Starting a Colony--pregnancy question

[ekaelliott]

My husband and I are just starting a colony. I raised rabbits for 4-H as a kid (in cages) and we have decided that it would be nice to know where some of our meat comes from. I have been having fertility difficulties with my rabbits and in my searches found the colony approach very interesting. I am almost done setting up my colony and am ready to move my does. We have decided to keep the bucks separate to make it easier on the does (not being pregnant all the time). I have two does who I want to introduce at the same time (so it is new territory for them both). However one of them may kindle as early as beginning of next week. The doe that might kindle is the more aggressive and I am confident she will be the dominant doe. Should I wait to introduce them or take the risk and move them now?

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

Welcome to the forum!!!!

Introducing adult does can be difficult...honestly your better bet is to let the pregnant doe kindle and then hold back one of her doe kits. That way the younger doe grows up in the colony and the older doe is less likely to harass or hurt her daughter who she raised than some stranger-doe.

It can still go south though so watch them closely! I had a pair, two sisters...never had issues...until one day they tried to kill each other. They could never be cages where they could even SEE each other, or they'd growl and bite the bars. :roll:

Either way you choose to do it, best of luck!

 

[luvbunnies]

I agree with the mother daughter thing. Younger rabbits will watch and learn from older ones. I think it helps the younger one to be submissive. Our most aggressive doe is nicer to a daughter that has been kept with her a most of the time. She's still the boss but the dynamic seems to work well. Always gotta watch thoes does though, ecspically if she's got kits in a nest.

 

[dangerbunny]

I would give the does time to get used to a colony before adding babies and pregnant doe hormones. I have had great success introducing does and have had mixed breed colonies. A lot depends on your rabbits, neither my silver fox or my holland lops are what you would consider aggressive.

I guess if you are willing to risk the litter you can give it a try, if the litter isn't worth risking leave her put until she weans them.

 

[Disney]

They need 2/3 days to get to know eachother and sort out who is dominant and who's submissive.
If you say, 1 week until kindling.. you could go with it. They will probably be okay since there is nothing to fight about.
So don't worry about them hurting eachother when both are strange in the pen.

I've had over 10 doe's (with and without a neutered buck) and the girls have never fought eachother.
The dominant female might oppose some lower ranked doe's by next spring if she wants the reorganize the group.
When that happens, she will reject them without hurting them so i wouldn't worry too much about it.

Just watch their behaviour every day and make sure they are fine and get along.
If you notice nipping, chasing and signs of distress. You can always step in.

 

[dobergoat]

I'm new to colonies. But before I put my does together I put their cages side by side( mother/daughter but separated for 5 months). They both kindled side by side a few weeks apart, raised young beside one another and at weaning time I put both adult does and one of their female kits into the colony all at the same time early in the am. Filled the feeders and watched for an hour. Then checked on them a few times through out the day. Ours only chased one another for a bit, one got dominated and then they've been buddies since then. Were now learning about kindling in a colony....That is a whole other learning curve for me and for the rabbits.

 

[ekaelliott]

Thanks for all the thoughts! I decided to wait to introduce the does until weaning time. We just got the colony ready this weekend and will let the bucks have fun in there for now. I'll take them out and add the does when its time. Both of the does are new to me and I decided it might be good to see what kind of mothers they are in general before adding extra stress. One of the does must not have been handled much (or was mishandled) and she gets aggressive when I try to handle her so I'm a little concerned about how she will be with other rabbits. I'm not sure of the correlation between aggression toward humans and aggression toward other rabbits... On a side note, the bucks are loving all the space! I'm glad we are switching to the colony method even with the initial anxiety around introducing everyone!

 

[Disney]

It might have something to do with the pregnancy, i have had doe's that turned agressive for a little while, its a temporary thing.
Is she scared of you? You could try to bond with her with a gentle approach, offer her greens when you open the door of her cage and show her that you mean well. She will slowly start to like you and even come to greet you at the door.

Here is a pic of my current colony, the 4 doe's are new to the colony. White is the neutered buck. The black one is pregnant from a buck outside the colony. The former colony females moved to new home's.

 

[ekaelliott]

This doe has been aggressive from the start. She was also underweight and had sores on her hocks so I'm thinking she hasn't been socialized much or had much attention. She has gotten better in that she doesn't attack me when I get in her hutch to get her food dish. She will eat a cracker out of my hand. If I try to get her out of the cage she will run to avoid me, scratch at me, and has bit me. I now use a towel to cover her face when I need to get her out for attention or weighing. Again, I'm not sure if she would be equally aggressive to other rabbits but I'm still waiting to see if she will be a good mother. Last night was 30 days since breeding and she hasn't pulled hair yet.