One Week too large a Gap for Foster?

[TF3]

Spice, one of my meat mutts, delivered last night.
She only had two, and her last breeding was a miss (I bought her bred).
I had already planned to move her on after this litter.

I really need the cage space, so I am wondering about fostering her kits on to my big Satin/NZW mutt who is due within the week (next Monday is day 31).
(assuming she took, and that her litter isn't huge etc.)
Would this be too much of a gap?
How many is too many for the other doe (ie if she has 8, two more might be too much?)
I have a third doe due in 10 days, so I could bump down the line.

(both expecting does are 10+ lbs bred to very large bucks, where Spice is 7 lb. bred to my Cali, so I am thinking the kits may level out size-wise even with a week head start)

Of course, keeping everyone with mom is ideal, but if I could move Spice out in the next couple weeks it would be much better overall than hanging on to her for two meat kits.
Would you condense litters with a week between them?

 

[Zass]

IMO a week is too big of a gap.
Since Spice only has two, they will probably be much much larger than the newborns.

 

[TF3]

Thanks!

 

[MaggieJ]

I'm no expert at fostering . . . the few times I've tried it, it hasn't gone so well. But I know Ladysown is good at it . . . you might want to PM her since she hasn't been online as much just lately.

One thing you might want to try, if you are really feeling pressured about this, is giving the second doe the two fosters in the morning and swapping out her own kits overnight. It would likely work better than letting them compete.

I guess a lot depends on how you feel about the two kits . . . if they are meat mutts destined for freezer camp, you might choose to experiment with them a bit so you will know what to do another time. I'm sorry if that sounds a bit heartless, but if no one ever tried to do something a bit different, we'd never advance our pool of knowledge.

 

[ladysown]

I wouldn't even hesitate.

In fact.... a big 10lb doe that is experienced should have zero issues raising a litter of 10+ kits... I've had my 8 lb does raise 11, so it to me is a no brainer that a bigger doe can raise larger and as you say you can always shift down the line if needed.

I'd let her raise 'em til the other doe kindles and then let her go.

I WOULD do one extra step that normally I don't do. At one week old they WILL smell like their mom so I'd pull the nestbox for no less then two hours and give it back just to hide the new ones really well.

 

[TF3]

OK~ so the biggest risk is that the second does' kits get bumped out by the older foster kits?
I would still have Spice here at that point so I could backtrack within the first couple days, if needed.
Or rotate kits, supplemental feed on mom...

I think I might give it a whirl with an out to go back to Spice or ahead to Minnie (who is due three days after Pearl (doe 2)).
As you say Maggie... two meat kits... at this point Spice has been a losing proposition from day one!

 

[3mina]

I'm dealing with this right now. I have three (now four) litters in one nestbox. The age range between the oldest and youngest is about a week. All are doing very well.

 

[alforddm]

How long had it been since spice had been bred? I'm wondering if she had a bit of fat built up and if bred back right away might have a larger litter next time?

 

[TF3]

Spice is very slim-- she came from pretty rough circumstances (basically lived in a wooden box under a bench -- no light I could tell she was pregnant because the weight gain showed on her frame.
I am guessing she may be older than they said (2-2.5 years) and my buck is young.

Now I'm just deciding if I should even try to sell her, or just send her to camp... Well, cull her.
I think it would be better than where she'd go at this stage.