Breeding Methods

[Heritage Homestead]

I know everyone has their own way of doing things and what one person does may not work for another. So I want to hear all the methods and find out what works for me!
Dough still has 3 days to kindle, but I'm pretty sure she isn't (bummer ), so for next time I want to go about breeding her differently.
So, how do you breed your does?
The lady I got her from said that she puts the doe in with the buck for an hour every day for three days. She stays there the whole time so as to break up a fight if need be. I did this with Dough's first litter (well, I skipped the third day ) and it did work. The only problem is that I want to expand and watching one doe for one hour would take up too much time. This second time Dough was with the buck for about 15 min. He fell over and I thought it took, but...
So, what method works best for you?

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

For my non-colony buns, insert doe into buck's cage...watch them to make sure they make love not war...remove doe and go make a sandwich (wash hands first!!!). One hour later, insert doe into buck's cage, again act like a rabbit voyeur, then return to business as usual. I've heard that breeding them again a day or two later increases the chances that the doe "takes" so I'll be trying this from now on.

 

[Secuono]

I try to get 2 connections each day for 2 days, but if the doe is willing the first session right away and then refuses later on, that's usually good enough.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

i bring the doe to the bucks cage in the morning (about 8AM) and let him cover her at least twice. some does wont let him cover again, but once i had the doe lift and lift and lift and he covered her more then 10 times in about 15 minutes. then i do the same in the evening (about 8PM). but i am now, with the heat, trying a third covering at around noon.

 

[skysthelimit]

i bring the doe to the bucks cage in the morning (about 8AM) and let him cover her at least twice. some does wont let him cover again, but once i had the doe lift and lift and lift and he covered her more then 10 times in about 15 minutes. then i do the same in the evening (about 8PM). but i am now, with the heat, trying a third covering at around noon.

Basically that's what I do, 2-3 covers the first session, except the second mating eight hours later is more like a test mating. Most of my does will not accept a second mating eight hours later. If I wait more than 8 hrs, not a single doe I have will accept another mating. I've had several does only have one covering, and have 5-11 kits. If the doe lifts for the buck immediately, I don't even bother with a second time/date. I have never had a miss (except the doe that got sick), even the hollands kindle, just not live kits.

 

[tnelsonfla]

I place the doe in the bucks cage, and when I remove the doe I hold her for approximately 10-15 minutes. I do not place her back in her cage immediately. I do this encase she "pee's" out the sperm. She won't urinate if I am holding her. I repeat the process every 4 hours, so 3 or 4 times, I then wait 2 days and repeat process again. I palpitate on day 10 from first breeding and if I believe she is pregnant I mark the calender. 80-90% of the time she refuses him the second day of breeding's.

 

[Heritage Homestead]

When you guys talk about covering her I assume this means she knocks him off and not just that he mounts her. Correct?
These are all real good! I look forward to hearing anymore and trying these out. May the bunnies come!

 

[skysthelimit]

She doesn't knock him off, he falls off.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I weigh the doe, give her a nail trim, check the vulva to make sure it is dark pink to purple, and then put the doe in with the buck. I usually breed in the mornings, and let the buck cover the doe twice, sometimes three times, depending on how many does he will be servicing that day. Sometimes the doe will only allow one cover, but I haven't noticed smaller litters when that happens. I haven't had any misses yet.

 

[Joe n TN]

One to two times in the morning. Then the next morning one to two times again and that's it. Got 7 and 10 kits in my last two litters.

Joe

 

[ottersatin]

I remove the doe I hold her for approximately 10-15 minutes. I do not place her back in her cage immediately. I do this encase she "pee's" out the sperm.
That is an impossibility The urine does not have any effect.
I allow my Bucks to service the Doe at least twice at the one meeting,
then the Doe is returned to her cage. They are not returned for breeding as that is a waste
of time and energy more well spent having that Buck service another Doe.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

That is the same here as ottersatin says.Doe to buck. Service twice. Then back to cage.Then that is it. To many times back and forth puts allot of stress on the doe.

 

[Disney]

I don't think it's necessary to breed them over 2/3 days, at that point, the doe is already covered from the first mating so breeding them a day or 2 later doesn't work, she would try to escape him.

I don't know how i'm gonna explain this but i'll try..

