I hear people say that their rabbit is "due" some particular day (often "yesterday"). Unfortunately, with rabbits, the term "due date" is poorly used. Besides the fact that different people express the due "date" as anywhere from 28 to 32 days after breeding (most people say it's 30 days), rabbits can give birth during a rather wide range of time (relative to their total gestation period). For this reason, I say that a rabbit is due some week, between 28 and 35 days (4 and 5 weeks) after breeding.
A good example which illustrates the due week, is the pattern of birth I'm experiencing with my rabbits this week. All of the does that were/are due were bred on the exact same day, within the span of an hour. I gave nestboxes to all of them on day 27 (my standard practice).
Rex litter out of chocolate doe.
On day 30, Mosaic started nesting. Day 31, she kindled 7 very healthy kits. That same day, Godiva started nesting. The afternoon of Day 32, Godiva delivered 6 kits, and Laurel started nesting. The morning of Day 33, I discovered 6 kits from Laurel, and Iza had started nesting. By that (this) afternoon, she had kindled her own litter of 6, and Princess had started nesting. Another doe still has yet to start nesting, but some does wait until they're in active labor before they start nesting.
I have had does kindle as late as 35 days after their last breeding. I've only had one doe that kindled before day 28 (she kindled on day 25), but have had a number kindle on day 28. That's why I put the box in on day 27, and leave it in there until day 35. Of course, if you can train yourself how to palpate (or get lessons from another breeder), you can save yourself some of the wait time. I've never been very good at it, myself, though.
Setting up electronic calendars with reminders is really important, if you're scatter-brained like me, sometimes. I had it in my head that Mena was supposed to get her nest box on the 25th, according to my Evan's Software (which I had set the "nest in" date to 27 days after breeding). Since I had it in my head that the 25th was day 27, I didn't feel too bad about not getting the box in until the 26th. Then I looked at my Evans Breeding List...the 25th was the day she was due (set to 30 days after breeding). Oops! So I rushed out to double check on her.
Mena's nested cage.
The nest box looked undisturbed, but she had fur and piles of straw all over her cage, but no signs of kits or a birth. It looked like one of two things had happened: 1) she had kindled on the wire and managed to clean it all up, building a nice nest for kits, and the kits had all crawled out (I don't have baby-saver wire); or 2) she still had yet to kindle. Still, I pulled the nest box toward me. No fur, all the straw still lying exactly like I usually stuff the box. I shoved my fist into the back of the nest box. Wiggly warmth!
Virtually undisturbed nest.
I couldn't believe it! Seriously, the nest looked like it hadn't been disturbed at all. So I brought the box in to do a head count and health check.
Litter of kits buried way in the back of a nest box.
Buried way in the back, under layers of straw, I found 6 kits, all full-tummied and wiggly. Seriously, these were some of the most fidgety kits I've ever handled!
Litter of newborn black and blue otter and self rex.
Sadly, my hopes for chocolate otters seem to have failed. Of the six, two are blue otter, two are black, one is a black otter, and one is a blue. I think that only one is a doe, too (one of the blue otters). Oh well, more to sell, I guess!
I did a quick Google search to see if there was a good reference for people new to rabbits on how to sex a rabbit. To my surprise, none of the results on the first page seemed like good references; they either seemed to provide an overload of information or only gave general information and not-so-helpful diagrams. So, my remedy is to provide one here. Please feel free to share this post around if you find it helpful.
Mature rabbits are by far the easiest to sex. However, as you can see from the above picture, simply looking at the vent--that's the term we use to refer to all rabbits' private areas, including the anus and vulva or penis--is not enough to determine sex.
Scrotum on a mature buck.
Many mature bucks have very obvious scrota when you flip them over. Sometimes, especially when it's cold or the buck is stressed out, they suck their testicles inside their bodies, leaving only the scrota external, often hidden in the fur around them. If you look near the vent, you may be able to find areas of loose flesh, which are the scrota. Do not mistake a bald area for a scrotum, though--many does will have a bald area in the same place as you would find testicles, but the flesh will be more firm, rather than an empty(ish) sac.
However, a buck that has been neutered, or a buck which hasn't matured to the point of his testicles descending, is still indeterminable from a doe unless you actually expose the vent. To do this, you'll first have to flip the rabbit over.
Once you have the rabbit on its back, use your free hand to expose the vent. One finger (or your thumb) should be on the tail, and another finger (or your thumb) should be on the furry mound, such that your fingers frame the vent.
Finger on tail, thumb on mound to frame rabbit's vent.
