Mating rabbits allows you to increase the number and get healthy offspring for your own household. However, for this, one must be able not only to choose the right timing, but also to prepare future manufacturers. After all, the viability of the future young stock and its commodity indicators depend on this. Rational farming allows not only to meet their own needs for meat, but also to receive monetary profit from the sale of surplus, skins and young animals. Obtaining offspring from your own rabbits not only reduces the cost of purchasing new animals, but also minimizes the risk of disease introduction. Taking care of rabbits is not so difficult, so even a novice farmer can cope with the task.

When to mate rabbits

How do rabbits mate, and when does this happen? It all depends on the type and breed of the animal. Some females are ready for fertilization within 4 months after birth; in males, this period takes about six months.

Attention! Decorative small breeds of rabbits are ready for fertilization a little earlier than their large meat relatives. The difference is a couple of weeks.

Domestic rabbits should be mated at a specific time. The readiness of the animal for this procedure is determined by a number of signs. The female dramatically changes her behavior, becomes nervous, rushes about the cage and transfers hay from one corner of the cage to another. The appearance of the genitals of the rabbit also changes. Its loop becomes pink and increases in size. Reproduction of domestic rabbits should be done only from healthy parents. If the animal has any deviations, or the owner has doubts about his health, then it is better to postpone the mating process until the next time.

Mating of domestic rabbits

You can breed rabbits throughout the year. At the same time, in the summer, the ability to fertilize an egg in rabbits is activated every week, in winter, the time is delayed up to 9 days. After the first molt process is complete, female rabbits are ready to reproduce. Mating domestic rabbits at home for beginners provides that the animals must have reached puberty by this time. The male is ready to reproduce only after the second molt.

Experienced owners recommend that the cycle of mating be compiled in such a way that no more than 3-4 mating will fall on one female per year. Otherwise, her body is greatly depleted, fertility drops significantly over time.

Attention! You cannot happen to animals earlier than 6 months of age, because up to this moment their body is still growing and developing.

Experts do not recommend carrying out the mating process during molting, since the body of rabbits is not in the best condition for conceiving offspring.

A day after birth, the female is ready for re-fertilization.

How to tell a rabbit from a rabbit

Even inexperienced farmers know how domestic rabbits breed. How to distinguish a female from a male should be clarified in more detail. After all, the sex determination procedure is important not only for reproduction, but also in order to be able to safely raise your pets.If individuals of different sex are not promptly divided into separate cages, then males can arrange serious battles for rabbits and injure each other.

In male rabbits, the external genitals are clearly visible. However, it will be possible to determine them no earlier than a month after birth. In addition, in males, the testicles descend into the scrotum only by the age of 3 months; with severe fright, they can be pulled back into the abdominal cavity.

Attention! If a farmer acquires a thoroughbred young rabbit for further reproduction, then you must immediately get a veterinarian's conclusion about the absence of pathologies of the reproductive system.

Sexual maturation of domestic rabbits occurs early enough. By this time, it is already necessary to determine the sex of the young and distribute it to individual cells. The rabbits are turned onto their backs and the skin is gently pushed towards the anus with the fingers. In females, a loop becomes visible, in males, a penis emerges on the surface, similar in shape to a cone.

Features of choosing partners

Sexual maturity of domestic rabbits is not yet a decisive factor for mating and offspring. This issue must be approached more carefully. A healthy generation cannot be obtained from close relatives, so only rabbits from different parental lines are left for the tribe. For individuals that are planned to be kept to obtain offspring, it is recommended to record the following data: date of birth; nickname; breed of parents; mating date; okrol date; the number of rabbits that did not survive in the litter.

Rabbits are bred only from the best individuals. In breeding, it is important that both partners meet breed standards. Culling will give only outbred young growth. At the time of mating, the mass of rabbits should be about 3 kg, if in a female it exceeds this indicator, then it will be more difficult for her to become pregnant. Before having sexual intercourse, both animals should be examined for the presence of diseases.

Breeding rabbits

In addition to all this, rabbits selected for breeding should be distinguished by good fertility, sexual activity and parental instinct.

