Since my main buck, well to be frank the only buck, died at the claws of a bobcat, I had to find another. So enter stage right: Clarence. There is nothing bold or handsome about Clarence, let’s just hope he can get the job done. I had to drive quite a distance to get this humble creature, so when I finally got there(after stopping at a bathroom with three kids and myself that REALLY needed to pee. The sign on the bathroom door said “BATHROOM USE FOR PAYING CUSTOMERS ONLY!” We left that establishment feeling much relieved in the bladder area, but a bit lighter in the wallet, as my kids took FULL advantage of bathroom rules and loaded up on pork rinds and soda. Yuck!)When we got there even my kids looked doubtfully at our new man on the homestead.

However, I , not being a female rabbit, apparently judged him by human appearances too quickly. I say this because, surprisingly he was a HUGE hit on the farm with the girls! I had previously had a bit of a hard time getting the “job done” on rabbit part of the homestead. I know, who knew rabbits would be hard to breed? As usual life on the urban homestead is not as straight forward as we would like it to be! My rabbit mentors said to take the girls for a drive; I thought REALLY? I am driving around rabbits so they will feel more amorous toward each other? Then I thought as I am passing mile after mile that maybe, just maybe, my friends were playing a joke on me. They were snickering somewhere at the thought of my naive self driving around with rabbits in a cage in the back of my car. They swear it was not a trick. I still have my doubts. Then there was the recommendation of red raspberry zinger tea with apple cider vinegar and black sunflower seeds. OK,  so now I am serving my rabbits tea, at high noon, complete with nut biscuits. That IS nuts! I will never know, what about Sargent my does didn’t like and I find it mystifying that they prefer the humble presence of Clarence, but what ever gets the job done I am on board with,preferably without my mileage or culinary skills included!

This is my daughters take on the whole rabbit situation ;

” He was a hit?  Your kidding! Even with Adeline? She is super picky! Sargent was like the bone headed super cute guy that all the girls fall for in the movies. Just once. Then Clarence is that kind of nerdy looking but super duper nice kind of guy that the girls realize has so much more potential. More than once.”

I kid you not, I wrote it down exactly as she summed it up.

Wow, they are growing up so fast, in more ways than one. I am not talking rabbits here!

Some other points for rabbit breeding:

• Take the doe to the bucks cage-She might defend her territory if you do it the other way around! No body wants that!
• Stay & be ready to defend your buck– sometimes the doe can get aggressive. This can be bad especially if it is your buck’s first time to breed.
• The buck will grunt and fall over after the deed is completed. I have seen this lots of times but it still sends me into fits of laughter.
• Breed multiple times that day. Start in the morning and try again in the afternoon and once more in the evening. Rabbits reproduction cycle is very interesting as they ovulate when the mating occurs, so you will have a bigger batch of babies if you spend the day getting them together;)
• Your buck will go sterile after about a week in 85 plus temps. Unless you have your buck in the cool of an airconditioner, all bets are off!

Write the date on the calendar, because in 28 days you need to put a nest box in full of hay, with the expectation of babies!

We are always willing to answer questions. Leave them in the comments & we will try our best to help.

May your nest box be full of baby rabbits this Spring! Dash & Family