Will upset doe get pregnant?

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ida1416

ida1416

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I have a couple of first time does that have been reluctant. Running away from the buck again and again. I'd give them a few minutes then take them away and try the next day. Same story. He was finally able to get two of them in a corner and he fell off and looks like they were bred but I've heard that does wont ovulate unless they were receptive to the male. I've seen receptive does and these guys are not it. Do you think they'll get pregnant? What have your experiences been with this?
 
ida1416 said:
I have a couple of first time does that have been reluctant. Running away from the buck again and again. I'd give them a few minutes then take them away and try the next day. Same story. He was finally able to get two of them in a corner and he fell off and looks like they were bred but I've heard that does wont ovulate unless they were receptive to the male. I've seen receptive does and these guys are not it. Do you think they'll get pregnant? What have your experiences been with this?
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In my herd, one successful fall-off almost always means kits 31 days later (although you should check to make sure he didn't "miss"). If your does were not receptive at all, they would not have lifted at all. Does that do not want to be bred usually keep their butts so flat to the ground you'd think they were glued.

Running around is sometimes the way they get in the mood, especially for young, inexperienced does. In fact my unresponsive does tend to just sit with their faces in the corner, and don't run around or interact with the buck at all.

Some does are more or less cooperative, and some have their own particular habits. I have one doe that is super cagey, runs around and around, allows one fall-off, then nope, no thanks, not interested anymore, I'm done. It just seems to be her way.
 
In my experience if there is a fall off, they are pregnant. My does can be crammed into a corner and the buck still cannot breed them unless they lift. If they are truly unreceptive they simply WILL NOT, and he gets nowhere.

I have had many young new does act like that, and they were fine after the first breeding, but I had one that would just panic every time I put her with the buck, performing bunny parkour. She was not worth keeping, even though she was a great mom and a sweet doe. I sold her bred to a new home with full disclosure. Hopefully they either ate her after her litter was weaned or they had a buck she was less averse to.
 
I'm new but determined to learn everything!

I'm the third owner of my New Zealand red trio. Young lady I got them from (who bought them from a rabbitry) said she'd never been able to successfully breed this doe, that she even did the rubber band trick and everything else she could think of. The doe just did not have any interest!

I added extra light, waited until her vent was a dark pink, put her in an exercise pen with her own buck who she ignored and who was unsuccessful, then put in one of my other NZ cross bucks who was bigger but unproven. She just ran in circles around him too, but she did get flat and she did lift her tail when he got close. I put her in the center with her face hidden between my feet so he could have access and she couldn't keep running and also felt safer, lifted her a little bit by her tail to get her haunches under her when she held her tail up, and that buck mounted while I also had my hand on her neck and he got one fall off. She did not seem happy about any of it. That was all I was able to get over the next 48 hours. It's been 10 days and she is looking somewhat like a furry meat brick, which the other red doe did when she was pregnant. Her attitude is better as well. Fingers are crossed! She will be a year old this month and it was cooperate soon or she would be stew, and she's too pretty and too nice of a rabbit not to give her a few more months to try.
 
ida1416 said:
I have a couple of first time does that have been reluctant. Running away from the buck again and again. I'd give them a few minutes then take them away and try the next day. Same story. He was finally able to get two of them in a corner and he fell off and looks like they were bred but I've heard that does wont ovulate unless they were receptive to the male. I've seen receptive does and these guys are not it. Do you think they'll get pregnant? What have your experiences been with this?
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In my experience, falloffs usually means a litter. So, I would assume they're pregnant. Definitely make sure they have nesting boxes just in case, you don't want newborn kits on the wire.
 
TKT said:
I'm new but determined to learn everything!

I'm the third owner of my New Zealand red trio. Young lady I got them from (who bought them from a rabbitry) said she'd never been able to successfully breed this doe, that she even did the rubber band trick and everything else she could think of. The doe just did not have any interest!

I added extra light, waited until her vent was a dark pink, put her in an exercise pen with her own buck who she ignored and who was unsuccessful, then put in one of my other NZ cross bucks who was bigger but unproven. She just ran in circles around him too, but she did get flat and she did lift her tail when he got close. I put her in the center with her face hidden between my feet so he could have access and she couldn't keep running and also felt safer, lifted her a little bit by her tail to get her haunches under her when she held her tail up, and that buck mounted while I also had my hand on her neck and he got one fall off. She did not seem happy about any of it. That was all I was able to get over the next 48 hours. It's been 10 days and she is looking somewhat like a furry meat brick, which the other red doe did when she was pregnant. Her attitude is better as well. Fingers are crossed! She will be a year old this month and it was cooperate soon or she would be stew, and she's too pretty and too nice of a rabbit not to give her a few more months to try.
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Good luck! Hope you see babies in a few weeks! 👼
 
Me as well, fingers crossed! She's been very busy messing with her hay so I think she's looking for a nest box! I'll give her one in another week.
 
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ida1416 said:
Thank you! That's helpful. Fingers crossed they take and we see beautiful little holland lop babies in a month 🤞
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How is it looking? I can generally tell if my NZ does are pregnant at about 2 weeks. They lose their abdominal tuck and their sides go straight down to the floor when they are lying down. They look like meat bricks. My American blue doe was harder to tell.
 
TKT said:
How is it looking? I can generally tell if my NZ does are pregnant at about 2 weeks. They lose their abdominal tuck and their sides go straight down to the floor when they are lying down. They look like meat bricks. My American blue doe was harder to tell.
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Still hard to tell. Bellies look a little lower and rounder but not definitive yet. Appetites have increased though. I'll be looking out for nesting and digging behaviors. The small breeds of rabbits dont show pregnancy as much as bigger rabbits in my experience especially their first litter. But I have a couple meat rabbit does that are pregnant and I agree meat brick is a perfect way to describe it!
 

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