how many times to breed a young doe before giving up?

[ohiogoatgirl]

so I had gotten two pens of calis at the auction a while back. I ended up with just one doe. since when I bought them it was fair-dumping-time after the local 4H fair I can guess the age. so based on them needing to be max 70 days old for fair. making my age guesstimate at 18wks old (4.5mo).
at 16wks I checked her over and she is doing well and growing and her vent was between light pink and pink. (my sort of checking scale is light pink, pink, deep pink, reddish, quite red, red-purple, quite purply). but when I was first breeding I had a lot of luck and never checked vent color. so I figure it cant hurt to try her and even if she lifts it'd been pretty hot and the buck could be sterile or hat more blanks, because he also hadn't bred anyone in over a year. well he was hot to trot but she wasn't feelin it and the best it got was poor Mister Rabbit splooge on her back :roll:
so the next week I checked her vent. pink. not real encouraging but whatever. then I checked her again over the weekend. still the same. oh well try her just to see. he covered her twice, I did chores and tried em again, covered her again. then just to see I did a quick check of her color today and it was the same pink.

I know I am getting antsy and ahead of myself. but how long do you all keep trying new young does before ya scrap it? because honestly I would rather scrap it and end up with only so-so mutts that the doe actually breeds and takes than have to play the constant rebreed game like I did.
so how long do you all go?

 

[macksmom98]

It depends on what your setup and goals are. We have a small pet operation, and while situations like this can be frustrating it's also an experiment. We get antsy too, but also aren't in a huge hurray if someone's not ready and needs to mature, or just needs to wait a few days. So that being said we would probably try for a while, keeping some variables and changing up others. Nothing says your have to tho, and you may want to consider either selling her and buying another or just buying another, to give you some kits while you get her figured out

 

[FourRingCircus]

If you for sure want to breed her I would give it until Christmas maybe? Jan 1st? Then decide... I have a couple young ones - the buck is significantly younger than the doe (he was born 6/25, I bought the doe in April so I am guessing she was born in February), even though he is rip-roarin' ready to go, she's just not into it. I will be keeping her for now though, since she is technically my son's rabbit (he bought her with his own money, but needs to start helping with the chores for her to stay). If you don't really want her, then there's no reason to get frustrated about it. She can move on to wherever she will go (freezer or another home).

 

[alforddm]

4.5 months is still pretty young and you said that is just a guesstimate so she could be younger. Unless early fertility is one of your breeding goals, I'd keep trying until she is at least 6 months maybe longer depending on how much you like her.

 

[Dood]

I agree that 4.5 months is too young for most bloodlines of rabbits, in my first trio one of the does didn't catch until 6 months old

Rabbits are induced ovulators so if she was mature enough and he covered her 3 times then she should be pregnant and you'll have kits in 27 days, also, her vent is not going to turn red or purple if she's got buns in the oven :cheesysmile:

 

[TF3]

For me it would depend on the doe... why I wanted her and if she was worth the wait
My cranky SR doe didn't take the first time, and was much more receptive at 6 months than 5, but whether she took remains to be seen (and I will wait until the new year if she didn't just due to winter and holidays etc).
Another 2 mutt does were showing willingness at 4.5 months and their vents looked ready...both took and had 12 .

 

[FourRingCircus]

Well, the one I mentioned in my above post decided she was ready! Just a day or two made a big difference... or maybe it took a couple practice tries by the buck for her to figure out her role? :roll: I checked her the last time and still pretty pale, today it was bright red. A little bit of time made a BIG differerence!

 

[wamplercathy]

I had this issue with coconut. I started trying to breed her at 6 months and she flat out refused no matter what her naughty bits said. Was going to keep trying but Grumpy said he'd switch me a prego, proven doe for her. I was going to give her till Jan. and if she still refused then invite to dinner. But that's not an issue now. Thanks Grumpy. :lol: :lol:

I'm glad your doe finally behaved for you.

 

[TF3]

My virgin doe (my second rex) did that this time Heritage. No dice the first day, but no problem the second~ I wonder if the exposure to the male gets things rolling?

 

[FourRingCircus]

My virgin doe (my second rex) did that this time Heritage. No dice the first day, but no problem the second~ I wonder if the exposure to the male gets things rolling?

I am thinking it does... maybe not totally necessary in all cases, but seemed to work for her! She had been housed across the yard with a couple other does and I moved her 2 holes down from the buck the other day when I tried breeding them (I processed the growouts that had previously occupied that spot on Tuesday, so it's been within the last 48 hours). Maybe she had no reason to be ready before since she was by herself with other females around her? No babies in that hutch recently either so the hormones were probably pretty low/level.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

thanks everyone. I am having to keep things small and until I get hired somewhere. the only reason I even got a shot with these guys is helping dad with the hay (which he said he wasn't doing any this year!) and they were going pretty good price and looked decent. so the only ones I am keeping is my silver fox buck (show quality, great pedigree, paid a lot for him) and a doe. I am barely pinching by on feed until I get working again. but I love animals so this is what I do hahaha.
so I don't want to dump feed into a doe for a long time if i'm wasting money feeding her with nothing to show for it. I have my eyes on the local sales groups and ads in case anything nice for great price comes up.

 

[grumpy]

I used to allow three mishaps, or aberration's, from normal breeding
behavior.....

Now....it's two. Then they're gone. Got no time for slackers.

grumpy