How to Breed Rabbits for Food

Rabbits are one of the most popular meat animals, next to cows, goats and pigs in many parts of the world because they are very active, grow fast, have a short gestation period, always eager to breed and most importantly taste good too. One special fact about doe rabbits is that they are induced ovulators, which means that the females ovulate when exposed to a male, thus you don’t have to wait for them to go in to heat unlike other animals. As long as the female is willing to breed with the male that has been chosen for her, it is very easy to breed rabbits for food.

Instructions

  • 1

    Take out the female rabbit form its cage and carry her to the male rabbit’s cage. Keep in mind not to do this the other way around because female rabbits are very territorial, thus will become aggressive if another rabbit enters her cage.

  • 2

    Observe both, the male and female rabbit together for 10-15 minutes. At first doe may act like she's not interested in breeding with that male or play hard to get, but rabbits being induced ovulators, she will settle down in a short while. Now keep an eye for the doe lifting her hind end slightly when the male attempts to mount her. In case she makes a hissing noise or attempts to bite the male rabbit, remove the doe immediately from the male’s cage and try again in a few days.

  • 3

    We can encourage larger litters by adjusting the time of introduction of the female rabbit. We can either introduce the female rabbit to the male rabbit several times at seven hour intervals or we can leave the male and female rabbits together for a whole day. Multiple introductions and longer durations, both will cause the female rabbit’s system to flush extra eggs over the course of her time because she will ovulate only when exposed to the male.

  • 4

    Leaving the female rabbit for a longer duration than 24 hours is not recommended, because this will cause her to flush extra eggs which will also be fertilized. Thus when the female rabbit delivers the first batch of bunnies, the underdeveloped second batch of bunnies will also be delivered at the same time.

  • 5

    Keep in mind that these bunnies are intended for human consumption as meat and food thus avoid getting emotionally attached to them, thus do not treat them as pets. Do handle the bunnies daily so that they are calm when around humans thus easy to be handled for slaughter, but resist yourself getting emotionally attached to them. One way not to develop feelings for them is to number instead of naming them because these bunnies are intended to be dinner not pets.

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