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GreenAcresHomestead

GreenAcresHomestead

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Kempner Tx
We have a male and female living together and they get along great. We see that they do mate and once a month the female does pull her fur but not kits. Here in Texas we had a hot summer so I read that hot temperature will cause the bucks to go sterile temporarily during those hot months. So my question is being not to knowledgeable on the mating of rabbits will now that the temperature is dropping at night to the 60's - 40's and daytime under 85 will there be a chance for the doe's to get pregnant finally. We have two sets and it's the same with both. They are Californian and New Zealand Rabbits. Thanks
 
There is an older thread about this issue at How long to recover from heat sterility? with a link to a Michigan University 4-H bulletin on this subject. There are several possible issues addressed in the bulletin:
  1. After several days of 85 degree F weather, the buck may be sterile for the next several months (up to 90 days)
  2. Does can have 'false pregnancy' after being mounted, they say it often lasts about 17 days, and the doe may build a nest at the end.
  3. Overweight does may not ovulate after breeding, so even though you see them breed, she may not release eggs to be fertilized.
A few questions:
  1. When the doe makes a nest, is it ever damp inside? Like perhaps she had a litter and something ate the kits? Rodents & snakes crawling through the cage wire (holes as small as a quarter can be big enough, certainly 1" x 2" standard cage wire is), barn cats fishing through the wire with their paws, and sometimes even a disturbed mama rabbit can eat the babies. Sounds horrible, but we've had it happen. Should this be suspected, adding 1/4-1/2" hardware cloth around the pen, adding something solid over the top of the pen so nothing can sit up there and fish down though the top, and making sure there is a lid on any outside hopper-type ('J') feeder may help. When older kits disappearing is an issue (which isn't the case here), adding a dropping pan, or just a second layer of bunny wire like the dropping pan support, several inches below the real floor level, can help prevent babies from being fished through the floor. Even the larger 1" x 2" when several inches below the 1/2" x 1" floor seems to help.
  2. When you feel the ribs behind the front legs, and the spine, what condition is the doe in? A too-thin doe may not breed, but an overweight doe may not take either. Rabbit Size-O-Meter has a chart to help you decide the doe's condition.
  3. How old is the doe? If she is several years old, and has never been successfully bred, she is unlikely to do so now. Once a doe has taken several months off from breeding, it can sometimes be difficult to get her to breed again, often related to excess fat as noted above. Extra exercise may help with that.
  4. There is also a converse problem to the summer heat sterility, and that is waning light in the fall/winter. If you have a long wait after heat sterility, you may run into lack of interest in breeding as the daylight shortens. Adding artificial wide-spectrum light to provide a 14 hour day may help overcome that issue, should it arise.
 
judymac said:
There is an older thread about this issue at How long to recover from heat sterility? with a link to a Michigan University 4-H bulletin on this subject. There are several possible issues addressed in the bulletin:
  1. After several days of 85 degree F weather, the buck may be sterile for the next several months (up to 90 days)
  2. Does can have 'false pregnancy' after being mounted, they say it often lasts about 17 days, and the doe may build a nest at the end.
  3. Overweight does may not ovulate after breeding, so even though you see them breed, she may not release eggs to be fertilized.
A few questions:
  1. When the doe makes a nest, is it ever damp inside? Like perhaps she had a litter and something ate the kits? Rodents & snakes crawling through the cage wire (holes as small as a quarter can be big enough, certainly 1" x 2" standard cage wire is), barn cats fishing through the wire with their paws, and sometimes even a disturbed mama rabbit can eat the babies. Sounds horrible, but we've had it happen. Should this be suspected, adding 1/4-1/2" hardware cloth around the pen, adding something solid over the top of the pen so nothing can sit up there and fish down though the top, and making sure there is a lid on any outside hopper-type ('J') feeder may help. When older kits disappearing is an issue (which isn't the case here), adding a dropping pan, or just a second layer of bunny wire like the dropping pan support, several inches below the real floor level, can help prevent babies from being fished through the floor. Even the larger 1" x 2" when several inches below the 1/2" x 1" floor seems to help.
  2. When you feel the ribs behind the front legs, and the spine, what condition is the doe in? A too-thin doe may not breed, but an overweight doe may not take either. Rabbit Size-O-Meter has a chart to help you decide the doe's condition.
  3. How old is the doe? If she is several years old, and has never been successfully bred, she is unlikely to do so now. Once a doe has taken several months off from breeding, it can sometimes be difficult to get her to breed again, often related to excess fat as noted above. Extra exercise may help with that.
  4. There is also a converse problem to the summer heat sterility, and that is waning light in the fall/winter. If you have a long wait after heat sterility, you may run into lack of interest in breeding as the daylight shortens. Adding artificial wide-spectrum light to provide a 14 hour day may help overcome that issue, should it arise.
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The one doe is less then a year old or maybe a year. When she pulls hair and makes a nest there's never any wet areas and as fat as rats or snakes we haven't had any problems with them for we have guineas. As far as weight they aren't over weight. The male with the young doe fathered some kits not long before we put him with her. Now the other male and female was gave to us so we don't done much about that set. Then we have 4 young does that are 6 months old and their mother and father.
 
