End of day 32 and Doe hasn’t delivered yet

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Willow Blue

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Starting to worry. Her last 2 litters were exactly 30 days. Now with this pregnancy we are moving into day 33. What’s the longest it should take in a healthy pregnancy? Is there anything I can do other than wait it out?
 

ladysown

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Depends on your herd. In my herd... if they haven't kindled by day 32 they aren't going to and I expose to a buck. IN OTHER HERDS sometimes does delay until day 40. You know your own herd... and this particular doe normally is on day 30... so unless you know beyond a doubt that she's preggers... I'd call it a day and rebreed her. :)
 

Willow Blue

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Depends on your herd. In my herd... if they haven't kindled by day 32 they aren't going to and I expose to a buck. IN OTHER HERDS sometimes does delay until day 40. You know your own herd... and this particular doe normally is on day 30... so unless you know beyond a doubt that she's preggers... I'd call it a day and rebreed her. :)
I know she had no less than 4 falloff’s. But I have no way of knowing if she’s pregnant or not outside of that. She made a nest and pulled a small amount of fur a few days ago. This would be her 3rd litter. And my buck’s 5th. I’ve never had an unsuccessful breeding before, so not sure how to recognize that situation.
 

jaxmarblebuns

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I know she had no less than 4 falloff’s. But I have no way of knowing if she’s pregnant or not outside of that. She made a nest and pulled a small amount of fur a few days ago. This would be her 3rd litter. And my buck’s 5th. I’ve never had an unsuccessful breeding before, so not sure how to recognize that situation.
Given that she and the buck are both successful breeders and that she has made a nest I would say she is, or at least was pregnant. I would Inspect her for a stuck kit, and giver her another 5 days to see if she is just having an off delivery (I always wait 5 days after day 32 to be sure, this is a safe amount to account for any accidental date inaccuracies on my end, and any delays on the does end)
 
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I know she had no less than 4 falloff’s. But I have no way of knowing if she’s pregnant or not outside of that. She made a nest and pulled a small amount of fur a few days ago. This would be her 3rd litter. And my buck’s 5th. I’ve never had an unsuccessful breeding before, so not sure how to recognize that situation.
If she made a nest a few days ago, I'd take that as a clue that she might be pregnant (though not necessarily). In any case, I always leave the nest box in for at least five days past the due date, which for my big rabbits tends to be 32-33 days. I've had several rounds of heartache when I pulled the box on day 33-35 and come out to find bunnies all over the wire. :cry:

The longer a pregnant goes overdue, the more likely it will end badly, but I have had live kits born as long as 36 days after breeding. If you see that she is straining, you can try raspberry leaves, which have helped some of my Mini Rex get through difficult deliveries. But if she's built a nest and is just hanging out, I'd just watch her and let her do her thing. At least in my Satins, does are not necessarily like clockwork, and normally kindle anywhere from Day 31 to 33, with some individual does varying from litter to litter. The Polish all seem to kindle on Day 30, on the dot, though.
 
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I have had this happen before. My doe has had 2 miscarriages and 2 successful litters. I do not understand why she keeps losing her litters though.
 

Willow Blue

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Still no kits. I can see her belly rolling which i've seen here isn't actual babies (I thought it was till I saw that). I did see what looked like a twitch but mostly don't see any kind of kicking movement. She won't let me touch her belly.
 
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Still no kits. I can see her belly rolling which i've seen here isn't actual babies (I thought it was till I saw that). I did see what looked like a twitch but mostly don't see any kind of kicking movement. She won't let me touch her belly.
I’m sorry to hear that. I know it stinks losing litters. It is still possible though that she never did get pregnant but instead had a false pregnancy. (They still pull hair for those) I would suggest wait a couple days to be 100% positive she is not pregnant and then I would rebreed her possibly to another buck if you have one incase he temporarily infertile If not then just breed her to the same buck and try again. Good luck!
 

RabbitsOfTheCreek

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You should still leave the nest box it for a bit longer
If I have a Doe that doesn't have Kits she keeps her nest box for about another week
 

Willow Blue

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Such a bummer. I don't breed 2 doe's at once because processing is overwhelming that way, but I just lost out on a whole month now. First time this has happened. I guess my buck was heat sterile? I did breed him today with my other doe, guess i'll restart the clock and wait another month for kits.
 
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Such a bummer. I don't breed 2 doe's at once because processing is overwhelming that way, but I just lost out on a whole month now. First time this has happened. I guess my buck was heat sterile? I did breed him today with my other doe, guess i'll restart the clock and wait another month for kits.
I always breed at least two does at once, mostly because my rabbits tend to have such big litters that I often need fosters. Also, especially as does get older, missed pregnancies, or small litters, do happen. But since there is quite a bit of play in butchering age, when I end up with overly many bunnies to harvest, I split them into two groups, and harvest the biggest at 8-9 weeks, and the smaller ones a month or so later at 12-ish weeks. Maybe that approach would work for you?
 

CedarRidge

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Well two things you can do.

1. stand and watch her when she is relaxing and watch her belly. You'll be watching for little bunny kicks.
2. see if you can feel babies in her. :)
Great advice! We've been able to see our kits kicking around day 29. And if mama will allow it, we've been able at times to just rest our hand lightly on her side and feel them moving. It is pretty easy to tell the difference between a kicking kit and a show rolling digestion movement.
 

jani

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I am curious and I sympathize. I had the same situation with a virgin doe. Turned out she had just gotten extremely fat on pasture! Her sister however who at the time i thought was unlikely to have caught and was tiny had 5 huge kits 3 weeks ago and is a spectacular mother. Miss chubby is now on a diet and I will try again after the solstice. All this to say good luck!
 

jani

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If you don't have kits yet, the advice my breeder/mentor gave me was to ait a ful 40 days before rebreeding.. She said she has seen does kindle successfully as late as 39 days. Now if your doe is just overfat like my doe got on summer grass, its best to wait until she is back to a healthy weight. My girl right now is on unlimited day and just 1/3 cup pellets a day. I could likely give her hay only but I am a bleeding heart and winter is coming quickly to my neck of the woods. I believe all mammals need a bit of winter fluff and woudn't want her to lose weight too quickly. She will move to a barn around christmas, I will then attempt to breed her if she is of normal weight. I am told it will be easier on her after the winter solstice.
 

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