How to prepare animals

Many farm owners have seen how domestic rabbits mate, so they can confidently recommend to secure the cage for the mating period, remove all foreign and sharp objects. Animals can run very fast and make maneuvers in a limited area, so any obstacle or dangerous object provokes injury.

A week before, when domestic rabbits begin to mate, they are transferred to a special diet with a high content of vitamins and minerals. A good diet compensates for the future losses of the animal's body for bearing and feeding offspring. In winter, it is advisable to install lamps and thus increase the length of daylight hours.

Mating technologies

What is the right way to breed domestic rabbits to get healthy offspring? In summer, they choose early morning or evening for mating, in winter, mid-day. The female is placed in the cage with the male.

Attention! An experienced male is given a young rabbit, and a young rabbit is an experienced adult female.

If the animal is in the hunt, it will immediately willingly admit the male to itself. Mating continues for several seconds. After ejaculation, the rabbit tends to squeak and fall to one side, there is nothing wrong with that. Control mating is carried out 5 days later. However, there is some risk in this procedure. If, during the previous mating, conception was possible only in one of the horns of the uterus, then a second time repeated fertilization can occur, from which the rabbits have almost no chance of surviving.

Fertilization timing

Female rabbits are able to become pregnant at the age of 4 months; in males, puberty occurs a little later.At the first signs of sexual hunting in a rabbit, it can be allowed to approach a sexually mature male. The first time the females are mated after the animal spends the first molt. Males can reproduce only after the second molt. In order for the offspring to be healthy, its quality was at a high commodity level, experienced owners recommend carrying out the first mating at the age of six months. Before that, the rabbit had not yet formed itself and was not ready for additional loads on its body.

After 1-3 days after mating, the female may develop a new readiness for mating. The hunting period lasts up to 5 days. It is believed that winter slows down the processes of sexual activity of rabbits a little, so there may be some deviations from the indicated dates.

Attention! If the females are to be caged during the cold season, then insulation should be done on the cages. If the animals are raised in special pits, then it is necessary to provide individual protection for the rabbit and future offspring.

If the rabbit does not allow the rabbit

Not everyone understands why a sexually mature rabbit does not allow the rabbit. The female is prone to aggression, in which case it is recommended to plant her immediately. Re-mating is carried out in the morning or in the evening of the next day. If reciprocity does not follow, then you will have to choose another partner. Sometimes background noises interfere with the mating of rabbits. They cannot concentrate, so they behave wary, a little scared. That is why breeding of domestic rabbits should take place in a calm environment.

How to determine pregnancy

If the owner decided to mate his rabbits, then it is a good idea to learn how to determine the females' fertility in order to reliably know when the offspring may appear. The fastest way is, a couple of weeks after mating, to place the rabbit with its head towards you, holding the withers with one hand, and gently feeling the lower part of the tummy with the other. The fertilized uterus during this period is an oval seal located near the pelvis.

How to determine pregnancy

The behavior of the pregnant female in the cage becomes calm, the animal's appetite improves. The rabbit will not allow to re-mate and cover herself during the control mating. She treats the owner with great caution. How long the period of bearing offspring will last depends significantly on the number of rabbits in the womb. The average term is 1 month, but the more babies are born, the shorter the gestation period.

Before the cubs appear, it is better to keep the rabbit house as quiet as possible. In no case should drafts or an increase in humidity be allowed. The rabbit will need enhanced nutrition with the content of juicy feed. There must be water in the cage at all times.

Domestic rabbit breeding is very exciting and useful. Even a small farm can provide a family with dietary meat and fur, and a profit is made from the sale of young animals or carcasses. Especially gambling owners do not set only breeding as the ultimate goal, they do experiments, cross their rabbits and even breed new breeds.

However, animals must be crossed skillfully and carefully, having previously passed theoretical training. Otherwise, you can get sick young animals with an undesirable set of genetic traits, which later turns out to be unviable. The age at which young rabbits can be mated was discussed in this article. It is easy to calculate that in a year from a pair of adults it is possible to breed a small rabbit farm, so it is profitable to breed eared pets.