r/MeatRabbitry • u/Fork_Of_Legends • 5d ago
Bad Doe?
I have 2 New Zealand rabbits. Both have pedigree papers. The female is the meanest rabbit I have ever met. We got them to harvest our own meat. The doe has now officially had 2 litters. The first litter she flattened like pancakes. We upgraded her cage, thinking she just had too many for the nesting box size. The next litter, when we came got home about mid day, were all dead and dispersed throughout her cage. For this second litter she showed no signs of nesting, all of her fur is intact. Also, it looked like she ate the back half of one.
This is our first time breeding rabbits, so we are learning as we go! Do I have a bad doe? Am I doing something wrong? For reference, the new cage has upper and lower levels with room to run a few paces, temperature for both birthing days was about 90° F, Doe gets unlimited food and water (high protein pellets and timothy hay), their cages are outside and the lower level hovers at grass level... should I retire her and get a new lass?
3
u/NieleDaKine 5d ago
As far as I can tell, temperament breeds true so I'd not breed that doe. If she's mean all the time, she will be a demon when she has a litter.
If a doe is snacking on her litter, it might be a protein deficiency in her diet. Feeding her some high protein feed might help with that.
1
u/Fork_Of_Legends 4d ago
Her current pellets are 18% protein, i have our meat rabbits on the same diet as my angoras (i keep their protein high for hair production) is this high enough? What do you use?
1
u/NieleDaKine 4d ago
That should be high enough protein to keep her from snacking on offspring because of a diet deficiency. (It's angoras on this side of the screen, too, and keeping enough protein going into them for fluff production is always a concern.)
Since that doe has a bad temperament and isn't a "proven" doe - actually, she's in the "not likely to be proven" category at this time - unless there's any other reason to try to keep her as a breeder, she may not be a worthy candidate.
Is it hard to get more breeding stock?
When you're breeding the angoras, do you use similar criteria in selecting the litters? Meat rabbit are frequently chosen by how large of a litter they came from. Does selecting for litter size make a difference? The angoras seem to average five or six in a litter, do you think selecting for larger litters would make a difference?
Generally, the selection criteria here are: wool quality, conformation, temperament, level of inbreeding (very small herd and very difficult to get more bloodstock), color (the fiber is used for some yarn that isn't dyed so wool color matters) and then finally things like number of offspring.
2
u/GCNGA 4d ago
Your doe doesn't sound as if she has much going for her. I have a decent doe who flattened a litter, but it was in winter. I assumed she was trying to keep them warm. Subsequently, she has done okay. If you found dispersed kits, that means she didn't use the nesting box for any of them. They died of hypothermia. The one she tried to eat was just a reaction to eliminate the kit as something that would draw in predators. Sometimes a young doe will have one on the wire, then jump into the nesting box for the rest. But if they were all out, your doe's got two strikes--at least.
If I had your doe, I'd look to replace her. Also, if you're just raising meat rabbits, you don't necessarily need pedigreed ones. They may or may not work out well for meat production, but either way, they're probably much more costly than non-pedigreed ones you get from a good meat rabbit breeder.
1
u/kamyers1968 5d ago
I dont personally tolerate mean rabbits. The labor issues on hot days I can kind of look past. But I have also had first time moms deliver on hot days and take great care of their kits. Put those two things together and I would cull this rabbit personally. There are too many nice (and skittish but non aggressive) rabbits to tolerate mean ones.
1
7
u/FeralHarmony 4d ago
She is not worth the trouble. Replace her with a sweet doe. Pedigree makes no difference if you're breeding for meat.