waiting for some--first time troubles for another...

[cereshill]

We had a first time doe deliver three this am on the wire and nest. One perished quickly; she never pulled fur and her milk doesn't seem to have come in. The two remaining slowly perished....

She was quite nervous and seems out of sort; the doe is a NZ white that is just 6 months...
I will give her another couple chances at this point.

We have three other does that are now on the clock... one is so pronounced I cannot believe we are still waiting!

 

[MaggieJ]

Six months is young - that means you bred her at five months, which is really only 20 weeks. Many first-timers of that age are completely clueless. They don't know what is happening and their nesting instincts sometimes just don't kick in. I like my does to be at seven months old before I breed them. I know a lot of people breed them earlier, but losing first litters is hard on everyone and something I prefer to avoid. Your doe will likely do much better next time. Hope your other does do well for you.

 

[cereshill]

Hi Maggie,

I realize that there are many thoughts on this, she was a May/June kit and she and a sibling were bred successfully (first time) in Nov/Dec. The sibling was the one that was a week late, this one was right on schedule at day 29.
I had bred them at this age due to conformation, after chatting with Dean Goforth (he uses a 4-4.5 first time age) and a desire to learn etc.
I am hoping that 5-6 mos is going to work for our meat buns with a 42 day breed back. That is the plan I am working to implement.

 

[Brody]

I think breeding animals too young reduces the overall health of the animal - which MUST have an impact on length/quality of use - you are obviously aiming for a very commercial approach which I understand from a financial point of view
I do not think breeding animals young is healthy for them - and I suspect that overall you will get less kits from each doe - if you have enough around I guess it doesn't matter but the individual animal will always matter to me.

 

[MaggieJ]

This is my feeling too, Brody. The difference between "able to breed" and "ready to breed" is such a short time that I think it is worth waiting. But I do realize that many commercial breeders start their rabbits very young.

Something to be considered as well, CH, is that you are raising your rabbits on natural feed for the most part. This generally means they mature later than pellet-fed rabbits. Just something to consider. How does Dean Goforth feed his rabbits?

 

[cereshill]

Dean is obviously a pellet only feeder; I am augmenting some of the buns with comm pellets--not all. based on your input, I am fine waiting another month, it won't affect our production plans for next autumnn as we have plenty of time for them to grow out.

Should I rebreed her or wait a month?

 

[MaggieJ]

When is the next time you will be breeding other does? You will want to breed her at a time when there are possible fosters available. If you have any rabbits coming up for rebreeding in a few weeks time, that's when I would breed her, although you could make an argument for immediate breed-back as well, as long as you are breeding more than one. She's close to seven months now if she was born May/June. How is her current condition? That is a factor too.

 

[cereshill]

I will likly wait, she seems a litle thinner than I would prefer. Her mom was just rebred (42 days) and has a nice litter (third in 2009) that is all female. I lost 4 due to nest box escapees in Nov. Really a shame as they have really filled out nicely!
Perhaps its for teh better as the three does have great conformation and should be ready in June... for breeding that is!

 

[Brody]

i'd wait for her condition to be optimum personally

 

[MaggieJ]

If she's on the thin side, I suggest waiting a bit. It's the toughest part of the year for all the animals... I'm not planning to breed any of mine now until the middle of February at the earliest. When they kindle, mid to end of March, the weather should be somewhat better.