breeding in the family?

Animal Person

Animal Person

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Does anybody know if inbreeding rabbits will cause problems? Like if i had a female could i breed it with her father? Or if I had a male could I breed him with his mother?
 
TAH

TAH

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You don't want to breed son to mother father to daughter so on and forth. We did breed a brother and sister and they did fine, but I wouldn't recommend it. You can breed second cousins and so on and forth. It is better to breed rabbits that are not realated. Hope this helps.
 
promiseacres

promiseacres

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Many many people do and swear by line breeding as it will increase chances of getting the good characteristics you like in that individual. But it can also increase the chances of the bad also, so be willing to cull!! And if you're breeding meat rabbits well you'll be doing that anyways.
 
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babsbag

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Like @promiseacres said; you can get the best of the best and the worst of the worst. If there are no serious defects in the breeders I would give it a try and see what you get. I do it with goats all of the time, but only for one generation.
 
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MMWB

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Line breeding can shine if you are building your own breeding stock over time. As stated, you keep the rabbits with the best traits to test as breeders. The rest will stew or fry up fine. You have to keep really good records, measurements, weights, monitor sizes of litters, mortality rates, rates of growth, etc... to get improvements. I am primarily referring to meat rabbits. Variables you will measure and track for other purposes may vary some.
 
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