Does won't breed and never seem to cycle

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Ctchinman

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I have a trio of American chinchillas. They are about a year old. I have been trying to breed them for a few weeks now and the does are very unreceptive. The buck is very eager to please and is doing his duty. I check the does every day to see if they are ready and it seems like they never have a cycle. I am very frustrated and don't know what to do. Neither doe has ever been pregnant.
 
Ha! Just went to post this and I see that MSD has got in ahead of me, as usual! :lol: I'll post this anyway although there may be some overlap.

Female rabbits don't really cycle... They are induced ovulators, which means they release eggs as a result of sexual stimulation. I assume you have been checking the colour of the vulvas and that it has not been the deep pink/red/purple that often indicates that the doe will be receptive.

There can be a number of reasons for lack of interest in breeding. Sometimes it is nutritional. Vitamins A and E are essential to both breeding interest and breeding success. These nutrients are added to the pellets, but are vulnerable to loss from heat or prolonged or poor storage. You can supplement the rabbits for a couple of weeks and see if it makes a difference. Good sources of Vitamin A are dark, leafy greens such as parsley, carrot tops or dandelions. Phase them in slowly if you do not normally feed greens. Vitamin E can be added with some BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds) or wheat germ. Most rabbits prefer the BOSS. Again, start with no more than a teaspoon increasing it to two teaspoons per rabbit per day BOSS can be fattening so don't overdo it.

This brings me to another possibility. Sometimes if overfed, does accumulate fat around their organs in the body cavity. This can make it difficult for them to conceive; it can also make them lose interest in breeding.

Other things to try: 1-2 Tablespoons of REAL apple cider vinegar added to each gallon of drinking water. One off-beat suggestion that some breeders have found helpful is to offer the rabbits a bowl of Celestial Seasonings Raspberry Zinger herbal tea. We don't know why it seems to work in so many cases, but definitely worth a try if the does continue to be stubborn.
 
MamaSheepdog":1z8gel7l said:
Have you read this thread?:

judging-a-doe-s-readiness-and-breeding-tips-t9869-15.html

It has a bunch of tips including foods that contain vital vitamins, taking the does for a car ride, raspberry zinger tea, etc.
Click to expand...

Yes I did read that post I have been feeding them dandelions and giving them apple cider vinegar. One other thing that concerns me is one of the does constantly pees and poops in her food bowl. No matter where I move it she fills it. I clean it out everyday but she keeps on doing it. <br /><br /> -- Wed May 07, 2014 6:48 pm -- <br /><br />
MaggieJ":1z8gel7l said:
Ha! Just went to post this and I see that MSD has got in ahead of me, as usual! :lol: I'll post this anyway although there may be some overlap.

Female rabbits don't really cycle... They are induced ovulators, which means they release eggs as a result of sexual stimulation. I assume you have been checking the colour of the vulvas and that it has not been the deep pink/red/purple that often indicates that the doe will be receptive.

There can be a number of reasons for lack of interest in breeding. Sometimes it is nutritional. Vitamins A and E are essential to both breeding interest and breeding success. These nutrients are added to the pellets, but are vulnerable to loss from heat or prolonged or poor storage. You can supplement the rabbits for a couple of weeks and see if it makes a difference. Good sources of Vitamin A are dark, leafy greens such as

parsley, carrot tops or dandelions. Phase them in slowly if you do not normally feed greens. Vitamin E can be added with some BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds) or wheat germ. Most rabbits prefer the BOSS. Again, start with no more than a teaspoon increasing it to two teaspoons per rabbit per day BOSS can be fattening so don't overdo it.

This brings me to another possibility. Sometimes if overfed, does accumulate fat around their organs in the body cavity. This can make it
difficult for them to conceive; it can also make them lose interest in
breeding.

Other things to try: 1-2 Tablespoons of REAL apple cider vinegar added to each gallon of drinking water. One off-beat suggestion that some breeders have found helpful is to offer the rabbits a bowl of Celestial Seasonings Raspberry Zinger herbal tea. We don't know why it seems to work in so many cases, but definitely worth a try if the does continue to be stubborn.
Click to expand...

I guess it's time to buy some raspberry zinger and parsley...lol
 
The "cycle" is around 16 days so if its only been a couple weeks then maybe it hasn't hit yet.

I use to have a few does who were hard to get pregnant but usually they would lift once and 32 days later it would turn out they weren't pregnant :( I started breeding them twice a day and/or anytime they looked even a tiny bit purple down there but 2 remained tricky to breed and prone to false pregnancies so I eliminated them from my herd. :shrug:
 
MaggieJ":36xjkx1r said:
Ha! Just went to post this and I see that MSD has got in ahead of me, as usual! :lol:
Click to expand...

:twisted: You need to type faster. :typing:

Ctchinman":36xjkx1r said:
One other thing that concerns me is one of the does constantly pees and poops in her food bowl.
Click to expand...

Eww. :sick: That's gross, and wasteful, too.

I use flush mount feeders on most of my cages so the rabbits can only stick their heads into them. I also have J-feeders in some pens- the key is to have the feed hopper raised above floor level. J-feeders are available at feed stores, although they wont be as high quality as those from a rabbit cage supplier. You could also buy a "locking crock" meant for parrots and attach that to the cage wire.

