Buck suddenly obsessed with mating doe as she begins kindling?

[Heartbased Homestead]

Hi rabbit people I still need to create a members introduction post as I am new to this community but I hope this finds you all well and thank yall for your collective presence here.

This is the doe's first litter, and the buck has sired before but has been kept lifetime caged and is much older (3 years vs 12 week doe). I purchased them a few months ago and have them in a colony set up, kept together this whole time without issue. The buck was respectful and did his job dutifully without over doing it. The doe took to him well and told him when enough was enough. They stopped any attempted breeding for the past 31 days which led me to suspect the exact day (yesterday) she would kindle.

Everything was going well, she pulled fur and started creating the nest early morning, had a tiny bit of blood-tinted discharge mid-afternoon, but then right away the buck started very aggressively chasing her around the cage trying to breed her while she screamed and made a wobbly noise like an angry squirrel. I immediately added a dog crate to the colony to keep the buck in until I see he is gentle again, I've tried to let him out this morning to see what he would do and immediately he ran to the doe who began squirrel-wobbling and mounted her backwards despite the protests. He's on his way to being the first cull. Do I have a defective buck or is this how they all are?

I trust the birth process but now the doe's labor seems to be stalled or she seems to be in a normal state rather than the labor-y state she was in yesterday. I had a thought that maybe it's natural for rabbits to chased around in labor and that actually helps the doe? They used to love cuddling and I can't imagine being separated from my partner during birth. No aggression I suppose, he just tries to breed her like normal but doesn't leave her alone when she screams and runs which he did before (without the wobble).
I'm not worried. I'm sure they'll be here by tonight and I'll keep the buck separated but wondered if there were contrary opinions.

 

[Heartbased Homestead]

This is my first time too - not just the doe's - so be gentle with me

 

[Preitler]

There's nothing that makes a buck more horny than a kindling doe, they don't even wait until she's done, they can mess everything up pretty bad. Keep the buck away when the doe is about to kindle. He will impregnate her right again,

Does follow this little voice in their heads, their instincts, and this little voice can be too easily droned out by everything that causes stress. There should not be a buck around, what they need is quiet and privacy. In nature, they would be away from the warren, using one of the nest tunnels they prepared.

The earliest ever one of my doelings got pregnant was at 14 weeks, i consider kindling at 12 weeks pretty unlikely, if not impossible, even with a very small breed.

 

[Heartbased Homestead]

I did not know about the does nesting outside of the warren! That makes sense and thank you for the detailed response. I have removed the buck to just outside the colony but they can still see each other and it seems to be working.

You're right about age, it was silly math, the weeks have flown by she must be about 22 or more now and was impregnated at about 18wks.

Here is pic of colony/buck separation. Look ok?

 

[Heartbased Homestead]

Gotta squeeze a little update in here bc everyone seems to keep a regular knowledge input and this was a weird one. 1st timers all have a different experience! But this one was especially unusual.

Please do not hold back your critique/advise on any point which you feel compelled.

Ok, so nothing happened until 6 days after this post. I palpated her every day and let the buck out while I watched, upon the advice of an older post I found deeper in the forum which claimed as I had suspected; that horny bucks might be a natural feature in many rabbits labor process. Exercise progresses labor so it makes sense. But even with the buck chasing her around once or twice a day when I let him out, she did not pull extra fur nor did she touch her nest until a week later, and she only undid all her work, tossing the fur off to the side.

I assume she'd given birth, I had palpatated every day since my original post and only had expected 1 or 2 kits. When I saw the tossed nest and palpatated on day 36 it was obvious the uterus had expelled everything as I couldn't even grasp or feel it anymore, it was all gone. There was no blood, no nest, and no babies. I assumed the mother birthed a very small litter and cannibalized everything as the only other rabbit, the buck, had been kept caged.

The buck and doe are back together, everything's back to normal, life goes on. They're breeding willingly again, so I assume next month we will try again. I'm not disappointed, I expected some funny bunny business for the first kindle.

I'm feeling a successful litter next month!

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

If the Doe did eat the Kits then it's a high chance that she was stressed out by the Buck, or all the Kits were deformed

 

[Heartbased Homestead]

I was wondering if there was some structural issue and that's why it was such a small litter. I felt kicks, so it was alive. I'm really not sure why it happened because she seemed to not be stressed by the bucks presence after the initial post, other than running around for a bit they would cuddle and she would sometimes hump him and he would leave her alone, then I'd put him back and they'd resume cuddling thru the wire.

I want to be a responsible colony owner as I juggle the different warnings. Are colonies a bit of a taboo in the meat rabbit community? I've seen some advice and others say are myths that have been debunked.

 

[ladysown]

Colonies are very hit or miss... they can work extremely well, and they can also be devastating. Only time will tell how yours will do. My suggestion, since he's very horny with a kindling doe, is pen him WITHIN the colony for a week before you expect her due, and for a good week afterwards.

have you built kindling boxes? Or are you expecting her to tunnel for her litter? If the latter, how will you ensure that you don't accidentally walk in the tunnel/litter and crush the kits?

 

[Heartbased Homestead]

Thank you for your input and Qs. I've found that pallets work really sturdily to mimick a 3-part tunnel system with just enough room in between the slots to turn around and to carve a hay hole. I currently have buck pen in the middle of the colony and will use your suggestion of 1 week barriers on each side of kindling.

I do feel horrible if I had caused her to cannibalize her litter due to stress, but I also heard it wasn't unheard of even in the best situations, and esp for 1sts. I don't know, I used to think it was lack off nutrition but I've been feeding her brilliantly for the past 3mo as she reached fertility. She was on strict horse pellet only before I got them... Would that be a factor?

 

[ladysown]

nope

 

[arachyd]

Bucks are not only a dangerous nuisance to a kindling doe. They will pursue her so vigorously that they will trample the kits in their efforts. A doe will get sufficient exercise to kindle without needing a buck to exercise her.