Breeding in the summer

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I know many folks breed right after a kindle and that does are better off having many kindles a year. For those in the south, do you breed through the summer heat or stop for the summer and pick up again in the fall?
 
I started my first attempt this past weekend. I have them in a cool place under my back deck. I also made sure to get them from a breeder in my area so they are accustomed to the heat. He breeds year around in his large outfit.

I am taking some extra steps like frozen water bottles to make sure they are comfortable. If they didn't take this time, I will most likely wait till late august or early September to try again.

Hope that helps. :popcorn:
 
Keep all of your stock as cool as absolutely possible... good ventilation is a must.
Metered lighting keeps the does more receptive. With your bucks, any extended
periods above 85 degrees will render them temporarily sterile. If possible keep them
environmentally controlled @ around 70-74 degrees with metered lighting matching
the rest if the herd.

grumpy
 
grumpy":1euuzora said:
Keep all of your stock as cool as absolutely possible... good ventilation is a must.
Metered lighting keeps the does more receptive. With your bucks, any extended
periods above 85 degrees will render them temporarily sterile. If possible keep them
environmentally controlled @ around 70-74 degrees with metered lighting matching
the rest if the herd.

grumpy
Mine are in the shade. It's pretty cool where they are but they way the tree is allows shallow sunlight. I'm not sure if this is hindering my attempts at getting my rabbits pregnant or not but if it is I'd love to know!! :)
 
grumpy":2bz944pk said:
Keep all of your stock as cool as absolutely possible... good ventilation is a must.
Metered lighting keeps the does more receptive. With your bucks, any extended
periods above 85 degrees will render them temporarily sterile. If possible keep them
environmentally controlled @ around 70-74 degrees with metered lighting matching
the rest if the herd.

grumpy


That for me atleast would get to expensive. I would have to give up om rabbits all together. :D
 
I have 3 does. 2 have month old litters right now. The 3rd is due to kindle next Friday. I won't be breeding again until late August or early September. Then, I will be breeding all through next winter. I generally rebreed 3 or 4 weeks after kindling.
 
Only explaining my methods for keeping a 50-doe commercial herd producing.
If they don't produce.... I'm out of business. :x :x
Continual production is the key for a business with tight profit margins.
I'm not a fan of a fast rebreeding system... so the girls have it pretty easy
with five litters per year.
Grumpy
 
Well I had some lady tell me it was gonna cost me $200 and months of waiting for a special wire just for the cages, that they are allergic to galvanized steel.. My "know-it-all" neighbor told me that they can die if they get a cut and they're on the galvanized steel they'll die from infection.. By this point I was almost in tears I was laughing so hard. My "know-it-all" neighbors doe almost killed my doe while they were temporarily housed together *There was no other option at the time*. Most of my does nails were nubs of bloody scars that had been chewed off and she had lost a lot of weight, and most of her fur was ripped out, she sat on galvanized steel in her cage... She didn't die of any infections.. I've never heard of a rabbit dying from infection from being on galvanized steel in their cage. The doe that almost got killed has since been fixed up and she's had a litter of 9 and is a wonderful mom and such a sweet girl!
 
One way to keep a doe and litter cool is to keep in a pen on the ground. Let the doe dig and build a nest underground. The disadvantage is that you don't get to see the kids till they're at least 2 or 3 weeks old. You can check the doe's nipples to see if she's nursing.
 
I bred one Doe this summer and brought her inside. I realize it's a commitment and we won't be putting her back out until early fall at the earliest, but just wanted to see how it works. So far she's acting like good. Last time she had 8, so if I want to get a good sized litter and have success I figured air conditioning was the best way to keep her comfortable.
 
macksmom98":3lvfy7r3 said:
I bred one Doe this summer and brought her inside. I realize it's a commitment and we won't be putting her back out until early fall at the earliest, but just wanted to see how it works. So far she's acting like good. Last time she had 8, so if I want to get a good sized litter and have success I figured air conditioning was the best way to keep her comfortable.
As soon as I get the 3 more cages I'll be getting soon I'll be bringing in 3 of my does that way I have 4 in total inside as well as two bucks inside.. Hopefully I'll be able to keep breeding through the summer.. I have two does that I bred and then realized it was going to get hot. So I've been watching them closely and they're doing great seeing as they are in the shade..
 
Heat sterility is definitely a big challenge for me... I tried breeding a couple times last year, but got nothing in the summer months. I have 3 does due this week (two of which are on their last strike anyway) so we'll see what happens.

