How do I ween baby bunnies? what rabbit make the best mother?

Question

im getting a rabbit soon and im going to breed her and I need to know how to ween her babies. p.s please give me a breed of bunny that you think makes the best mother.

Answer 1

well the mom bunny does most of taking care of the bunnies but you can seprate them at 8 weeks. i have heard that dutches are good mother  you should breed her with a rabbit of the same breed because you can always sell bunnies and say there pure breed

Answer 2

polish dwarf mine had babys 4 weeks ago

Answer 3

You need to contact the American Rabbit Breeders Association.  You can Google it and find their website.  If you are under eighteen you can join for under $10.  Your membership will get you a monthly magazine,a members list and a book that has the essential information you need.

Also join a 4-H club.  In Wisconsin you join a club and a project group.  I am superintendant for the rabbits here.  You can get a lot of information and meet kids that have the same intrest as you.

Let me just say that I love the mini rex and they have always been wonderful mothers.  I don't have to make any special efforts if I need to put babies from one mother to another.  You can't do that with all breeds.

Mini rex is also small and easy to handle and to touch one it to love its short velvety coat.

Good luck there are lots of rabbits out there so explore first if you haven't commited to one already.

With a good mother weaning is easy watch to make sure the bunnies have drunk water more than once on different days and have begun to eat the food.   Food and water should be available and reachable all the time.  When in doubt leave them with the mother.  They can stay as long as you don't have to make room for new babies or two months old.  Then seperate the males and females but keep the same s*x to gether for awhile for comfort.

Answer 4

The rabbit will wean the babies herself.  Just make sure there is hay and pellets for nibbling when they are ready to try them (usually 3 weeks-ish).  Then you'll separate from mom at 6-8 weeks.  First time rabbit mothers often have problems raising a litter.  it's not breed-specific.  Expect to lose several babies the first time she is bred.  Please do a lot of research and think carefully before you breed.  There are TONS of rabbit in shelters everywhere already that need good homes without adding to them.  There are also a lot of things that can go wrong and a lot of preparation that needs to happen.  If you aren't showing rabbits and breeding to better the breed, please just don't.

Answer 5

Most breeds of rabbits are pretty good mothers.  Problems normally occur though when the breeder does things wrong.  For example:

1. Letting the doe get too old before breeding her for the first time.  Does that are over 10-12 months old before having their first litter can have complications.  This is because fat builds up around their ovaries over time if they aren't bred, causing complications.

2. Letting the rabbit get too fat.  Same problem with the ovaries.

3. Using a bedding for the nestbox that smells.  Avoid hay or wood chips, does don't like an odor in the nestbox.  Use straw and make sure that it doesn't smell molding or the doe may scatter the litter around the cage.

4. Failure to remove dead babies from the nestbox with about 24 hours.  Sometimes a mother has more babies than she can milk and a few will die.  If the babies aren't removed, she may abandon the litter.

5. Failure to put drain holes in the nestbox.  Failure to do so can cause urine and ammonia to build up in the nestbox and the mother may abandon the litter.

6. Putting the box in too early.  Put it in on the 28th day of gestation.  If put in too early, the mother will pee and p**p in it.  Also avoid putting it in corners where she normally poops.

7.  Too big of a nestbox or too small.  The rabbit needs a nestbox small enough where she can feel like she can hide.  If it is too big she may try having them in between the nestbox and the cage.  The nestbox should be 1-2" larger in each direction than the doe is when she is laying down.

Debunking a myth:

Many people talk about the old wive's tale of not handling the babies because the scent will cause the mother to quit milking them.  That's false.  Handle them all you want.  Just make sure to put them back and cover them up properly.

Helping the doe milk better so she can handle more babies:

Add a tablespoon of Calf Manna to the rabbit's pellets.  It helps up the protein allowing her to produce more milk.

As far as the mean rabbits go, they do seem to sometimes milk better, but they do have a tendency to stomp on their babies from getting excited so easily.  I prefer to go by genetics and I try keeping babies from the does that milk well and care for their babies well.  They will pass those genetics down to their offspring.

Answer 6

most breeds are good mothers...I have been told by some breeders that Dutch rabbits do not make good mothers...normaly the grouchy does make the best mothers from my experience and the calmest does tend to not take care of their litters...also some of the more hyper does are not good because they sometimes step on the bunnies.

weening is not hard...depending on the size litter...if it is a small litter I seprate them at 6 to 8 weeks by s*x and then totaly put them in indivitual cages by 16 weeks...if it is a large litter take out the bigest bunnies or the male bunnies at 8 weeks old and if there are any small ones leave them with the mother a little longer and then seprate the rest of them at about a 9 or 10 weeks old by s*x and then in their own cages by 16 weeks old.