# What age do you retire rabbits?



## CiaraPatricia (Mar 8, 2011)

I guess it depends where they're male or female and what breed they are. But what agedo you retire them from breeding?


----------



## GorbyJobRabbits (Mar 8, 2011)

I've had a rex doe that was around 10 when I had to get rid of her. My mom and her b/f split up so we had to move off the farm. She was still the BEST mom there was.

It would depend on the rabbit, and how you take care of them, and how often you breed them. Some people keep their rabbits on a litter and then bred ALLL the time. I refuse to do it. I've got 2 older bucks, one is a harlie and one is a fuzzy. They're around 4. They're my 2 best bucks. 

I'll keep my good does for a long time. You can tell when a rabbit just can't do it any morel


----------



## majorv (Mar 8, 2011)

You can use a doe longer if she's been bred on a fairly regular basis. We have a doe who is now 3 and I think we'll have to stop trying to breed her. She had some nice babies when she was about a year old but we didn't use her again until she was 2 1/2, andthat is too long to wait before breeding again. In talking to a few breeders around usthey usually stop using their brood does around 3-4 unless it's an exceptional rabbit.


----------



## Blaze_Amita (Mar 8, 2011)

I usually let the does tell me when they're done. Skye I had left for little over a year between her litter last summer and the one prior to that, and that baby didn't live. I was hesitant to try her again, but I did when someone had requested a couple babies out of her so I put her with a different buck and now, 8 months after the lost baby, she has a litter of 3 gorgeous babies that are all fat and healthy. She'll be five years old in April. She'll be retired end of this summer. I've also heard of a doe that's almost 8 years old(dutch) that's still eager to breed and torments males so as long as she stays healthy and has no problems her breeder has let her raise babies. She gets awesome babies out of her(I've got one of them in my barn) and as a 6 year old she rasied her own 6, and 2 dwarves at the same time. Wonderful doe. 

So it does really depend on the doe on top of her condition.


----------



## RAL Rabbitry (Mar 8, 2011)

One of my best bucks just bred two does last Saturday and he is 6 years old. He is going strong and settles them most of the time. Some of my best does are 3 and above and are having normal sized litters. My oldest brood doe is 6 and she just weaned a nice litter of 3 and kept her weight just fine.


----------



## CiaraPatricia (Mar 9, 2011)

Cool  my plan with my does is to get them neutered after they retire, so I want to find a balance in age that's not too old to neuter, but not too young either.  I'm thinking 3.5 - 4 years old to retire them, and older for bucks.


----------