My guess is that the 'over 85° F = sterile' rule depends on the rabbit strain.

I live in central Kentucky, it is 85° or warmer most days in the summer. And yet I didn't have a failed mating this summer. My rabbits were originally from central Ohio so they haven't been bred to withstand hot weather.

Are your rabbits from show rabbits? Show rabbits might be more sensitive, because the breeder selects for show traits. In my experience with other animals, the best show animals are miserable at breeding, at parenting, and at resisting disease. The breeder selects for conformity and color and coat and stance, etc, not necessarily for breeding ability and disease resistance. I don't think you can select for 8 or 10 traits. It is rare to get ALL the good traits in one animal.
 
No they aren't show rabbits some was adults when we got them being used to breed. Ours are Californian and New Zealands. Some of the females are young and haven't had any kits yet and one female with her buck was gave to use as a pair right with their 6 young 4 month old rabbits which are now 6 months old.
 
MnCanary said:
I live in central Kentucky, it is 85° or warmer most days in the summer. And yet I didn't have a failed mating this summer.
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Yes, I'm sure some strains are more resistant to heat sterility than others. Some have also noted that younger bucks are better breeders in the heat as well. I have several friends with herds that had successful breedings all summer long, their bucks had access to cool concrete or cool bare earth to sprawl out on during the hot weather, and it really seemed to make a difference.
 
BuffBrahmaBantam said:
We bought a doe who wouldn't kindle despite living with a buck all summer. We were ignorant of her body condition until we butchered her and she was fat. Now we take body condition seriously. (Though we are pretty certain this doe was fat when we bought her.) Just sharing...
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How old do you think she was? How old when you processed her? Did she taste pretty good? Weird question but I am curious for future knowledge.
 
Scooter1A said:
How old do you think she was? How old when you processed her? Did she taste pretty good? Weird question but I am curious for future knowledge.
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She was 3 1/2 years old. She was delicious. We got about 5.5 lbs meat and are still eating her. We cooked her long and slow with some Spanish recipes my Mom recommended.
 
BuffBrahmaBantam said:
Wonderful! That's great! (the kits being born, not the death of a doe. Sorry to hear about that.)
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BuffBrahmaBantam said:
Wonderful! That's great! (the kits being born, not the death of a doe. Sorry to hear about that.)
Click to expand...

No these are from another doe but tonight we are worried being new to rabbits we don't know if the doe's behavior is normal. I have noticed all day that she has not even gone to be with the new kits and I would have thought they need to nurse. Is this normal behavior right after birth?
 
GreenAcresHomestead said:
No these are from another doe but tonight we are worried being new to rabbits we don't know if the doe's behavior is normal. I have noticed all day that she has not even gone to be with the new kits and I would have thought they need to nurse. Is this normal behavior right after birth?
Click to expand...
The does only nurse once or twice a day. Often early morning I've heard but I've never seen a doe nurse so I can't be sure. Our does ignore their nest box for the most part though can be a little protective in the first 5 days. In the wild, does actually close the entrance to their nest burrow (digging dirt over the entrance) during the day and only go in once or twice in a 24 hour period to nurse. The kits are left alone the rest of the time.

Does vary in their behavior, but yours sounds normal to me.

An interesting old book that is available free online is called 'The Private Life of the Rabbit' by RM Lockley and describes some of this stuff.
 
GreenAcresHomestead said:
No these are from another doe but tonight we are worried being new to rabbits we don't know if the doe's behavior is normal. I have noticed all day that she has not even gone to be with the new kits and I would have thought they need to nurse. Is this normal behavior right after birth?
Click to expand...
Perfectly normal behavior. It is rare to see a doe nurse her young. Just check for round tummies. Another thing to watch out for is the babies latching on and being dragged out of the nesting box. If it is really cold, I go check on mine around midnight for the first 10 days to make sure there are none on the cage wire after feeding.
Congrats! Sorry about your loss.
 

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