Should i rebreed her?or is it time to retire her as a pet

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Sabine

Sabine

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Cork, Ireland
My ND doe Ember only ever gave me one litter last Summer. She was the proven doe in my initial trio and had had two litters with her previous owner.
The litter she had her were four with one born dead, After that i bred her repeatedly all last Summer but despite her being keen on matings and the buck being proven she never conceived again.
I gave her one more shot this season and she took. I was a bit apprehensive and it turned out I had reason to be. When I came home this afternoon I found that she had two babies outside the nest. both looked alright but somewhat large. one was dead but I could revive the other one to my surprize. i put the survivor in with another litter of just two that was born last night. I do hope it pulls through.
I am wondering now if this is a sign for her to retire. She was a brilliant mother the last time around and I can't understand why she would have been so neglectful this time. she had made a nest and pulled loads of fur but never covered the babies. I am not sure if i should chance rebreeding her or if i may face worse the next time around. She seems to behave normally and is eating and drinking. I did not think there was any point leaving the individual baby in with her as it had been so chilled and really benifited from a nest with other youngsters and a willing mother to nurse them 9incidentally the foster mom is Ember's daughter from her first litter.
Any advice?
 
I would stilltry to breed her if you believe she has something to offer the breed: meaning will she help improve the breed How old is she? Remember every litter is going to be diffrent and not every litter the mother will take care of the same. I had a doe do great her first litter...Horrible her second and thord and great her fourth, its all about the does instincts and it is a hit or miss when it come to babies remember does can tel if something is wrong with there kits and will let them die if they "sence" something is geneticaly wrong with them.
 
I'm curious how old she is also. We're in a somewhat similar situation with one of our Tan does. We mistakenly waited well over a year to breed her between litters. We've tried breeding her 3 times and she took once. She only had one kit, on the wire instead of in the nestbox, and it was dead when I found it.Like yours, it was well formed but larger than normal. We gotsuch an awesome buck from her first litter thatwe're trying one last time and that will have to be it.

Does it get very warm during the summerfor you?It gets so warm around here that it affects the fertility of the bucks if we try to breed when it's hot. The kits don't usually make it in the heat either.
 
WHat is the age of the doe was also my first question. I had a holland doe that had a good live litter 9/28/08, then a DOA 5/21/10(yes i put tha tmuch time between because I was moving and didn't want to chance anything, but then I bred her again this late winter and she had a wonderful litter of 3kits on 2/21/11 and she's raising all of them wonderfully and its not taking anything out of her. she'll be 5 years old April 23rd.

But on the flip side, I had a buck that by the time he was about 3.5 he couldn't reproduce worth a dang. His little swimmers went bad is how I phrased it. He was the father to that DOA litter of the doe.

If your doe was mine, and I knew she still had the body type and you have a nice buck to mate her with, I would say try again, if no luck then pet her out. But if she doesn't have the type or anything else to contribute to the breed, pet her out. You said you had her daughter. to me that usually means i'm aiming at retiring the doe and petting her out
 
majorv wrote:
We mistakenly waited well over a year to breed her between litters. We've tried breeding her 3 times and she took once. She only had one kit, on the wire instead of in the nestbox, and it was dead when I found it.Like yours, it was well formed but larger than normal. We gotsuch an awesome buck from her first litter thatwe're trying one last time and that will have to be it.

Does it get very warm during the summerfor you?It gets so warm around here that it affects the fertility of the bucks if we try to breed when it's hot. The kits don't usually make it in the heat either.
Click to expand...

When I start to breed my rabbits I start at 6-7 mnts depending on the rabbit and I will keep breeding them every 3 mnts after the litter has weaned....you have to keep the does in "baby" making shape if not youhave more of achance of dead orfetal giants. If I feel the doe is not in the right condition for breeding I will wait longer. Remember in the wild a doe will start to have kits when they are younger and will breed allmost imediatly after the kindle so it is important not to wait to long to breed your does. If you think about it it takes 31days for you doe too kindle...2 mnts for them to wean and for me 3mnts to get condition back so really i breed my goes every 6mnts so they get breed twice a year once early spring and once mid/late autumn

A buck will loose his "potency" in the summer, someone told me once if you just keep breeeding him all the dead sperm will pass out of him and he will produce live sperm (How much of that is true I have no idea) I have never had any problems with breeding my bucks in the summer my barn has a bunch of fans in it to keep my bunnies nice and cool and is shaded by trees. I have very rarely lost a kit in the summer unless the doe kindles on the wire in the summer I use less bedding in the nest boxes i will usually use just pine shavings and a small handful of hay and when the doe pulls her fur if there is too much in there I iwll take some out it helps to keep the kits cooloer.
 
