confused..Doe late,small litter??

[katiebear]

My F.G. finally has her litter about an hour ago. She was bred on the 12 of Feb. So today would have been day 32, so not all that late I guess.But this doe has never had less than 9.She had 3..3??? :? They are quite large, her last litter was nine and they were small for about a week.All seem healthy so far..
This litter was sired by one of her sons, a large young buck a little over a year old. she is only about three,so this is her third breeding season. And her eighth or ninth litter.This buck has sired two other litters of seven and eight. with younger does. One a half sister and one a cousin.
What do you all make of this? Should I re-breed her now or wait till weening? I am wanting to get next years breeders out of her,and the weather is warming up quick here. She is a favorite and I don't want to stress her out.
I know she is not to old, so I think this may just be a fluke, but I need some advice and reassurance...Thanks for any input..

 

[Marinea]

She might not be done. I think I remember reading about a doe who had kits over a 24 hour period.

And it could be just a fluke- you have a proven doe and buck. Rabbits love to surprise us.

 

[WhWRabbitry]

My F.G. finally has her litter about an hour ago. She was bred on the 12 of Feb. So today would have been day 32, so not all that late I guess.But this doe has never had less than 9.She had 3..3??? :? They are quite large, her last litter was nine and they were small for about a week.All seem healthy so far..
This litter was sired by one of her sons, a large young buck a little over a year old. she is only about three,so this is her third breeding season. And her eighth or ninth litter.This buck has sired two other litters of seven and eight. with younger does. One a half sister and one a cousin.
What do you all make of this? Should I re-breed her now or wait till weening? I am wanting to get next years breeders out of her,and the weather is warming up quick here. She is a favorite and I don't want to stress her out.
I know she is not to old, so I think this may just be a fluke, but I need some advice and reassurance...Thanks for any input..

No idea why but another breeder a couple hours from me was saying that they and other breeders have had smaller litters and larger kits causing some problems lately. It was attributed somehow to the winter but ummm I'm thinking in Arizona that wouldn't be the case for you!

 

[katiebear]

She might not be done. I think I remember reading about a doe who had kits over a 24 hour period.

And it could be just a fluke- you have a proven doe and buck. Rabbits love to surprise us.

I'll give her some more time but its been almost 8hours. I'm pretty sure she's done..they have been fed and are in a mountain of fur she is a really great mom...she keeps looking at me like she feels guilty foe having so few.. I know they will do well..but the way things are going they will be massive bucks.. oh well, back to the drawing board...I still have a while before the heat sets in, so maybe I can give it another shot....

 

[ladysown]

I would give her two weeks and then rebreed her UNLESS you have another doe that you can foster the kits to. Wean the kits at five weeks so she has a week off. She won't be pushed by just three kits if she's a standard meat bun.

 

[katiebear]

I would give her two weeks and then rebreed her UNLESS you have another doe that you can foster the kits to. Wean the kits at five weeks so she has a week off. She won't be pushed by just three kits if she's a standard meat bun.

Yes she is a meat bun..Flemish Giant, the back bone of my operation I am wanting her to be the dam of my whole line.She is my only non-mixed bun.
I want to get rid of the poor genetics I got when my heart over road my head and I bought "snake food"..I have gotten some pretty nice rabbits out of creative breeding though.
It just confused the heck out of me because she was huge, like when she was having between 9-11, so to get three was weird to say the least..
I am down to the last three months of breeding season here so I am going to have to do some figuring...

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I know some people routinely breed meat rabbits back to back, weaning the litters at a little past three weeks. I personally have never tried it, though. The only time I have bred a doe back immediately is when she either lost the whole litter or had so few that I fostered them to another doe.

You need to make a decision pretty soon, though. I have found that my does are eager to breed back the first day or two after kindling, but when tried at around day 3-5 they don't want anything to do with the buck. Of course, that could be a fluke as I haven't tried that more than a few times, but I do know that most does are eager on day one and two.

I would give her two weeks and then rebreed her UNLESS you have another doe that you can foster the kits to. Wean the kits at five weeks so she has a week off.

This sounds like a good plan. I would be more comfortable weaning the kits at 5 weeks as opposed to 3, especially since there are so few of them... but this is kind of a tricky situation, because breeding now will probably result in a large litter.

If you decide to wait, if at all possible, breed another doe (or two) with her in case she has another small litter. Your best chance for a big litter is to breed back right after kindling, so if it happens again I would foster the kits out and breed immediately.

 

[katiebear]

I have two litters that are two weeks old..so that's a no go on fostering...I always breed two at a time but she fell out of the rotation. I won't listen to the person who advised me to breed her alone "because she has big litters" again...I should know better his interaction consists of petting, and taking pictures...sheesh... :roll:
I will hold off on breeding mu two dry ones for a couple of weeks and make it a three-fer. thanks for the advice all..