Breeding Trouble

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beanchild79

beanchild79

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hi! its been a while since i was last on here, but here i am :3
so i have an english doe who's a little under a year old and i was trying to breed her to one of my experienced bucks. this is her first time and so i assumed that i might need to try a couple of times.
what i did was i put her in the buck's cage and let them check each other out but once she smelled him she wanted to have nothing to do with him and settled into the corner and flattened herself like a pancake. my buck tried to breed her for like 20 minutes but she wouldn't life her tail. there were no fall-offs at all.
i tried again the next day and still nothing. i let them rest for a few days and tried it twice more but still my doe would not lift and my buck was starting to get bored so i decided the next day that i would try to assist breed them so i took them inside my house and i thought it was working because i lifted my does hindquarters up and pulled her tail up and my buck tried but there still were no fall-offs and soon my buck got bored again. so the next day i tried to assist breed them inside the buck's cage since my buck would be more comfortable there. it ended up with my doe running into the corner and stubbornly not moving as my buck got bored again.
is it possible that shes bred even though there were no fall-offs or i thought she wouldn't lift her tail? if not, what else should i try? at this point i'm pretty convinced that my doe is a lesbian XD
 
There might be a really small chance she will get pregnant. One time my buck fell off nine times and no kits, but he fell off one time and there was a kit
 
If the buck was successfully making contact with her, she could still be pregnant without a fall-off from him. It is less likely and less reliable, I've found, but it is still possible. To me, it just sounds like she's stubborn and inexperienced. I would maybe put this doe in the buck's cage and the buck elsewhere (her cage, usually). It will allow her to become much more comfortable with his scent. If the buck is in her cage, it usually riles him up again to be ready for their next session. I will typically leave mine together for an hour or so to give them time to reacquaint or get to know each other before getting the deed done. As a first-timer, you will probably want to assist the first time. After the buck makes contact with her, they usually are more receptive.

I suppose also, doublecheck that she is actually a doe!
 
RabbitsOfTheCreek said:
There might be a really small chance she will get pregnant. One time my buck fell off nine times and no kits, but he fell off one time and there was a kit
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huh okay interesting. tho my buck didn't fall off at all- but thank you, that's good to know!

Mariah's Meadows said:
If the buck was successfully making contact with her, she could still be pregnant without a fall-off from him. It is less likely and less reliable, I've found, but it is still possible. To me, it just sounds like she's stubborn and inexperienced. I would maybe put this doe in the buck's cage and the buck elsewhere (her cage, usually). It will allow her to become much more comfortable with his scent. If the buck is in her cage, it usually riles him up again to be ready for their next session. I will typically leave mine together for an hour or so to give them time to reacquaint or get to know each other before getting the deed done. As a first-timer, you will probably want to assist the first time. After the buck makes contact with her, they usually are more receptive.

I suppose also, doublecheck that she is actually a doe!
Click to expand...
okay that makes sense. ive only ever bred three other times and all three I was lucky and my does let the buck do his business in a matter of minutes. those were french angora- is it possible maybe that english does are more stubborn? English angora also have a more dence fur than french so could it be also that it's hard for the buck to hit the mark because there's so much more fur in the way?
i will definitely try putting my doe in the bucks cage and the buck in the does cage and see how that goes! I might wait a few weeks tho because I hopefully successfully bred one of my English does and I would like to have kits a bit younger than these. But I'll update this thread when I do :)
I double checked and she is definitely a doe XD but good point all the same!
 
beanchild79 said:
huh okay interesting. tho my buck didn't fall off at all- but thank you, that's good to know!


okay that makes sense. ive only ever bred three other times and all three I was lucky and my does let the buck do his business in a matter of minutes. those were french angora- is it possible maybe that english does are more stubborn? English angora also have a more dence fur than french so could it be also that it's hard for the buck to hit the mark because there's so much more fur in the way?
i will definitely try putting my doe in the bucks cage and the buck in the does cage and see how that goes! I might wait a few weeks tho because I hopefully successfully bred one of my English does and I would like to have kits a bit younger than these. But I'll update this thread when I do :)
I double checked and she is definitely a doe XD but good point all the same!
Click to expand...

I've found with English it is a good idea to not only trim the ******l area on the doe, but also around the genitals of the buck. In fact I typically shear the doe entirely about two weeks before I plan on breeding. As you say, there is a lot of wool in the way, and not just on the doe.

