one pregnant doe, what about the others

[home*sweet*home]

Ok, we are new to this, so I am not great at palpating (ironic since I am a midwife), anyway. We have a colony with 3 does and 1 buck. He stays with them the whole time, they all get along great. We just had a litter 6 days ago, I thought all three does were pg, but so far, no other fur is pulled. I would have assumed they would all be due the same time.

Why would he breed just one. The other two are both in great shape and proven, good mothers (not for me, but actually one is Ebony's mother, the mother of the kits we have).

So, whats up there?

One of the draw backs to the colony is not know exactly when they mated.

 

[MaggieJ]

Sometimes in a colony, the buck will chase one doe for a couple of days, especially if she is receptive to his attentions. If the others were standoffish, he may have left them until later. They may well kindle over the next three or four days. In our colony, recently, two does kindled on consecutive days and the third about three days later.

 

[akane]

Kit production becomes rather random in a colony especially after a few litters. You never know when a litter will pop up. It's slightly more predictable when you add a buck in prime age to a group of does who are definitely receptive and have had litters before. Then he tends to run around mating everyone until he about drops and you get litters within a few days of each other. There are lots of variables though. If your buck isn't a really strong breeder, the does were not added at the same time, they are different ages, inexperienced about mating, or some are more receptive than others things turn very unpredictable quickly. Someone might just have taken a dislike to your buck or feel unsafe in the colony situation leading to clamping their tail down for a few days or week and the buck not wasting time on them. If your buck isn't a strong breeder he might have spent a bunch of time on one doe grooming, laying with, and breeding her before getting on to the others. Who knows. There's good reason for taking the does to the bucks and observing the mating even while maintaining colonies.