From what i learned the doe ovulates (around) 10 hours after the first breeding, however the sperm takes 8 hours to travel there.
So the sperm would arrive 2 hours prior to the egg release. A second mating an hour later would mean that the second squad would arrive 1 hour before the egg release and don't have to wait as long as the first squad. A third mating (after the first mating) would be perfect, cause they would arrive just in time for the fertilization and reinforce the first 2 squads..

So now the doe is 10 hours ahead from the first mating and she is ovulating, the eggs are taken and she would appear pregnant from that point on and reject/ignore/escape the buck. Now let's say you wait a few more hours and you decide to put her with the buck again, and 5 hours later again.. those squads arriving 8 hours later (now almost 2 days after the first mating) they come to encounter a dead end. All the eggs are fertilized and they are send there for nothing..

The time of her ovulating is important to calculate if you want to do several more breedings and increase litter size.
Breeding them again 18 or 20 or 24 hours later would be unnecessary. That just doesn't work..

How do i know?
In march my Bew doe got out of my hands and mounted my Rew buck, that provoked him to shake her off and to get on top of her.
So he covered her.. at that time i was looking for a Bew buck to breed her with but i had to wait another day to pick him up.
So i got the Bew buck the next afternoon and i immediately put him with my Bew doe.. but at this point we were 18 hours ahead of the first mating, but i still thought that there was a chance of a mixed litter from 2 different bucks, 1 Rew and 1 Bew.
The Rew covered my doe around 7pm, the Bew buck dated her the next afternoon around 1pm.
At this time she was already done ovulating and the eggs were fertilized..
So a month later.. i was expecting a mixed litter but no.. they were all colored with 1 daddy.. the Rew, he was there first.
The Bew's sperm was too late.. by the time they got there all eggs were already taken by the Rew's squad..

Let me make it clear.. i didn't want the Rew buck to breed her, i wanted a Bew buck with 100% Bew litter.
The Rew only got to cover the doe one time.
When the Bew buck arrived the next day, i let him breed her 3 times to increase his chances.
But no.. it was already too late at that point.

I discussed this story on another breeders forum and they told me about the hour shedule.
After that i tried this new methode of several breedings within 2 hours after the first mating.
My doe went up from a litter of 5 to 7.
Another older doe went up from a litter of 1 kit to a litter of 5 kits.
So i definitely would say that this works for me.

Second breedings after 10/20 hours is a waste of time in my opinion..

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Sperm live for about 72 hours, so there is no need to breed over a period of hours or days.

The only reason I have my bucks cover more than once is to flush out the dead sperm in the vas deferens. The second "delivery" should contain a higher percentage of viable sperm.

 

[skysthelimit]

Sperm live for about 72 hours, so there is no need to breed over a period of hours or days.

The only reason I have my bucks cover more than once is to flush out the dead sperm in the vas deferens. The second "delivery" should contain a higher percentage of viable sperm.

yes, I started out doing it to increase litter size because I had a bunch of novice bucks. now that everyones being used regularly, it's wham, bam, thank you ma'am.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I am tempted to do a semen collection and check it with the densimeter to see how many million sperm are in each ML.

 

[skysthelimit]

I am tempted to do a semen collection and check it with the densimeter to see how many million sperm are in each ML.

That's a bit high tech for me I do have a good microscope but the light missing, that would sure help to know who's gone sterile here.

 

[akane]

With easy does I just let the buck finish 3 times and don't bother with second breedings or anything and 9 times out of 10 I have kits. With difficult does I might pull the doe out after awhile or 1 breeding, throw her in a spare cage instead of her usual cage, and the put her back a few hours later. Often she's much more in the mood after that and the buck can get his 3 times in. Occasionally I've had to settle for 2 and still gotten plenty of kits. In my experience the doe determines the number of kits more than the buck or breeding method.

 

[Miss M]

In the past, when it's been hot, I've put a doe with the buck at night, and then again the next morning. I've done this in the hopes that the first mating will flush out the dead sperm. It isn't hot enough overnight to kill sperm, so the next morning I hope for successful mating.

 

[boundarybunnyco]

I always just put the doe in with the buck, and watch to see two or three fall offs, then put the doe away. Only had a few misses, all with two problem does. Always have litters from 6 to 12 kits.