Garland kindled this morning

[Rainey]

Garland is our other experienced doe bred this spring--she had 3 litters for us last year. She kindled this morning--9 kits. So that is the second success for our young buck. Now have to wait for the first time does and hope it warms up a bit before they kindle (due in 10 days and 17 days and it should be really spring by then).
Garland was bred to her sibling Cloud (he's a year younger) so I'll be keeping an eye on this litter after the discussion of inbreeding in another thread.
And because someone told me last time it didn't happen if there isn't a picture . . .

 

[Nymphadora]

Garland was bred to her sibling Cloud (he's a year younger) so I'll be keeping an eye on this litter after the discussion of inbreeding in another thread.

Thank you for documenting this for us, so we can see the results! I'm curious what qualities you were hoping to enhance/keep with this cross? I mean, is there an outstanding feature the buck and doe share that's lacking in the rest of your breeders, or are you trying to narrow down the gene pool to keep more of a specific line intact? I do hope I'm making sense...

And because someone told me last time it didn't happen if there isn't a picture . . .

:congratulations:
Yes, we can clearly see that you do indeed have a lovely fresh litter!

opcorn:

 

[Rainey]

We raise our rabbits for meat and what is important to us is to feed them a healthy and varied diet (lots of forage, no pellets) so we know what we're eating. Not looking for anything fancy by way of colors or pelts and no interest in showing. Just looking for good build, good growth, good mothering instincts in the does. We've raised pigs for meat but had to buy piglets every spring so one of the attractions of the rabbits (besides that they eat weeds and other things we have in abundance) was that we can breed our own. We kept this buck because he grew faster than his littermates and was healthy with a decent build. We've kept out at least 2 new does each year because we've had to replace one that bit, a couple that just weren't good mothers, one that did well for 2 seasons but failed to kindle her third season. All we really want is a viable buck and enough does to produce 6 or 7 litters a year of 'good enough' rabbits. Not very ambitious and because of the small numbers have wondered if we'd have a problem from inbreeding.

 

[MaggieJ]

Your latest kits look great, Rainey! I doubt very much that you'll have any problems with inbreeding the way you're doing it. It's not intensive breeding, and you're keeping your breeders for as long as they are healthy and productive--and when you do replace them, it will be with the "best of the best".

 

[Homer]

Your latest kits look great, Rainey! I doubt very much that you'll have any problems with inbreeding the way you're doing it. It's not intensive breeding, and you're keeping your breeders for as long as they are healthy and productive--and when you do replace them, it will be with the "best of the best".

:yeahthat: Of the few times I've bred a fantastic buck back to mom I've had some rabbits grow out that were not to be believed. You get the best of the best or...You're weeding out the genetic hodgepodge that gets in a line once in awhile and I've always had good luck with it. Son to mom has always worked well the few times I've tried it. Brother and sister, oops, not so much.

 

[michaels4gardens]

looks great congrats..

 

[Nymphadora]

Let us know if you see a trend with these kits... if they take after one parent more than the other, in terms of type (I know even siblings aren't always an exact match on type) or maybe growth. I'll probably be doing a lot of line breeding next season and the following seasons, so I'm glad I can watch others' process beforehand.