Sterility in Bucks

[macksmom98]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you have experienced heat sterility in your bucks? What would your guess be on the percentage of bucks that become sterile because of high temps? I won't hold you to your answers I am just curious, and I realize I won't know until we see kits or don't. I know there are several factors involved too, we live in the south where it's not and humid....

 

[alforddm]

I have three does that I bred in the middle of August that are due around Monday. I "think" they are bred. I'm really terrible at palpating so I don't know for sure. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[macksmom98]

Please do! I am really good at sexing (so far) but awful at palpating too. We have one that I am watching for the 15th due date. She acts a little weird but not at all like her mom did when pregnant. She's also a 5 no virgin Doe and her mom was 18 months when she was first bred, so not a great comparative situation.

 

[FourRingCircus]

This is only my first year breeding rabbits, but after nearly 100% breeding success in the spring (even one that never lifted that I thought for sure wasn't pregnant!) he's been batting 0 the last couple months. Successful breeding attempts, there's no doubt about that, but due dates come and go with nothing to show. I have two due today! so we'll see. They look plump, but they aren't the trimmest of rabbits anyway so who knows. I can't palpitate either... even the one that had 11 I never felt anything :slap: . The last ones that kindled a couple/few months ago didn't have very successful litters either so I am guessing he was on his way out with them already paired with the heat that I am sure took it's toll on them (sometimes June is fairly mild, but this year it was brutal. Had I known I wouldn't have bred them in May ).

 

[Dood]

I've never had a problem but we don't get 90' weather for weeks and the nights usually drop down to the 70's to give the Bucks little swimmers a chance to recover

 

[akane]

Usually around august most of mine would go sterile. Nearly all of them. They recover sometime in late sept-oct but by then my does are having nov litters and last year it snowed in nov. By jan it's subzero most years so fall litters were always hit or miss. Certain does could nest and feed well enough to pull it off and the rest were subject to nov-dec weather plus occasionally weaning would cause certain lines to have respiratory symptoms for a few if the Jan temps decided to swing.

 

[Ramjet]

Mine go sterile .... Last year was particularly bad. Didn't get a doe bred until October with the heat lasting thru the end of August and into September.

This year August and September haven't been near as hot .... I'm hoping to have kits the end of this month.

I usually wont breed after April so the last kits are born in May or early June but from that point on its just too hot to have does carry or kindle. They are stressed enough with 90+ temps and very high humidity for ~100 consecutive days.

There is another thread on the subject from a couple weeks ago .... has some links discussing the duration of heat related sterility which can last up to 6 weeks as the formation of the cells is between 41-70 days - depending upon who's data you accept. Here's the link

buck-going-sterile-in-heat-t4471-15.html

 

[macksmom98]

That's exactly what I did. She had her kits on 4/13 and I let her nurse them for 8 weeks, then they started going to new homes. By then it was June and I didn't want her to have to be pregnant in the heat, or the kits to get too hot, so we decided to wait. Hoping for more soon but feeling like it probably won't happen til Oct-Nov

 

[imajpm]

Mine have never gone sterile either. I am wondering if it's the cool nights that save them. We have had a horrible long very hot summer and still no sterile bucks. Temp was dropping 40 degrees from day to night.

 

[Deer Heart]

The woes of the south. At least I can breed through winter :razz2:

Unfortunately my buns reached breeding age immediately before temps skyrocketed in these parts and I've been trying ever since. My buck went mostly sterile, but breeding like crazy seems to of helped as he finally knocked up 2 out of 5. Now if only the remaining 3 would be more cooperative.... at least I can smell fall on the air now and things should be improving real soon. :bunnyhop:

 

[Ramjet]

Mine have never gone sterile either. I am wondering if it's the cool nights that save them. We have had a horrible long very hot summer and still no sterile bucks. Temp was dropping 40 degrees from day to night.

Yeah , those cooler nights spare you the irritation ....

 

[imajpm]

Yeah , those cooler nights spare you the irritation ....

And the irritation of tossing and turning and sweating all night long! I have lived in a few places like that

 

[macksmom98]

Oh the nights are horrible! We went camping last weekend and the a/c went out in the travel trailer, at 1am. You don't know how easy you have it til that happens, and let me say, we left quick and in a hurray. I feel awful for the buns who have such thick fur having to deal with it

 

[FourRingCircus]

Oh the nights are horrible! We went camping last weekend and the a/c went out in the travel trailer, at 1am. You don't know how easy you have it til that happens, and let me say, we left quick and in a hurray. I feel awful for the buns who have such thick fur having to deal with it

We actually tent camped last yeah in SC at the end of July/beginning of August. I have no idea what I was thinking when I agreed to that plan! :lol: (It was for the Forrest Wood Cup - the Super Bowl of bass fishing). I will say, we had a spot on the edge of the lake and it was a bit of heaven on earth in the shade (My hammock was up before the tent ). Surprisingly not too humid. Especially compared to what SC is usually like that time of year. And no thunderstorms or anything! We were very fortunate and blessed that trip. I was mentally prepared for the worst though, and the perk was that because we were semi-accustomed to the outside temps we had the outdoor part of the expo almost to ourselves, everyone else was inside in the AC! Got to chat with some of the pros, lots of goodies. It was great!

OK, sorry, waaaayyyyyy off topic though.

I will say, I can't imagine wearing a fur coat in the summer. Ugh.

 

[macksmom98]

I don't mind-always love a good camping story!!!

 

[alforddm]

I'm fairly sure my 3 does all missed. They are on days 32 and 33. I was fairly sure one was pregnant due to her size but she was lifting for me when I petted her last night so.... I rebred one of them today and will do the other two tomorrow if no kits. I'm not terribly surprised considering we had high temps well over 100 for several weeks in a row at the end of July and first half of August. Just a little disappointed.

I seriously need to learn to palpate.

I have several young does I was trying to stagger my litters but may just go ahead and try and breed everyone. Maybe then I'll at least get a couple of litters.

 

[macksmom98]

Awe that stinks! I need to learn how to palpate too. Right now I am just putting Bucks and Dkes together like crazy to try and get stared up again,
and trying to keep track of everything to know when to watch out......I wish they wernt so good at hiding things!

 

[dangerbunny]

I've gotten good at palpating, the key is to palpate all the bunnies, until you get really good at feeling normal rabbit insides and then you can totally feel babies on a two week pregnant doe.

I think I have some heat sterility in my older bucks, I've also got quite a few who are just now getting back into the breeding mood. Often during the heat of the summer they are more interested in hanging out over making babies. I'm in Lower Michigan so not as hot as some places but we get some solid heat and humidity. I try to time it so I have a young buck ready for fall breedings because I figure they have an higher overall fertility.

 

[alforddm]

Young bucks are more fertile overall. TAMUK recommends using young bucks as part of their heat resistant rabbits program. I was hoping mine would be ok as he won't be a yr until October but no such luck.

One of my does I went ahead and bred to both bucks. She was a bit hard get bred so I put her with my mutt buck as well as my rex buck. She has rex fur so it will be easy to tell which buck (if any) sired her kits. I wish my Rex buck was as aggressive a breeder as my mutt buck. He just isn't.

I'm reluctant to breed my other does to both bucks however because I have no way to know for sure which one sired the kits.

 

[Nika]

I didn`t even know about heat sterility before I gor here It is true, 20 years ago when we čast had rabbits it wasn`t so hot than in the last few years, but nevertheless my buck performed beautifully this year. I bred them between heatwaves, but his young sperm didn´t mind so I have 10 + 9 babies. Good job boy