Keeping does together?

[peggysue]

Do any of you breeders keep any does together?

I have spoken one breeder who keeps 2 girls together all the time, through pregnancy and even once kits are born. They happily live together. The breeder of my BEW girl also keeps a couple of pairs of does but splits them once mated and reintroduces them once babies have left.

It sounds lovely but I imagine not many would tolerate it? I would love to do it with my 2 girls and I suppose I'll never know until they hit maturity whether they still love each other or not.

I just wondered if anyone else has succeeded or tried it and it gone wrong?

 

[MaggieJ]

It works fine in a colony... sometimes! It helps if the does are sisters raised together and never separated, or a mother and daughter. Not all rabbits are laid back enough to tolerate another doe in their space. Many does are too territorial.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

am goin to be trying this with two mini rex does in a very large cage. they are sisters and have never been seperated. fingers crossed that they dont start fightin after they are bred next week or when they kindle. i suppose the only way to find out is to try with each individual pair (or group) of does.
you may want to look into the colony area of the forum for more about peoples ups and downs with keeping rabbits together.
good luck

 

[peggysue]

Thanks both, I will head over to the colony section.

Keep us posted how the mating goes ohioatgirl and how they do together afterwards. My 2 are mini rex and although not sisters they have been together since 8 weeks (they are still very young yet though).

I have a large space for them, it's a 10ft x 4ft dog kennel and run so there's plenty of space.

 

[akane]

Most tolerate it given the space. I have maybe 1 out of a dozen cage raised who doesn't get along in colony and all the ones raised in colony get along. Some that are aggressive in cages are perfectly fine in colony toward both people and rabbit. Sometimes breeding goes better to put them in a big pen rather than a cage if one is being too aggressive. There is the oddball though and I have 2 I've kept that are trouble. 1 just harasses everyone when pregnant and fails to take care of litters in colony despite being great in a cage so she stays caged. The other we've tried twice now to put in colony and she goes on a random killing spree. I had her in my growout pen so no adults and came in yesterday to 5 bodies and her covered in blood after they were fine for 3 weeks. She's mostly been living in a 3x4' and now doubled in size pen but I think after this I'm replacing her with one of her daughters. There's a lovely rex coated blue I have my eye on as her replacement as soon as she finishes raising this litter. She's a real difficult breeder as well. Never lifts even when she's really in the mood and mounting the buck so he can never make contact because her tail is clamped to the floor. Then I can use the pen for a netherland colony.

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

oh wow. that is spacious my cage is 5ft by 3ft and is 2ft tall on the inside. i plan on adding some hidy holes and things in for them too.

sounds neat. cant wait to see how your turn out for you if you try it.

 

[akane]

I've had luck with mini rex, netherland, and dutch in 3x6' and cages close to that. Mother, daughter of the smaller breeds I've kept in 48x30" even with both bred. That's the smallest I've gone for 2 does. I have done smaller for a doe, buck pair but they are best not left together the entire time the doe is pregnant or they tend to get testy of all the attention.

 

[peggysue]

I'll be keeping my buck separate but nearby. The other thing which worries me is knowing which kits belong to who.
If all goes well and they can stay together I'd hope they would have their own nests, how do you deal with that?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Hi PeggySue!

I don't colony raise, but if I did, I think I would put cages in the colony pen and confine the does when they are about to kindle, and a day or two after the kits are born I would let them out to rejoin the colony. I would think they would return to their nests to nurse if the cage doors were left open.

 

[Brody]

My girls love living together ...

 

[Pink]

I had 6 does together at one point. They had always been in seperate cages - never interacted with each other in the past and where adults when I first introduced them. There was an occasionally scuffle for dominance, but nothing serious.

I have, however, heard of does killing eachother if there isn't enough personal space in the enclosure.

 

[akane]

Telling who's nest is who's is the easy part. Fur color and/or behavior can show you so there's no need to separate for that purpose. Telling a bunch of 4 week olds of the same color apart is the hard part. Some color the inside of their ears with markers every few days and some use nail polish until they can be tattooed.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Telling who's nest is who's is the easy part. Telling a bunch of 4 week olds of the same color apart is the hard part.

LOL! You can tell I haven't thought out my hypothetical colony situation very well! When the little buggers start romping around, that's when the confusion really sets in. :slap:

 

[The Thicket]

We sometimes keep two does together whose personalities are more laidback. In fact right now we have a Dwarf Hotot and Jersey Wooly together, a Dutch and a Jersey Wooly together and two Jersey Woolies together and they all get along fine. You will often see them snuggling or grooming each other. We have never had any issues with it. You may get a doe trying to breed the other doe, but that's about it. I would never put two does together with strong personalities. We always make sure when first putting them together to completely move both does into a whole new cage. This makes them not be territorial. Watch them closely for the first day to make sure they are getting along.