Any time you put a buck and doe together you always have to count it as a breeding. It's just safer than having kits born on the wire.
 
beanchild79 said:
okay that makes sense. ive only ever bred three other times and all three I was lucky and my does let the buck do his business in a matter of minutes. those were french angora- is it possible maybe that english does are more stubborn? English angora also have a more dence fur than french so could it be also that it's hard for the buck to hit the mark because there's so much more fur in the way?
Click to expand...
I've never raised angoras - never even seen one in person! I would assume it is added difficulty for an inexperienced buck, but not by much. I know @hotzcatz breeds angoras and I'm not sure if I've seen them say they had issues like that. Perhaps trimming the fur is the key to it.

beanchild79 said:
i will definitely try putting my doe in the bucks cage and the buck in the does cage and see how that goes! I might wait a few weeks tho because I hopefully successfully bred one of my English does and I would like to have kits a bit younger than these. But I'll update this thread when I do :)
Click to expand...
Yes, please do let us know how it goes for you! As you are doing and @SixGun said, you'll want to assume there is a pregnancy until proven otherwise. I give my does 40 days. I had a doe give birth 10 days early once, so maybe I could have a doe give birth 10 days late. After that, I rebreed.

beanchild79 said:
I double checked and she is definitely a doe XD but good point all the same!
Click to expand...
Good to know! Doesn't hurt to be sure. 😂
 
Wool can get in the way with angoras. The ones here get sheared before breeding. Generally, I'll shear the doe and then put her in his space while he's being groomed. That gives her time to settle down in his space and get used to his scent. Then after the buck is all sheared, he goes back into his space where the doe is waiting. That doesn't mean the doe is gonna get the memo and lift for him, though.

Couple days ago, there was a reluctant doe here. Amber went in with Axial, since that was the buck I'd wanted her to breed with. They'd both been sheared a month earlier, so they didn't get sheared first since they didn't need it. Axe tried til he was tired, but no joy for him. So, she went to visit Aster, who had also been sheared a few weeks earlier. Aster tried, a bit more forcefully than Axial, but not by much. Amber still wouldn't lift for him, he eventually got tired. So, then Amber went to visit Vladamir. A much more forceful buck, but he still didn't get the job done and he was tired. By this time, Axial had rested, so I put Amber back with him. It looked like he was getting tired, so I was going to take her back out again when he finally connected and fell over.

She should be due in early March, we will see how it goes.

Sometimes this visiting with multiple bucks will get the breeding done, sometimes it doesn't work. Everybunny always seems different and not one thing seems to always work.
 
hotzcatz said:
Wool can get in the way with angoras. The ones here get sheared before breeding. Generally, I'll shear the doe and then put her in his space while he's being groomed. That gives her time to settle down in his space and get used to his scent. Then after the buck is all sheared, he goes back into his space where the doe is waiting. That doesn't mean the doe is gonna get the memo and lift for him, though.

Couple days ago, there was a reluctant doe here. Amber went in with Axial, since that was the buck I'd wanted her to breed with. They'd both been sheared a month earlier, so they didn't get sheared first since they didn't need it. Axe tried til he was tired, but no joy for him. So, she went to visit Aster, who had also been sheared a few weeks earlier. Aster tried, a bit more forcefully than Axial, but not by much. Amber still wouldn't lift for him, he eventually got tired. So, then Amber went to visit Vladamir. A much more forceful buck, but he still didn't get the job done and he was tired. By this time, Axial had rested, so I put Amber back with him. It looked like he was getting tired, so I was going to take her back out again when he finally connected and fell over.

She should be due in early March, we will see how it goes.

Sometimes this visiting with multiple bucks will get the breeding done, sometimes it doesn't work. Everybunny always seems different and not one thing seems to always work.
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For the last part, unless you're not keeping track of the sires, it doesn't sound like a good idea to put her in with multiple bucks
 
I just went through this with a first time doe. She would have nothing to do with the buck, cried and ran. I waited 30 days, really sure that he hadn't connected, and I was right. She did not have kits. I tried again - about 35 days from the first time and she lifted right away. So, maybe your doe isn't old enough. She may need another month to mature. I did try the trick of swapping her into the buck's cage and him into her cage so that she could get used to the smell. Not sure it made any difference.

When I did breed her, she was receptive for 2 visits in one day, and when I came by her cage later she pretty much attacked me (I wasn't going to put her in with the buck, but I think she thought I was going to)

Good luck,
Liz
 
I finally have gotten the time to come back on here!
I tried to breed my english doe several more times and each time didn't work...I tried different approaches and different ways to do it each time. So finally I had just had enough so I put her in with a different english buck who is better at uh..."thrusting"...to put it lightly and after a few minutes (and me having to hold her down), she was successfully bred!
Today is now the due date and she's been having some hay mustaches so I am eagerly awaiting the birth of her kits :3
I also bred my french doe to the original english buck i was trying with my english doe and she had her babies the other day :)
 

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