I would have added this to my previous thread about judging a buck's readiness to breed, but I had the last post in that thread so am starting a new one.
Two weeks ago we had what looked like a successful breeding of our young buck with a proven doe. This morning we tried him with another and were less confident there had been a successful breeding--no fall off and after two covers the doe got into his bucket and wouldn't come out. Tried her again this afternoon and she growled about being taken out of her cage, allowed one mounting but didn't lift, then retreated to the bucket again growling.
Last year we had breedings with the old buck that we were unsure about but if whenever the doe had allowed a mounting and then refused/growled, she kindled in 31 days. The question now is whether we try her again tomorrow with the young buck? with the proven buck? just wait the month and see? I'm hoping to hear from someone with more experience what you would do in this situation.
I'm just beginning to realize that the up side of rabbit breeding is how quickly you can have a new generation and move forward with your goals for your herd while the down side is that each time you try breeding unproven animals you don't know even whether you'll get kits and then if you do they may not be better. It's going to take a while to have enough experience to have confidence in making breeding choices.
Two weeks ago we had what looked like a successful breeding of our young buck with a proven doe. This morning we tried him with another and were less confident there had been a successful breeding--no fall off and after two covers the doe got into his bucket and wouldn't come out. Tried her again this afternoon and she growled about being taken out of her cage, allowed one mounting but didn't lift, then retreated to the bucket again growling.
Last year we had breedings with the old buck that we were unsure about but if whenever the doe had allowed a mounting and then refused/growled, she kindled in 31 days. The question now is whether we try her again tomorrow with the young buck? with the proven buck? just wait the month and see? I'm hoping to hear from someone with more experience what you would do in this situation.
I'm just beginning to realize that the up side of rabbit breeding is how quickly you can have a new generation and move forward with your goals for your herd while the down side is that each time you try breeding unproven animals you don't know even whether you'll get kits and then if you do they may not be better. It's going to take a while to have enough experience to have confidence in making breeding choices.
