Let me see if I can explain without getting too complicated...lol
Fred and Morgan had a litter which included black, blue and red does. I processed Morgan and kept the three does as the next generation of breeders.
In the left side of the colony was the blue doe, her 12 week old litter of seven and her four week old litter of five (The frozen five) who Fred is also the father. He stayed with her for three weeks without incident, then I swapped him over with the others with no problem.
In the right side of the colony was Fred, the red doe, her 10 week old litter of seven and the black doe.
We enjoyed harmony and peace in the colony...
Two weekends ago, I swapped Fred over to the side with the blue doe. The bucks in her older litter basically set upon Fred and rode him steady for about ten minutes until I decided it wasn't a good situation and put him back with the others.
This past weekend, I process the blue doe's older litter, cleaned out the colony, put fresh straw and swapped Fred over with the blue doe. She basically attacked him and chased him around until he dove into the nestbox with the now five week old litter. No harm done to the litter but he wouldn't come out. Each time I took him out she would chase him around until he fled to the nestbox again. The were running so fast they were banging off the walls and she was trying to bite his behind.
After about three days of him being practically confined to the nestbox I put him back in the right side with the other does last night. Peace and harmony, right? Not quite...
Black doe just had a litter of eight this past weekend and was in a protective mood about her nest. Much chasing around ensued. After a while, they all seemed to go to their corners and, as I didn't have any other options, I came inside and let them sort it out.
When I went outside to do chores this morning all was quiet. Fred and the red doe were eating out of a feeder side by side and everyone else was just lying around.
I guess my dilemma is that if the blue doe isn't going to accept Fred then my plan of swapping him over every three weeks isn't going to work. He's no stranger to her as they can see each other through the cage wire in the divider and they have had a litter together. When Fred was with Morgan full time they got along very well and she produced a litter every four or five weeks which I thought was a bit much but everything was peaceful. Maybe I"ll process the blue doe and just open up the colony fully and let Fred, Black doe and Red doe do what comes naturally. The full colony is five feet wide and 18 feet long so there is lots of room.
Make plans then life happens...lol! Sorry about the convoluted story...
Fred and Morgan had a litter which included black, blue and red does. I processed Morgan and kept the three does as the next generation of breeders.
In the left side of the colony was the blue doe, her 12 week old litter of seven and her four week old litter of five (The frozen five) who Fred is also the father. He stayed with her for three weeks without incident, then I swapped him over with the others with no problem.
In the right side of the colony was Fred, the red doe, her 10 week old litter of seven and the black doe.
We enjoyed harmony and peace in the colony...
Two weekends ago, I swapped Fred over to the side with the blue doe. The bucks in her older litter basically set upon Fred and rode him steady for about ten minutes until I decided it wasn't a good situation and put him back with the others.
This past weekend, I process the blue doe's older litter, cleaned out the colony, put fresh straw and swapped Fred over with the blue doe. She basically attacked him and chased him around until he dove into the nestbox with the now five week old litter. No harm done to the litter but he wouldn't come out. Each time I took him out she would chase him around until he fled to the nestbox again. The were running so fast they were banging off the walls and she was trying to bite his behind.
After about three days of him being practically confined to the nestbox I put him back in the right side with the other does last night. Peace and harmony, right? Not quite...
Black doe just had a litter of eight this past weekend and was in a protective mood about her nest. Much chasing around ensued. After a while, they all seemed to go to their corners and, as I didn't have any other options, I came inside and let them sort it out.
When I went outside to do chores this morning all was quiet. Fred and the red doe were eating out of a feeder side by side and everyone else was just lying around.
I guess my dilemma is that if the blue doe isn't going to accept Fred then my plan of swapping him over every three weeks isn't going to work. He's no stranger to her as they can see each other through the cage wire in the divider and they have had a litter together. When Fred was with Morgan full time they got along very well and she produced a litter every four or five weeks which I thought was a bit much but everything was peaceful. Maybe I"ll process the blue doe and just open up the colony fully and let Fred, Black doe and Red doe do what comes naturally. The full colony is five feet wide and 18 feet long so there is lots of room.
Make plans then life happens...lol! Sorry about the convoluted story...