She must be around two or so. I think she has good type and would certainly be a loss to my rabbitry if i had to retire her. Her daughter is good in type but not superior to her.
it does not get particularily ho here. we did have an unusually hot Summer last year but temperatures would be around 25-28 celsius max. it is quite managable. All my other rabbits including the young buck she had been mated to had no problems breeding.
I think I'll give her a break and wait till I rebreed the other does as i don't want to chance her being the only one pregnant.
 
Tobi wrote:
majorv wrote:
We mistakenly waited well over a year to breed her between litters. We've tried breeding her 3 times and she took once. She only had one kit, on the wire instead of in the nestbox, and it was dead when I found it.Like yours, it was well formed but larger than normal. We gotsuch an awesome buck from her first litter thatwe're trying one last time and that will have to be it.

Does it get very warm during the summerfor you?It gets so warm around here that it affects the fertility of the bucks if we try to breed when it's hot. The kits don't usually make it in the heat either.
Click to expand...

When I start to breed my rabbits I start at 6-7 mnts depending on the rabbit and I will keep breeding them every 3 mnts after the litter has weaned....you have to keep the does in "baby" making shape if not youhave more of achance of dead orfetal giants. If I feel the doe is not in the right condition for breeding I will wait longer. Remember in the wild a doe will start to have kits when they are younger and will breed allmost imediatly after the kindle so it is important not to wait to long to breed your does. If you think about it it takes 31days for you doe too kindle...2 mnts for them to wean and for me 3mnts to get condition back so really i breed my goes every 6mnts so they get breed twice a year once early spring and once mid/late autumn

A buck will loose his "potency" in the summer, someone told me once if you just keep breeeding him all the dead sperm will pass out of him and he will produce live sperm (How much of that is true I have no idea) I have never had any problems with breeding my bucks in the summer my barn has a bunch of fans in it to keep my bunnies nice and cool and is shaded by trees. I have very rarely lost a kit in the summer unless the doe kindles on the wire in the summer I use less bedding in the nest boxes i will usually use just pine shavings and a small handful of hay and when the doe pulls her fur if there is too much in there I iwll take some out it helps to keep the kits cooloer.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Tobi. We've learned our lesson the hard way not to let a nice doe sit too long without breeding her.

It probably doesn't get as hot & humidin NJ as it does in south Texas. We canhave sustained temps in the mid to upper 90's during the summer. We were warned by a local breeder that in that heat you can lose not only the kits but the doe also. This we learned after losing one litter to summer heat/humidity. Our cages are in the shade but outside...no room for a barn. We use fans and ice bottles to get our rabbits through the hot, humid summers.
 
I would try again, one more time, because if there was something wrong with the kits, she might have sensed it. And she might be a great mother the next time.
 
I'll probably will give her one more chance when i rebreed my other does.
I am not too sure if does really sense there is something wrong with their kits. i never find the peanuts or Max factor babies outside the nest. i have also kept the one that i managed to revive and her daughter appears to have accepted it as one of her own. I can't see anything wrong with the baby except that it is a small bit larger than the others.
 
Hey Sabine

I would let her choose,Put her in with the buck if she is keen then let her breed if she is not then leave her for a while before you decide.It might have been a difficult birth that made her kindle out of the nest.She is a lovely doe and I know how hard they are to come by here so I would definatly give her another shot :)
 
I am beginning to think that I should maybe use larger does for breeding. After Pearl ended up with a prolapse after just four litters (spaced out of course) and now Ember failing on her fourth litter :(
Sky, my only larger doe has three super healthy kits. best outcome of all the five does I bred.
 
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