Factors affecting the fertility of rabbits
Conception, and overall fertility, are influenced by a number of factors such as environment and feeding. However, only some of these factors can be directly influenced:
Ambient temperature
Low and high temperatures limit fertility. Temperatures above 25°C may also have a negative effect.
Length of light day
The optimum is a prolonged day, or an artificial extension to 14 to 16 hours of light per day is appropriate.
Nutrition can have a major impact
Nutrition must correspond to breeding rabbits already during the rearing period (it must not be fattening). The easiest is to feed them with complete compound feed for breeding rabbits, where it is recommended to feed about 50 g per kg in the period before breeding. The basic diet can also be supplemented with natural sources of vitamins such as carrots, parsley, celery, fruit tree twigs or spring dandelions.
Breeding of females
Females must be in optimal condition before mating, neither obese nor skinny. She should not even be hungry at that moment, because natural processes leading to reproduction simply do not work.
The optimal time for mating is then simply determined according to the condition of the external genitals of the rabbit. If the vulva is red and swollen, we can expect successful impregnation.