My preferred feeder is the "Feedsaver" on this page:

http://www.bassequipment.com/Feeders/St ... fault.aspx

You might be able to find something like this at a local pet store:

http://www.petsolutions.com/C/Bird-Food ... rocks.aspx
 
All I can advise is to keep trying.
Older first time does can be the trickiest.
Swap cages. Get the does to get a good smell of buck.
Try holding the front of the doe. Some does oddly will lift (submit?) for people easier than bucks...why this is...I dunno. My last (OK...only ;) ) resistant doe took a week of cage swapping and required me to lift her long sensitive ears out of the buck's reach before she would even consider lifting for him.
 
When my does don't want to breed I put the doe with the buck every day, sometimes twice a day until they breed. I also read somewhere on this post about using the string affect. Where you tie a string around the tail, place the doe in the bucks cage facing you with the string ran up over her back towards her head and out the cage. Then when the buck mounts and she doesn't lift, you pull the string and her tail will go up and she will lift. they say on here it works. I have not had to do that yet.
 
It is still somewhat early in the year for the northern states. Many breeding programs are raising their first litters after the does finally started breeding for the year. Different does will have more or less trouble in shortened daylight from not just genetics but age, how recently they were bred, diet, and buck exposure. Usually the commercial types used for meat produce better throughout the whole year than smaller and larger breeds only bred for show but it's possible efforts prior to the past month or so have been a waste of time. Now that daylight is longer you should have better luck getting them in condition. Supplement a little with some of the things mentioned while watching their weight (BOSS is really high calorie and fat can interfere with pregnancy) and expose them to bucks regularly.
 
As Zass said, do try just holding the rabbit at the front around her shoulders lightly and position her in the middle of the cage. We are brand new to rabbits, but just bred our two does for the first time about three weeks ago. One of our does lifted once, then turned into a PITA and planted her but firmly in a corner and started making a warbling noise. DH pulled her gently toward the door of the cage, then just kept a light hold on her shoulders - when our buck got behind her she then lifted just fine. We only got away with it once, then she started biting at him so we pulled her out. I am 95% sure she took.

We have been doing the 1T OACV per 1/2 gallon of water since we got them, and we fed the girls 1/2 T of parsley each day for 10 days prior to breeding. Our other doe was an eager participant, and lifted five times for the buck. It was his first breeding, (and hers) and it took him much longer to figure it all out lol.

I have also read (and have this plan in reserve) that someone gives unwilling does 1/4 c per day (I think for 3 or 4 days) of this product:
http://seminolefeed.com/shop/equine-fee ... enior-mix/

They thought that feeding this product gives such a boost to the feed that it makes them feel more willing to breed because they feel like there is ample feed to care for their young. They also did manual stimulation of does - both of these things were being done to try to get does to be willing to breed at the same time to sync litters.

I wouldn't use the exact product (GMO's!!), but I wrote down the ingredients with a plan to make up my own recipe using organic ingredients. I also wonder if this might be a terrific thing to give to a doe who is nursing large litters, minus the fenugreek and sage, of course.
 
Finally got my does to breed. Gave them the Rasberry zinger and the next morning the does were shaking their tales and begging for it. My buck covered both does 3 times. :p Thank you guys for all the help I really appreciate it!
 
Ctchinman":ami46dr9 said:
Gave them the Rasberry zinger and the next morning the does were shaking their tales and begging for it. My buck covered both does 3 times. :p
Click to expand...

:lol: SUCCESS!!! :p
 
thanks for the tips. I joined this forum only to figure out why my NZ does won't breed easily. Never have willingly. It takes hours before the buck finally gets in there. It is very frustrating. Both my does are good mothers but getting them there is so difficult. They are in their 3rd year and are sisters. I finally gave up and killed my unrelated third doe. This last time she tried to kill the buck. She hasn't produced since last spring. She was also in her 3rd year. She was very hostile and tried to bite me all the time so last weekend I had enough. She was a good mother but she only had 3 litters. Five, seven and eight kits.
The breeding is my least favorite part of meat rabbits. Does anyone know how long a NZ White will be able to reproduce? I can't seem to find that. I like to keep a small amount of does. It does keep disease at a minimum, but having 2 sisters mean they could suddenly stop reproducing and I would have to start over. Thank you.
 
Honestly I have to say I'd've scrapped all three of those does long ago. I'm not patient enough to put up with that when I need a certain amount of meat in my freezer and I've only got a short span to get it there. Most breeders here use the three strike rule. For me me that means give me problems three times I'm replacing you. Rabbits with bad temperaments don't get three strikes, there's too many easy to deal with rabbits out there to put up with that crap.
It took me several tries this time to find rabbits that work well but I now have them and I'm pretty happy with my herd.

Production life varies with how intensely a doe is bred, so is different for everyone. My oldest doe is going on three, just gave me a litter of 16 and I breed intensely throughout the summer since I have no supplemental light on my outdoor herd and I get my last litters about the end of August.
 
I usually never keep anything past 18 mos, but I breed back heavily, and am constantly seeking to improve my lines for many reasons, so I am constantly replacing them with new does and bucks. The oldest doe I had here was three. And she out produced herself, so she went bye. The current doe is two and she has out produced herself three times now, with a total of six very nice does, and three that had litters of 9 or better.
 
I think my oldest doe is about 2 years old. I also rotate stock heavily in an attempt to constantly improve type and fur.
 

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