The anus is the slit that has fur.
The mound is a raised area of fur,
opposite the tail.
With your fingers framing the vent, push the tail gently away from the vent, and press gently into the mound. This will make the genitals pop out so you can see if it is a penis or vulva.
Mature doe - note the slit and
close proximity to the anus
Mature buck - note the pointed-cylindrical protrusion
and distance from the anus.
With younger rabbits it can be a bit trickier. Not only are they smaller, but their hormones haven't kicked in to bring their genitals into their final form. As such, it can be very easy to over- or under-expose the genitals, making them look like one gender when they're really the other. I find that it is best that the tail-holding finger only holds the tail in place, without pulling back on it, and the mound-pressing finger presses gently down into the belly and slightly toward the vent, until a shape becomes apparent. You may have to readjust your finger placement until you can get it to pop definitively.
5-week-old doe: slit very near anus
5-week-old buck: tube protrusion slightly away from anus
3-week-old buck: tube protrusion slightly away from anus
3-week-old doe: slit very near anus
5-week-old buck slightly overstretched,
looking like a slit, but still very far
from anus.
3-week-old buck very overstretched,
looking like a slit, but note the gap
between the slit and the anus.
Many people are unable to sex kits under 6-8 weeks old, so don't worry if you have a hard time: you're not the only one! Just keep practicing.
Sweetie's litter explores the nestbox and beyond at 19-days.
As of today, all nest boxes have been removed (the younger litters are just short of three weeks old, but hopping in and out of the boxes frequently, and I'd rather have them all hopping around the cage than risk one getting stuck out of the box and getting chilled--temperatures are still dropping into the low thirties over night).
Even the youngest of kits are starting to nibble on pellets in the feeder, and are starting to get curious about drinking from the bottle. Of course, they still try to sneak a few drinks off mom, too.
19-day-old kits eating pellets
Kits learning to drink.
Kit stealing a drink off mom.
Of course, the older kits have got it all down pat. At exactly one month old, they're of an age where many commercial rabbitries would consider weaning them. However, a number of studies have concluded that weaning before 5-6 weeks results in notably less growth, and also puts the kits at a higher risk of weaning enteritis, which is often deadly. Over the next month, I should see an accelerated growth rate from them as they eat more and more while still getting nutrition from their mother's milk.
8 one-month-old Californian kits pile at the feeder.
Month-old Californian kit drinks from water bottle.
Trudy enjoying attention at an Easter Egg Hunt. (Image taken by The Observer)
In addition to the progress of the current kits, we have a lot of expectant mothers, now. Mena will get her nest box in a couple days. Californians Lavender and Laurel; New Zealand Iza; and Rex Mosaic, Princess, and Godiva were all bred on one day. The goal with the Californians and New Zealands is to have market litters available for nearby counties. Trudy has been difficult about breeding, but a trip to a nearby Easter Egg Hunt changed her mind (roadtrips can do that to rabbits for some reason, and she really enjoyed all the extra attention).
Another fun happening was that I managed to sell all of my extra bags of manure for about $100! My "shit list," as some people are referring to it, is now back-ordered.
Rabbits are born blind, deaf, and furless (although some may have hints of peach fuzz). By five days old, their ears are starting to open up, and they'll be completely open by a week old.
7-day-old Californian kits have open ears.
13-day-old New Zealand kit already starting to pose.
Their eyes can start to open up as early as nine days, and most will have their eyes open by 12 days old. They may open one eye and then another, and you may even see the eye when it's still only partially open. That's normal. If the eye still isn't open at a full two-weeks old, you can try to open it, gently.
I was treated to something very uncommon, even among people who have been raising rabbits for decades. I got to watch the end of a rabbit birth! Remember: I've been around breeding rabbits since the early 90s, and raising them, myself, since the late 90s. This is only the second litter I've had the pleasure to watch, and the first where I actually had a good enough angle to actually watch the birth. (The last one, all I saw was the doe's back twitching as she stood over her nest in the box, and then her eating some of the afterbirth before hopping out). Sweetie gave birth about 4:15 in the afternoon. (The previous litter I watched was about 6:30 in the afternoon, in early June). Most rabbits give birth in the middle of the night, and seem to be able to purposefully postpone labor to avoid giving birth when people are around, which is why seeing a birth is so rare.
The video is fairly long, but most of it is just her cleaning the kits off, which is interesting in its own right. If you skip to the end, you can see the whole litter. There are nine of them!
This happened the afternoon after discovering that Aster had had a litter of nine, herself, overnight. I say 18 babies in one day is quite good.
