To Breed or Not to Breed.....please help!

I shared this note on facebook earlier tonight and tagged of my friends who are breeders or former breeders that I respect.

I decided to share it here and I'd like to hear comments from breeders (and even non-breeders) - but specifically - if you have been in a position where you were trying to decide whether or not to do a breeding with a doe that is like a pet to you....what did you do?

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I am going to be doing some breeding on Friday and I'm trying to make a decision about breeding a doe.

I bought this doe last year from a top flemish giant breeder in New England and I had her shipped here. She was going to be one of the major lines of my herd along with three other does (one of which came with her). I spent $100 each for the does plus $200 each to ship them here....so it was a major investment.

The other doe who came with her - passed away before I could get a litter from her. It looked like perhaps it was heart problems due to the suddenness, etc.

One other doe passed away (after giving me a litter) but she had some health issues and it was not unexpected.

That left me with this doe - Harmony - and Athena - my last doe.

Athena had two litters but she had problems with her last litter. Last month, I decided to have her spayed and keep her as a pet because she is very dear to me. I just couldn't risk breeding her again where she'd had a hard time with her last litter.

This leaves me with Harmony (the doe I'm writing about), her three daughters, the daughter of the doe that passed away after her first litter, another doe named Nyx and Nyx's daughters for my breeding program. Nyx is a self-steel that looks black and her daughters are steel. I mainly work with light gray (chinchilla).

My problem is this....Harmony is like a pet to me. I don't want to lose her.

BUT...she is an EXCELLENT mom and she is still young (not yet 2 years old).

Since flemish tend to have shorter lifespans, I like to retire my does anyway around 2- 2 1/2 years old and enjoy them as pets or let others enjoy them as pets.

SHOULD I BREED HARMONY ONE LAST TIME THIS WEEKEND - or SHOULD I NOT?

She was originally planned to be a major component of my breeding program and I do have the three daughters and a son from her.

But I would like to take her back to a different buck this time and get one last litter.

I'd like to hear your comments because you are breeders or former breeders that I respect.

Thanks in advance - for reading this - and hopefully for sharing your thoughts.

Peg

P.S. The offspring I do have from her are outstanding but the buck I want to take her to also gives outstanding offspring in the one buck I have out of him. He produces better than his father did (and his father is who I bred her to in the beginning).

I think if you're going to be a breeder, while you should def care and love all of your animals, they should not be thought of as pets. I love all of mine and loosing one breaks my heart. But they're not pets.


Now, if you can't breed a Flemish until they are 1 year old (around there), how many litters are you actually getting if you are retiring at 2 years?

I have had VERY large does, not flemish, that I had breeding after they were 5. I would breed Harmony, but I also wouldn't retire them at 2. If I was having to do that with rabbits, I would quit the breed, because I find it a waste. I don't over breed, I like having around 2-3 litters a year from does, so it's not over kill on their bodies.

if you know she's in good health, or after you already have so much money invested in her, what is another vet check to make sure everything is ok if that is going to make you feel better?

I'm not a breeder but i would say don't breed her. You were heart broken over Ginger Spice (hopefully i've remembered her name right) and advise others not to breed pets, and as you have had problems from the other flemishes, one you say came at the same time, (you don't say which one it was), but if it is relatedand they all seem to have major issuesi would think that it would be too high risk if you love her too much to take a chance on losing her, even if she has been a good breeder so far. If she were to suddenly die weeks after her litter, you'd blame yourself but if she were to die 6 weeks from now because of an issue, you can rest easy knowing you didn't contribute to the death by breeding her. Not that i'm saying it would be at all your fault, i just know how you have blamed yourself over Ginger Spice, and you don't want to feel that again if anything went wrong this time.

I say Breed her...you bought her for a purpose, and if she had no problems with Litters before i don't Understand why you are sooo worried. 2 1/2 is Not old. I have a 5 year old out there preg now and I figure if she is still producing and not having problems I'll prob breed her a few more times.

