Decision to make

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ladysown

ladysown

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Ginger finally kindled today.
She's on strike two.

First time breeding, I saw her breed, she was ready to breed. NO kits.

Second time, she's had two dead kits.

Normally first time does...two strikes I'll find another home or purpose for you.

Ginger is a lop who never lopped her ears.
I have a person who wants to buy her but needs to see a successful litter off her first.

But I'm getting a little fed up with her, and I'm getting a doe that in the next bit that I'll need the cage space for.

DO I pour another six weeks into this rabbit in the hopes of making $20-30 on her.
OR do I say enough of this, you can be supper? or turn her into dog food...therefore max she's worth is $8.

She's a lovely chocolate colour.

She'll do well raising kits for the pet crowd. She's small, she can be bred to a variety of small breed rabbits, and the lady who wants her sells to the pet crowd only. Sells to pet stores all around here.

Thoughts?
 
well, we all know I'm a pushover, so I'd try again...but if I were up against a feed bill, or had NO place to put a new rabbit....remember, you will need to house the kits .... well...

let's look at it:
first time out, she didn't take. that's not abnormal, right? could have been any number of reasons.
2nd time...she took..so GOOD, she CAN get pregnant. 2 dead kits....were they fully formed? any idea what killed them or just...I know...it's hard to tell even on a GOOD breeding doe.

When you breed her, do you leave her in with the buck for an amount of time? or is it a "she's bred, that's it" thing? perhaps she needs more servicing than normal? Does she get bred back that evening or in 12 hours again to be sure?

This time of year...it's awfully hard to have babies in the middle of winter for ANY species....but....

anyway...couple things to think about. I'll be interested to hear what those with more expeience have to say.
 
well...she took half the head off one (she killed it as it was still moving). That was rather gick. the other I'm not sure, it was flat on the wire, Suspecting it was stomped on as the wire indents were quite noticable. This doe is almost 10 months old and acts mature.

I very very rarely have trouble with my first time moms as I don't breed them until they act settled and mature. Teenage bunnies are idiots for the most part, and even if they are big enough, I don't breed them until they've well settled into mature thinking for a month.
 
I like Maggie's idea of selling her at a reduced cost. You'll get the maxiumum amount possible without putting any more time into the rabbit.
 
i've got a call into her see what she has to say.<br /><br />__________ Fri Jan 15, 2010 9:05 am __________<br /><br />well, she had three more. all dead. Makes me wonder if something went wrong with her. I'm a little gun shy right now as I had a doe (HL) that simply couldn't have a live litter and there things about this doe that make me think she's the same. I'll probably just dog food her as I can't willingly sell her as a breeder if I suspect she has issues with birthing.
 
The first breeding could just be a no go... so it isn't necesarily "strike one" except as far as being fertile. Since she has since delivered kits, you know she does not have a fertility issue. Since this is her first kindling... it is actually now only "strike" one. Any rabbit can have problems on her first kindling. I'm a bit confused, did she deliver several kits and 2 are dead, or are all she is delivering dead? What is the temperature? I guess the question is how important she is to you as far as her color etc. If it were important for me to try to get some kits of her color, I would certainly give her another try. If you are going to process her or sell her anyway, then the cage space and food she will eat becomes a lot more of an issue.
 
actually, in reality is a strike three. :) I didn't count her very first breeding, I ignore that. BUT I do kinda have a policy of I'll give you three chances to make things work.

When it get dicey is when I have a potential buyer and then I have to decide....do I go beyond this? Do I go to potentially strike four?

When ALL my other youngsters (as in youngsters to breeding) are not having a problem and this one is...do I give her another chance or say, enough of this one? She's older than all the other youngsters born around the same time, just now giving me a first litter (when the others are on litter two), and these ones are all dead. All looking much like the doe I had who kindled a dead litter (twice). Having a similar (but not the same) back end makes me think the problem is with her physiologically (as in how she is built).

Just as some women are built for giving birth and some are not, I'm thinking that this one is NOT built for giving birth.

that's what is weighing on me as a deciding factor.

I waffle because I dislike making these decisions.
 
THis is always a tough one; I culled a buck because he refused to breed. I have culled a few does that were reluctant as well--I have one that birthed on the wire---she is reticent to re breed. This is her last chance...

I think we all come to our conclusions at our own pace, but the decision is usually the same.
 

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