[GBov]

At 11 months old and having lived with a buck for the last 6 of those, I had given up on my single dwarf cross doe and decided to just let her be a manure maker for the garden.

Got a trio of 5-month-old Rex for Spring breeding and was quite content to await warmer weather.

Three days ago mini-doe has a litter of four!!!

So split her off from her companion buck which took space from the new trio.

New trio starts fighting due to losing that space.

Split the trio into smaller cages, one doe, and one doe/buck pair.

Now out of cages!!!

Had to help her figure out how to nurse them - she ripped up my hand pretty good but got the idea and has been feeding them properly since - built a solid wood high-sided nestbox so she would stop moving them about into very unsafe places (rats will sit under a cage and pull all the litter out from under kits and then, once they are on the wire, eat them a bit at a time) and now, three days on, they are all still alive!

Cage wire and extra clips are on order to sort the unexpected cage shortage but it is always nice to have babies, even unexpected ones.

[vfr400boy]

I'd never keep bucks and does together only put them together to breed

[GBov]

I'd never keep bucks and does together only put them together to breed

I have done both for many years, kept singly or in pairs, buck/buck, doe/doe, buck/doe.

It totally depends upon the rabbits - some MUST be kept on their own - but I find the health of a pair is better than single because they clean each other in hard to reach places, like ears.  And a buck doe pair keeps moving as he presses his suit and she evades, and so they get enough exercise for optimal gut health.

Large cages are a must for pairs though, with many levels to jump up and around, and constant vigilance for the tell tail tufts of fluff that might signal fighting has started.

I like to keep a nest box in with the doe all the time and the buck live with the doe for 3 weeks.  He then goes in with the second doe for 3 weeks, and then in with the third doe for 3 weeks.  Then start over or he has some time off in his own cage.  Sadly I only have room for two sets of four right now instead of my usual "You can't have too many rabbits!"

This pair though had been through the wringer and I totally thought she was sterile.  I have never EVER had any dwarf rabbit take longer than 6 months to produce her first litter and Peggy is coming up on a solid year.  They were only kept on for the manure they make as they are bog-standard dwarfs, unfriendly, and stand offish.  

All four kits doing great, the new cage wire is here, Boris and Natasha are in the upper-level cages, an extension on Fifi's cage has been made and installed, still waiting on the wood but the roof panels are here for the lean-to, and the rat-proof shed is built and feed/hay can now live in it instead of in the loo.

It is starting to look like home now.