I had rabbits when I was little living in Phx, AZ. They had a nice, roomy burrow in the garden... I was too young to know any different, and I guess my parent's didn't know either, but we brought the one lop eared buck with us when we moved to VA and he didn't make it long :cry: . He just couldn't handle the heat :(
 
grumpy":3snalq9n said:
Keep all of your stock as cool as absolutely possible... good ventilation is a must.
Metered lighting keeps the does more receptive. With your bucks, any extended
periods above 85 degrees will render them temporarily sterile. If possible keep them
environmentally controlled @ around 70-74 degrees with metered lighting matching
the rest if the herd.

grumpy

I agree with Grumpy-- without cool temps and good air circulation-- you will have a bad experience... I use drip system on the roof where I am now-- -- I have used swamp coolers and sprinklers on the roof -- if you can't keep them cool don't breed .
 
I breed year round but...my rabbits are kept in my heavily insulated shop now days with heat and A/C. I got tired of my Flemish Giants dying in the heat. I didn't care much for frozen water in the winter either. That move took place over 10 years ago and never thought twice about it. :lol:
 
I breed year round, heat is hard adn so is cold. My buns are in the deep shade with built in wire nest cages. In the winter I wrap the nest cages with fabric and in the summer I let the air flow free.

Would LOVE a climate controlled building but no joy so far.

One thing about summer breeding, you produce rabbits better able to handle your own conditions and ANY latent health issues show up nice and quick so can be culled hard for or try another breed.

I loved having a colony setting with the does able to dig deep but when I started falling into burrows despite deeply dug pens AND got rats, I gave up and went to cages. One day will try the underground nest cage system.
 
My Black Fury, one of my does, is pregnant now, and it's 33° C, no fun.

I gave them a big, flat stone, with styrofoam holding ice packs under it. I could not wait for fall, I'm not going to feed growouts through winter again. And I wouldn't have bred her if my Red hadn't lost the whole litter.

So, although they like the cold stone I think I'll put her into my house during the hottest days, it's cool here, the core well over 100 years old and some stone walls 70cm (two feet) thick. And she's housebroken.
 
GBov":rszyjri7 said:
I breed year round, heat is hard adn so is cold. My buns are in the deep shade with built in wire nest cages. In the winter I wrap the nest cages with fabric and in the summer I let the air flow free.

Thank you for this post. I'm also in Florida. My cages are all wire as well and for the most part in the shade. They get a bit of sun towards the later part of the afternoon when the sun's heading towards the horizon. I'm considering the frozen water bottles and/or thinking of a additional way to extend the shade. Also thinking of a way to do some solar powered fans to really have air movement.
 
SEP board":1v406rb2 said:
GBov":1v406rb2 said:
I breed year round, heat is hard adn so is cold. My buns are in the deep shade with built in wire nest cages. In the winter I wrap the nest cages with fabric and in the summer I let the air flow free.

Thank you for this post. I'm also in Florida. My cages are all wire as well and for the most part in the shade. They get a bit of sun towards the later part of the afternoon when the sun's heading towards the horizon. I'm considering the frozen water bottles and/or thinking of a additional way to extend the shade. Also thinking of a way to do some solar powered fans to really have air movement.


As fast as you can!!! I lost most of a litter to a freaking sun beam, teh season had brought teh sun round to just shine through a tiny gap in my sun shade and the angle put it right into the nest cage. Afternoon sun is the worst. Morning sun I dont worry much about, the buns that get some of that seem to enjoy it.

Keep your fan clean, I have blown a few of them through not getting the fur build up off when I should. :oops:

I have tried toilet tank tops for the buns and while they stay cool and some of them enjoy them, I find anything I give to the buns to help cool them off just get dirty so now its just shade and unlimited water.
 
Appreciate you post. I added a frozen bottle to each cage today. We'll see how they like it. :)

__________ Sat Jun 25, 2016 7:46 am __________

Well mama doe went right to the frozen bottles and sat on them. So that's a win. The others didn't seem interested but it was towards the end of the day and not as hot as mid-day. We'll keep that going through the summer. Still looking to do some sort of fan set up. They get plenty of ventilation as their open wire cages, but some sort of continuous flow would be nice as well. <br /><br /> __________ Mon Aug 08, 2016 7:04 pm __________ <br /><br /> I've done both the frozen water bottle and a dog dish with ice cubes and water. The buck could care less about either. One doe dumps out the water within minutes. But the mama and buns like both. So over all it's a win. A few more weeks of really hot and then it will hopefully start to calm down a bit once September rolls around. I'll see about breeding the three does here this week as that will put them into September when they deliver.
 
I know this is a older thread, but I have a question. We're doing the frozen bottle and fan thing. My question is, how do you think heat and humidity affect conception and carry rates? I know that it can make the buck temporarily heat sterile, but I wondered if it would make the does reabsorb? But I also don't want to be standing in knee-deep snow butchering.
 

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