Unfortunately, it appears that Godiva and Princess are not going to have their litters. I had high hopes for Godiva, since she actually built a nest and pulled some fur the day I gave her a box, but then she destroyed the nest, and shows no signs of producing kits. She had presented well for Tron, same as Mena, who also failed to produce. This may indicate that Tron is infertile, which upsets me terribly. I'll probably still try breeding Godiva back to Tron (I really want chocolate otters), but if Mena doesn't kindle from her latest breeding (I bred her back after she had passed 35 days without kindling), then I will probably rebreed both of them to another buck.
Princess is getting fairly old, and Ixis, who I bred her to, is about two years, himself, and hasn't sired a litter yet (my own fault for forgetting to plan does to breed to him--Princess was his first breeding). I'm not really sure who may be at fault in their case. I was hoping to get opals from them (both of them carry blue, and I suspect that Ixis is probably castor under his white coat), but I may resort to my regular pairing of Princess with Chip for otters and selfs.
Once upon a time, I could sex kits reliably at 10 days old. These days, I'm not as good, but maybe with practice I can get it down again. You may remember that I sexed Chesna's and Lisi's litters at 1 day old. Let's see how I'm doing (if I'm sexing right at the 12-day mark).
Z1: Day 1 thought "Doe?" Day 12 looks to be buck
Z2: Day 1 thought "Buck?" Day 12 looks ambiguous
Z3: Day 1 thought "Buck?" Day 12 definitely doe.
C1: Day 1 thought "Doe?" Day 12 ambiguous
C4: Day 1 thought "Buck" Day 12 leaning toward doe
C6: Day 1 thought "Buck". Day 12 looks like doe.
C7: Day 1 thought "Buck". Day 12 looks ambiguous.
C8: Day 1 thought "Buck?". Day 12 looks like doe.
Cs 2, 3, 5 may have gotten mixed up. Originally thought all bucks. Day 12, looks like 1 doe, 2 bucks.
OK, so I guess I'm still working on it. On some of the obvious day 12s that don't match the original guess, I can see where I was wrong. We'll check again another week to see if we're getting any better. This just goes to show how difficult sexing kits can be--I've been doing this for 15 years, and I still have problems.
In case you're wondering about why I try to sex so early, I do this so that I can confirm sales and availability to buyers as soon as possible. Many people cite that "something can happen," but I've very rarely lost kits after 9 days old, and I can usually tell by day 3 which ones are likely to die. By "rarely" I mean I can count the number of kits lost at those ages on one hand. So, my thinking is that the younger I can accurately determine sex, the sooner I can confirm availability for interested buyers. I still won't sell the kits until they're 8 weeks old, but if I can give the buyers a month heads up that I do indeed have the rabbits they want, then that gives the buyers a month to prepare.
I also took a video of sexing kits at this age to demonstrate just how difficult it can be. I'll upload it, soon, but right now my internet connection is just a bit slow.
Young doe. Note the slit that leads directly to the anus.
Up until about a year ago, I thought that it was impossible to determine the sex of kits that were any younger than 10 days old. In many cases, it could be impossible until 5 or 6 weeks. A year ago, I came across an image and some information that changed that idea. It is actually possible to sex kits in the first 2--sometimes 3--days of life. The reason this works is that the hormones which trigger the doe's labor actually affects the kits as well, which causes their genitals to swell (it can also make their teats swell, too, even on males). I knew about this phenomenon in humans, but hadn't ever considered it for rabbits.
The image I originally saw had actually been passed around the internet quite a bit, but I finally managed to track down the original photographer, Moorcroft Stud Rabbits. With the original post, she said, "[Y]ou can see a distinct difference between the bucks 'gap' and the does running str[ai]ght into the anus."
Last spring, I decided to give it a try. These are my results from last year:
Tri# 6 (1 day old) - Doe (confirmed)
Tri#5 (3 days old) - Doe (confirmed)
Ott - Buck (confirmed)
Poppy - Buck? (confirmed)
Pee on buck makes it look like a doe.
I had several others, but I unfortunately forgot to write down whether they were confirmed. In some cases, I forgot to maintain the Sharpie marks I was using to distinguish them. One thing I did note was that if the kit pees, it makes it really hard to tell. So, if you're photographing these to have others help you, make sure that the parts are as dry as possible.
So, now we come to our latest litters. I'm not the best at this, so don't take the following determinations as gospel. I'll confirm or refute these when the kits are old enough to sex by the traditional method.
