time. The rabbit is constantly among the females and fertilizes any of them at will.

There must be 10 females per cavalier. An easy way to breed animals is available even to novice farmers. In the pit, animals can multiply uncontrollably and require almost no human intervention. However, it must be borne in mind that constant closely related ties lead to the degeneration of offspring. Therefore, the male needs to be changed from time to time.

How to tell if you're pregnant

You can verify the interesting position of the female already 15 days after the last mating. To do this, you need to carefully feel the belly of the rabbit. In a pregnant individual, peas are clearly felt - embryos.

Care for offspring

If a young, inexperienced rabbit does not attend to the arrangement of the nest, the owner will have to take the process into his own hands and build a mother house on his own. The made "maternity hospital" is installed in a cage, the lower part of the nest is lined with fluff and straw.

After the birth, it is necessary to transfer the female to another cage and carefully examine the litter. Dead pups should be removed immediately. Otherwise, the rabbit may refuse to feed the offspring. The audit of the nest is carried out with gloves, the rabbit should not smell the human smell in the uterine house. Newborn pets are examined daily and, if necessary, consult a veterinarian.

After reaching 20 days of age, babies are treated to sprouted grains, grated carrots and granulated grass.

45 days after birth, the babies are separated from their mother and placed in separate apartments. At the age of 2 months, the rabbits are transferred to the usual food for adult animals.

Possible problems

For a novice farmer, it may seem that with the birth of cubs, all worries are left behind. Unfortunately, this is not the case at all.

1. Sometimes a happy event is overshadowed by the death of newborn rabbits. The cause of unhappiness may be hunger. The validity of this assumption can be judged by the appearance of the kids. Starving rabbits have inverted tummies and wrinkled skin. In order to avoid a sad event, you need to monitor the quality of the diet and the he alth of the rabbit.
2. In some cases, the female throws off her cubs. As a rule, the reason for aggression lies in the onset of the hunting period. Another mating with an eared gentleman will be able to calm the young mother.
3. The early attempts of babies to get out of their native nest speak of the trouble of the offspring. In this way, the rabbits look for food for themselves. In this case, you need to examine the mammary glands of the female. Probably, the rabbit's nipples hurt or there is no milk at all. The only way out of a difficult situation is artificial feeding of pets.

Recommended