We expected our first litter of the year Monday. Nest box went in Friday and Berwick made a tunnel, pulled fur right away. Now it's Wed afternoon and no kits. I know from reading posts on RT that does can kindle up to day 40. But it hasn't happened to us before--every doe that had anything that looked like a possible breeding has kindled on day 31 or there have been kits in the nest in the morning of day 32. This would be Berwick's 7th litter for us--she'll be 3 years old later this year. She was bred to Beau, the buck we started using last spring when he was 7 months old.
So I'm trying to understand and to decide when and whether to rebreed her. Is length of gestation an individual thing--do you usually expect a doe to be consistent from breeding to breeding? Would it change with age? I know weight can be a factor in not getting pregnant and we do a quick feeling along the back check weekly. Also hear time between breedings given as reason a doe might not "take" but the spacing is the same this year as last. Anything else I should be checking?
I know I'm supposed to just wait patiently but I'm not so good at that--was especially looking forward to this litter as a sign of coming spring, however cold it still is.
So I'm trying to understand and to decide when and whether to rebreed her. Is length of gestation an individual thing--do you usually expect a doe to be consistent from breeding to breeding? Would it change with age? I know weight can be a factor in not getting pregnant and we do a quick feeling along the back check weekly. Also hear time between breedings given as reason a doe might not "take" but the spacing is the same this year as last. Anything else I should be checking?
I know I'm supposed to just wait patiently but I'm not so good at that--was especially looking forward to this litter as a sign of coming spring, however cold it still is.
