hi all...
wasnt sure which category to post in since i have several questions for people with more experience than myself... the baby question is at the root of it all, so thats why i posted here. thanks for taking a second to read and respond!
ok, had 5 rabbits living in a 60+ sq ft area. been together since they were a couple weeks old. now about 6-7 months old. they were getting along fine until i noticed some obvious activity. hmmm... so maybe they werent all the same sex afterall!
soooo, i seperated them all out to see which crate ended up with babies. i also made another attempt to determine their sex... turns out, i think 3 of the 5 were male.
i put the 3 back together (after only being apart for a week or so) and within minutes they were fighting like crazy - when they never had before! was the week apart too much? are they going to be scarred/territorial forever? plan B, put the mother and her babies back in the large pen and seperate the males again...
that leaves 1 other adult female. will she fight with the mom if i put them together? and/or will she hurt/eat/kill the babies?
as it is, i think i will have to find homes for the guys, as i am not a breeder - just a hobby farmer/homesteader type. had the rabbits as part of the variety for the kids and all. like the idea of having the large area with a couple that could coexist... 3 or 4 together, rather than living in smaller seperate cages.
in order to achieve my goal, am i better off getting rid of all of them and keeping just a few of the bonded littermates? they were not raised for meat, but the males are all decent sized if someone wanted to eat them, i suppose. they are not fancy pedigree. just farm raised rabbits... a brown one, a gray one, a tan one, etc...
any experience or advice on these questions would be greatly appreciated! thank you
wasnt sure which category to post in since i have several questions for people with more experience than myself... the baby question is at the root of it all, so thats why i posted here. thanks for taking a second to read and respond!
ok, had 5 rabbits living in a 60+ sq ft area. been together since they were a couple weeks old. now about 6-7 months old. they were getting along fine until i noticed some obvious activity. hmmm... so maybe they werent all the same sex afterall!
soooo, i seperated them all out to see which crate ended up with babies. i also made another attempt to determine their sex... turns out, i think 3 of the 5 were male.
i put the 3 back together (after only being apart for a week or so) and within minutes they were fighting like crazy - when they never had before! was the week apart too much? are they going to be scarred/territorial forever? plan B, put the mother and her babies back in the large pen and seperate the males again...
that leaves 1 other adult female. will she fight with the mom if i put them together? and/or will she hurt/eat/kill the babies?
as it is, i think i will have to find homes for the guys, as i am not a breeder - just a hobby farmer/homesteader type. had the rabbits as part of the variety for the kids and all. like the idea of having the large area with a couple that could coexist... 3 or 4 together, rather than living in smaller seperate cages.
in order to achieve my goal, am i better off getting rid of all of them and keeping just a few of the bonded littermates? they were not raised for meat, but the males are all decent sized if someone wanted to eat them, i suppose. they are not fancy pedigree. just farm raised rabbits... a brown one, a gray one, a tan one, etc...
any experience or advice on these questions would be greatly appreciated! thank you