Hi lovestaffblu, bucks reach puberty at four months of age and become sexually mature at around 6-7 months which is what I ment, so it is possible to have a litter at 5 months. Doe becomes sexually mature at 6 months but shouldnt be mated until she is fully grown and developed at around 10 months. It also depends on the breed of rabbit you have as smaller breeds mature quicker and larger breeds take longer to mature, so this is also a factor on the mating age of rabbits.
I suggested to Jackie to seperate the babies at 8 weeks and rehome by 9 weeks as it is defiantly not possible for them to mate at this age, I personaly feel any younger then this is too young for the babies to be seperated.
I would advice any one not breeding to get there buck/doe sprayed as not only does it prevent litters but prevent urerine cancer which is very common and reduces the odour and spraying tendency in bucks and can help toward aggression problems.

I would second that! It also means that you can have more than one bunny to live together, as they are naturally social animals and it is generally considered unkind to keep them alone, although many people do

On a side note, I know this is an accidental litter so I'm not saying this for anyone who has found themselves in that sort of situation, but anyone reading this thread who is considering breeding bunnies, I would say please don't! There are currently 33,000 rabbits in rescue centres throughout the UK so we really don't need any more at present! Plus breeding rabbits of unknown history is very different to professional breeders who use stock from known lines - this means that genetic problems get ironed out, whereas "pet shop bunnies" can pass on genetic defects such as dental problems.

I'll get off my soap box now, can't wait to see pictures of the kits in a few weeks time when they are little bundles of fur

Fluffy x

PS Lovestaffblu, it's guinea pigs which are capable of breeding from 4-5 weeks old and need separating (but then they are born a lot more mature, fully furred and stuff), male rabbits don't become sexually mature until about 12 weeks at the earliest and females a few months later, so Natasha is definitely right, they should be with their mum until 8 weeks at the earliest (not that it helps you now, but you never know who else is reading and taking in the information!)

ok Luke putting on the rabbit breeding head now everything Nat has said is more than true but i would be careful about when checking the nest removing the doe altogether i used to just block of the entry to the bedroom part, and put dinner down for the doe this should keep her occupied whillst you have a quick check, usually dead ones are thrown out or eaten but as its her first litter she may not know what to do
best wishes

Luke dont worry I know what I said was more then true
I cant agree with what you have told Jackie to do though. My way is defiantly the safer option, as it reduces the stress for the doe which of course is what any breeder wants.
Your way will only cause the doe to get stressed, the hutch is her territory and females are very protective over there cage and even more so when they have kits. If you block her off from the kits this will panic her and she will see what your doing and think her babies are under attack, I cant understand how you could possibly think thats better?
By taking the doe from the cage she will just think she is getting a fuss so like i previously said offer her tip bits which they love and that will keep her occupied while the nest is being checked over. It also means she cant see what your doing and therefore might not even know her kits have been touched alot better. Also as i said rubbing you hands in the litter will mask the human smell so cause less stress for the doe.
Dead babies are most likely to be found at the bottom of the nest, as they are now a few days old so Jackie would of noticed dead babies outside the nest and also the mother will sometimes eat dead babies or alive ones if she gets too stressed.
Sure Jackie will decide for herself how she wants to go about doing this
More fun later Jackie when you can actually hold them

just giving my advice, mine had someone storking them and feeding them bits of carrots whilst sum1 i had a look, i was told by a very wise rabbit person of many years experience who mentored me with my first few litters, she told us never remove a doe from her young, apart from seperation anxiety you risk the doe bringing a bug, infection etc back to the nest she could have spores on her fur which could contain anything, just my personal opinion but i never removed a doe from the hutch, gave them fuss etc and left them to it, one time i listened to a friend who told me it was fine to le tthe doe have a bit of excerise so i let the doe out to run around the shed perfectly happy, put her back in the hutch went in that evening she had tossed most of her litter out,m, i took them off and had no surrogate doe at the time, went back in the morning she had thrown the remains of her litter out and some were dead.
JMO of course
best wishes

I have never removed my doe from her litters either. Her fave snack was always enough to give me permission to go in lol. I was very lucky with her. My neighbour found her in a group of about 5 wild rabbits that came onto his place and kept making the JR`s go mad. He notised she was not a wild rabbit and picked her up and put her in his shed. She was not hand tame, and he bought her to me. I was with her loads, and she turned into a very freindly rabbit. She did escape once...but came back in and sat at my feet. When she had the kits, she had no problem letting me look. For the first day I left them, second day had a tiny peek and everyday just stayed with them and her a little longer....The result was, 13 very ppl loving bunnys. I kept 2, but unfortuntly my little girl one died at 3 months old (2 weeks ago). She was very freindly. And my little buck is the same. He as been the one I was keeping all along, I have him coming to me when called by his name (his dad did that, but because of his breeders, he was not very tame either - until he came to me ).

OK, I`m babbling on again LOL......