Breeding rabbits isn’t always easy. Despite the saying “breeding like rabbits”. There can be a variety of reasons keeping you from success. Hopefully troubleshooting below can help you figure it out if you’re having this problem.

First off, it’s not a good idea to force your doe to breed. It will likely not work and it’s best to just figure out why she’s not willing. You also want to always bring the doe to the buck’s cage to prevent territorial behavior and your buck getting torn up by the doe. If you buck gets torn up, he may become unwilling to breed too.

Health: As with any animal, you need to be healthy to reproduce. Make sure your rabbits are not over or under weight when you go to breed them. You may also want to check their “plumbing” so make sure nothing is swollen or abnormal looking.

Age: Does that are being bred for the first time may be a little apprehensive about being bred. Just make sure that they are old enough. This can be roughly 6 months old for a small breed rabbit. And up to 8 months old for a larger breed rabbit. Breeding years for a rabbit are roughly 4-6 years. It all depends on the rabbit and how intensive you are breeding them. Does bred up to 6 times per year are going to burn out very quickly. Signs that a doe is getting too old may be lack of interest, failed litters, or very small litters.

Lighting: Just like chickens, rabbits need 12-14 hours of light in order to breed. You can get lucky with less light, but your chances are much better if you provide some additional lighting in the shorter days of winter. We’ve only considered this to get a kick start in spring, but otherwise, we don’t make our rabbit breed in the winter. They deserve a break and who wants to deal with baby bunnies when it’s cold.

Diet: Another thing to consider is if anything is lacking in your rabbits’ diets. Most feed a pellet which should be balanced along with grass hay. We like to go above and beyond that and feed sprouts that we grow ourselves. As well as veggies and limited fruit several times per week. Specific nutrients you want to aim for are Vit A & E. These nutrients can be lost in pellets that have been stored for a long time. Vit E can come in the form of 1-3 teaspoons of black oil sunflower seeds. And things like kale, carrots, and bell pepper are good sources of Vit A.

Apple cider vinegar has also been said to work. Add about 1 tablespoon of ACV to a gallon of water and give it to your rabbits for about a week before trying to breed.

Date Night: Sometimes a pair just needs to get to know each others scents before taking the relationship to the next level. Try housing the rabbits side by side to get to know each other. You can also try swapping cages for a day. Though I have not found this necessary.

Car Ride: This may sound odd, but others have had this work, and it’s also worked for us. It disorients your doe so she’s more likely to lift when you get home and put her in with the buck. It doesn’t work every time, but it’s worth a shot when you’re running out of ideas.

Cage Size: Some say it helps to put your rabbit in a playpen where they have room and are so happy with the spacious environment that they are more willing to breed. However, my rabbits are always in large pens. So I find the opposite to be true for me. If I don’t put my stubborn does in a smaller cage with the buck, they tend to run away and play hard to get. Whereas in a smaller cage, she can’t get away and submits more quickly.

Time Of Day: Rabbits are most active in the mornings and evenings. These are the times of day you’ll want to breed. Rabbits, both male and female, are not going to be that in to breeding when it’s mid day and/or too hot. If you have your rabbits in a climate controlled environment, this may not be as big of an issue for you.

What NOT To Do: Don’t force your rabbit to breed. It can be tempting to hold the doe down for your buck and lift her rear. This isn’t harmful to the doe, but ultimately you will not see a successful breeding. We’ve tried it, it doesn’t work, and it wastes time when you mark the calendar thinking you should have babies and then there isn’t any.

Hope these tips are helpful. There’s certainly more tips out there but they seem a little “much”. Like trying to breed on or just before a full moon. In my opinion, if a doe is so stubborn that none of these tips work. Then she’s not worth keeping around as breeding stock. I’ll admit we’ve gotten rid of one doe that had a nasty temperament (she shredded our buck) and was difficult to breed. We did successfully get her bred with the old car ride trick. But come next time she was acting difficult all over again. So we chose to sell her. But all our other rabbits have been much better. Good luck!

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