Second stillborn litter

[Danimshell]

Mini lop doe just gave birth to 2 large stillborns on day 32. She nested and pulled fur beautifully. Her first litter(with previous owner) she gave birth to 3 stillborns. Is it worth trying again for viable kits and possibly more then 2 or 3? Or is it very likely the same thing will happen? So far she has not produced a single live kit.

 

[michaels4gardens]

although there is always hope,
I use the 3 strikes rule,
if they fail 3 times, when they have everything they need to succeed,
they are "out".

 

[WyoWool]

More info is needed.

Is this doe an older doe? Was her first breeding and pregnancy at an advanced age?

I have had does that were several years old at time of first breeding and they struggled after giving birth. Their litters died as a result of those mamas not really attending the kits for a couple hours and the babies dying from exposure even in a fur nest.

Unless you were present and keeping an eagle eye on this doe, don’t assume the kits were born still. She may as well have had live kits.

She may just be a crappy or confused mom, in which case you can have a foster mom available to immediately pull the kits and place with the foster. There is something to the saying “like begets like” though, so you may not want to breed and have kits from this clueless mom. But bloodlines are bloodlines, and I have kept kits from DUMB useless moms raised by foster moms and been successful showing with kits pulled from those barn idiots.

Time of the year may help too. If she’s an older out of shape doe, she might need a couple hours after delivery to take care of her own body. Alive kits can sit uncovered in a nest a lot longer in May than in December while mama is taking care of her own bleeding etc.

If she was a young fit doe, I’d do exactly as Michaels4gardens. Three strikes and you’re gone. If she was older, I’d give more chances but ready at a moments notice to pull those kits. But ONLY if her genetics were worth it to me.

 

[Danimshell]

I should have given a bit more info in my post...Her first pregnancy was at a young age. I watched her kindle the entire time, this is what happened..It seemed like she was going into labor on evening 31, she was jumping in and out of next box, digging like crazy, pulling fur and sitting in nest box breathing heavy and then it went away and she acted normal, day 32 she was pretty normal until the afternoon. She jumped into her nest box and I watched her have a few contx and then she jumped out and delivered two still born kits on the wire. They were completely blue and lifeless, I took them out and rubbed them, nothing. They were big, maybe 5 inches long. The more I think about it, I think labor started and they got stuck and died in the womb.

 

[WyoWool]

Danimshell, that’s a tough one.
If it were me, and her genetics were valuable to me, I would let her heal up and try again with either a non-lop buck or a buck with a very small crown. Nothing with a big head! A good month or two, at least, of rest and make sure there wasn’t any damage to her vulva or other physical defect from this labor. Then breed to a handpicked male. If she delivers those kits safely, you will know it’s the size of the kits that was the problem from the previous pregnancies.