I say breed her. I'm a breeder but I only have 10 rabbits, so they are ALL dear dear pets to me. But that's just the beauty of it--you will have more of her offspring to pass on everything you love about her, AND she'll be an asset to your breeding program.

Unless you run into some extremely bad luck, I don't see any reason why she can't have one more litter to an outstanding buck. Go for it--that way, you won't have any regrets about wondering "what could have been" with that buck, and what it could have done to better your lines....

Good Luck!

I am not a breeder either. But, I say you should breed her. Her first purpose in life is to add to your lines, and her second purpose is a beloved pet. If she is in excellent health, and has sucessfully bred and reared kits in the past, and you keep an extra close eye on her during her pregnancy and motherhood, then the odds are in your favor that everything will be fine.

The choice is entirely yours. If you feel that there is a chance of complications then the answer is no--especially when it is so devastating to lose a loved bun breeder or not. Our choice is not to breed as we only do rescue from shelters and individuals that can no longer keep their "pets".

If it were me, I would probably breed her. It sounds like she is part of your foundation stock.If you feel that her offspring can give you the same or better than what she can nowproduce, then don't do it. Just a thought - does she have a daughter that is very much like her that you could breed her to this buck instead of the mom? If not, then definitely consider breeding her one more time.

GorbyJobRabbits wrote:

I think if you're going to be a breeder, while you should def care and love all of your animals, they should not be thought of as pets. I love all of mine and loosing one breaks my heart. But they're not pets.


Now, if you can't breed a Flemish until they are 1 year old (around there), how many litters are you actually getting if you are retiring at 2 years?

I have had VERY large does, not flemish, that I had breeding after they were 5. I would breed Harmony, but I also wouldn't retire them at 2. If I was having to do that with rabbits, I would quit the breed, because I find it a waste. I don't over breed, I like having around 2-3 litters a year from does, so it's not over kill on their bodies.

if you know she's in good health, or after you already have so much money invested in her, what is another vet check to make sure everything is ok if that is going to make you feel better?

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Not all of my rabbits are thought of as "pets" - well - they sort of are - but not as "special pets" which is what Harmony has become.

I am what some folks have described as a "breeder with a non-breeder mindset".

I don't look at my rabbits as livestock. I don't sell them for meat. (I don't eat rabbit either).

I live in a small town way down in Texas - the two nearest rabbit shows are 4 hours away and everything else for shows is about 8 hours away.

I say this to say that I don't have a large market for my rabbits - if I were to breed them more I would be overrun with rabbits (been there done that with the lionheads).

So I breed a couple of times per year and I retire them young.

Flemish don't have the longest life spans...and they have large litters. I feel like if a girl has given me a couple of litters - she's earned her right to retire and just be a pet - whether it is here - or somewhere else.

Anyway - just thought I'd share that....

grumpybabies wrote:

I'm not a breeder but i would say don't breed her. You were heart broken over Ginger Spice (hopefully i've remembered her name right) and advise others not to breed pets, and as you have had problems from the other flemishes, one you say came at the same time, (you don't say which one it was), but if it is relatedand they all seem to have major issuesi would think that it would be too high risk if you love her too much to take a chance on losing her, even if she has been a good breeder so far. If she were to suddenly die weeks after her litter, you'd blame yourself but if she were to die 6 weeks from now because of an issue, you can rest easy knowing you didn't contribute to the death by breeding her. Not that i'm saying it would be at all your fault, i just know how you have blamed yourself over Ginger Spice, and you don't want to feel that again if anything went wrong this time.

Click to expand...

You got her name right - and you're right - she did have problems that I believe were because I bred her (they showed up while she was still with her litter).

In Ginger's case though - I know she was probably younger than she should have been when I bred her (knowing what I know now) - and I really believe looking back now that she wasn't the healthiest when I bred her (as a newbie breeder and rabbit owner I didn't recognize it).

I was / am devastated about her - and that is part of why I am so careful now.

Thanks for the reminder.

Because she has done so well in the past, I would go ahead and breed her. She has made it past the problems of the "dreaded first litter", and proved herself to you.

My bunnies are breeders and pets and show bunnies all rolled into one.