Do does have "heat"?

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yankee'n'moxie

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This is probably a really stupid question that I SHOULD know the answer to, but don't. :oops:

I see a lot of varying answers on when to rebreed the doe after birth, etc, and it seems that you can just put them with the buck whenever. Is this true? Or do does have a cycle that you have to go with? Sorry for such a silly question, but theses are all things that I need to take into consideration before I actually get some of my own. Thanks!
 
Not a stupid question at all, i was wondering this myself but afraid to ask.

I do think they have days when they're more receptive than others, but it's hard to figure out what exactly changes their mood.
 
Heritage Homestead":1efypfu8 said:
Does do have a cycle. There are a lot of different ideas of how often a doe is open, but I don't think anyone know for sure how often it happens.
Here is a post that tells how to judge if a doe is open or not.
http://rabbittalk.com/judging-a-doe-s-readiness-and-breeding-tips-t9869.html

I usally start to try to breed my does five weeks after the doe has kindled.
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THANK YOU! That is the most helpful post that I have read yet! I am a very visual person, so the pics showing the difference were a HUGE plus for me!
 
Does take a couple days off I believe I was told once a month and they have a strong desire to breed right after they kindle. My creme doe always starts humping the others early on the day before she kindles and continues until the buck breeds her. That's why you can put rabbits together nearly any time. They are in heat most of the time. If all needs are met it's only every now and then you'll flip them over and find pale genitals that mean the doe is not ready to breed.
 
Does do have a cycle.
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Actually they do not.

From - http://www.fao.org/docrep/t1690E/t1690e05.htm
The oestrus cycle. In most domestic mammals ovulation takes place at regular intervals when the female is in heat or oestrus. The interval between two periods of oestrus represents the length of the oestrus cycle (four days for rats, 17 for ewes, 21 for sows and cows).

The female rabbit, however, does not have an oestrus cycle with regular periods of heat during which ovulation will occur spontaneously. Does are considered to be in oestrus more or less permanently. Ovulation occurs only after mating. A female rabbit is therefore considered to be in heat when she accepts service and in dioestrus when she refuses.

The sexual behaviour of a female rabbit is thus very special. She has no cycle and can stay in heat for several days running. On the ovary, follicles not having evolved to the ovulation stage through lack of stimulation undergo regression and are replaced by new follicles, which remain for a few days in the pre-ovulating state and may then in turn regress.
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However, what they do have is a 14 to 16 day cycle of peak fertility meaning every 14 to 16 days is when the most ovum will mature if she is bred and the litters will have the greatest number.

Does often know when this time is since a larger number of ovum that are ready to be fertilized will be putting more hormones into her system and making her more sexually receptive.

So a doe can pretty much get pregnant at any time but you will have the biggest litters when she is receptive and the signs to look for are shown in Heritage Homesteads link.
 
Dood":3it4j7jq said:
However, what they do have is a 14 to 16 day cycle of peak fertility meaning every 14 to 16 days is when the most ovum will mature if she is bred and the litters will have the greatest number.
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This is highly interesting.
Do you mean that they reach this state of fertility every 14/16 days for few days or does it last 14/16 days a month?
My doe was chasing the neutered buck, annoying him and lifting for him for 2 days about a month ago.
Yesterdag and today, i put her in with a different buck and she panicked so i took her out again, which my doe's usually do when they're already pregnant, desperately trying to get away from the buck. Which means that she would have been bred when a different buck when Jiro went through the colony fence and got inside. And the reason he did that was because a doe inside the colony had given birth and the bucks reacted to this with excitement. Even the neutered buck chased her for 3 days, when he never bothered to do that before.

Last year, i had a doe kindle in a cage but i wasn't prepared for it.
So how did i find out? My free running buck was sitting next to the cage, walking up an down with a buzzing sound which my bucks only do when they're excited. So he actually told me something was going on, that was a major help :lol:
 
I kind of consider that a "cycle," but it's not in the strictest sense, so that's why people say they don't have a cycle but certain times of higher receptivity.



I never used to check my does before breeding, I just put them in, and either they Lifted or I forced bred them. I force bred more often than not, and the does were getting pregnant. that would not happen if the had a true cycle.
 
Everything has a cycle. Rabbits ovulate reflexively though, as said above.

I breed on the waxing gibbous moon :) or full moon.

It's a bit old school.
 
Dood":a4yvuwjo said:
However, what they do have is a 14 to 16 day cycle of peak fertility meaning every 14 to 16 days is when the most ovum will mature if she is bred and the litters will have the greatest number.

Does often know when this time is since a larger number of ovum that are ready to be fertilized will be putting more hormones into her system and making her more sexually receptive.

So a doe can pretty much get pregnant at any time but you will have the biggest litters when she is receptive and the signs to look for are shown in Heritage Homesteads link.
Click to expand...

I hope you're right about the litter size because Zira was receptive and bred today!
Never thought of this as a "method" as a potential for bigger litters.

I tried to breed her for the first time a few days ago but she wasn't into it so i thought i'd try everyday until she felt ready and put acv in the colony water.
Today i saw her mounting the neutered buck, which is a big thing to do for her considering that she is more of a classy, outsider with dignity where the oter girls are more random and hyper.

Put her in with the buck and it seemed as if she was dancing around him, i don't know what it was but she was playful and the first time i was witnessing that kind of behaviour.
It looked like dog foreplay.. when they run around before getting to bizniz.
Later she lifted, and her mood gradually changed with every take.
She looked annoyed, ignored the buck unless he tried to mount her and then warned him by stomping with her both front feet with against his face, like she was intimidating him. Somehow she lifted one more time unwillingly. And that was it.

I then decided to film them because the whole scenario looked like a musical but she was done with it.
She behaved panicky, snarled, growled and grunted if he approached her. She scratched his face.
So i tried to hold her down so he could do his business but she wasn't having it. Desperately trying to get away so i took her out for a couple of hours and tried again later.. it became a mess.
She now lunged at him, grunting loudly, and trying to attack me when i reached my hand to her, i thought the the whole neighbourhood heared us so that was enough.

Normally i try to breed them as much as i can within 2 hours, which is suppossingly another method to increase litter size but it hasn't really worked for me. But yesterdat i read an artictle on the website of a dutch breeder, who has also been a show judge.
And it sait that it takes 10 hours for the released eggs to arrive in the uterine horn.
So i tried to stretch the limit of 2 hours to 10 and do as many repeats as i could within that time but Zira had enough after 3 takes.
So wasn't ably to try this method, maybe when Amber becomes receptive.. waiting for her now.
 
I've done this, bred then rebred 8-10 hrs later.

It has not done much to increase my litter size. Sperm can live up to 72 hrs, so whatever eggs the doe will release, that is genetics, will be released 10hrs later and there is plenty of live sperm still there. The next day, mines are no longer receptive. The doe that has 6 kits always has six kits, no matter when or how many times I breed her. The doe that has 10, has ten with 1 breeding, not one session but one breeding. So I stopped waiting, let the buck fall off once, it she is into it, I might left him have another go, then back to there cages. Isis was bred once, had 10. Patriot has 5-7 no matter what. Big hair only has 4-6 kits. What I have seen is receptivity increased after kindling, with a slight increase in litter size, probably due to more hormones stimulating a larger egg release.
 

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