6 months at the least...if she looks ready....6 months is pushing it...look at her lady bits and go by the color
I...disagree that six months is "pushing it." And I do know about the ladypart color thing.
Youngest I bred a doe was 16 weeks, I think? Nursed 5 kits, rebred a week or so later for a litter of 14, and all the while she continued to grow as normal.
Very cool!!!
I just get nervous that they might get stuck...thats all...its happened to me before..so im paranoid now
A stuck kit can happen for many reasons, not the least of which is a small litter tends to grow bigger kits in utero, and some does have genetically narrow hips.
Stuck kits worry me too...but with all pregnancies there is inherent risk.
One of your big'uns or the littles? The bigs can be 'old enough' at 16 weeks or so, the littles, I haven't a clue
She's a "betweensie" sized, LOL. Small compared to my big rabbits, big compared to my small rabbits, if that makes sense...?
Didn't someone here post a thread on the same topic a while ago and mention that he/she had tried young does and ''normal'' agae does, and the young ones got through pregnancies as well as cared for their kits better?
I thought I saw that but couldn't remember where.
I would think it's strange that an animal like the rabbits would need to wait an extra bit. I wonder - does that happen at all in the wild?
That's a good point...probably not, is my guess.
I guess i will do what FS was talking about and check the lady bits.
The color changes in her vulva are more reflective of cycling, and many does will cycle in a week or so, so it's an ever-changing thing. Just checked a three-year-old doe...nope, not ready. :roll: I'll check her again in two days, ten to one she'll be dark purple then.
3 months is the earliest...they can successfully have kits then, they can also not successfully have kits then. Depends on the doe.
To be fair I don't know much about this doe...part of why I snagged her so cheap.
when they are young like that.. a lot of them don't make good nest and have babies on the wire .. ect..
................yeah but ANY doe can do that on their first time. First timers no matter what age tend to be a little clueless. And technically ANY doe can have issues. Heck, earlier this summer I had a doe who is a proven doe, few years old, NEVER made a nest, birthed them on the wire, pulled some hair two weeks before delivery (and precious little at that) and never pulled another tuft, also she just dropped the fur onto the wire willy-nilly, had her kits on the wire, and after I got them in the nest box (and built her darn nest FOR her) she refused to nurse them. I lost the whole litter. Plus...I will totally be breeding her at the same time as an experienced doe, so fostering is an option.
wait at least 5 months..You might be in a rush..
........I really cannot wait that long. Literally, if I have to feed her that long and not try to breed her before then, I may as well dress her out and eat her now.
I like this doe, I'd like to justify keeping her, but I need litters out of her as soon as possible, hence asking what is the youngest one can safely breed a doe.
she will have them and she will not feed them or really nervous because she dosnt know what is going on and eats them ect..Then you have to breed her again. so you are no further ahead.. so just wait.
Okay...this is gonna sound cruel and probably make me sound like a terrible person, but...if my experienced foster-doe misses or something, and Tootsie won't nurse her kits...I can breed her back as soon as she's healed from the birth. The kits, if I for some reason can't foster them to another doe (i.e., foster doe missed, foster doe's litter is humongous and can't take any more, foster doe has an issue such as no milk), will be swiftly culled and prepped. This doe's function is to make cat food. Little kits are like cat crack, LOL. I'd rather feed them up and wean them, more meat that way, but it won't totally ruin the day if I have to package newborns instead of weanlings. Heck, if she has big litters (please oh please have big litters, Tootsie!) I can pull them as soon as they are about the size of a coke can.
That's why this doe doesn't get the same protocols as my Mini Rex, for example. I want live, preferabbly show-quality kits from them. I can afford to wait for them to mature, blossom, grow and show before breeding. The results I need are vastly different for this crossbred meat doe. Litter failure isn't really failure unless she fails to have a litter.
The doe I was talking about was an american blue and got preg at 4 months, I had to pull out the kits,,,,
Different needs, different situation.
I think maybe I should have clarified that I really ONLY need to know when she can successfully carry a litter to term without direct harm when I asked the original question, not how good of a mother she'll be.
I bred one of my rex does when she was 5 months. She built a good nest, had nine big kits, lost two, and the remaining seven are 4 weeks old and looking good. She waited until the last possible second to start pulling fur, but once she started she built a really nice nest in her box. No kits on the wire.
Sounds like a good mom!!!
Every doe is different, just like people. Only you know what your rabbits are like, how they grow, their behavior, etc. If she's a decent size and she looks ready I say go for it. There's a certain level of risk with ANY breeding.
Thank you!
I'll check her vulva at 16 weeks to see if she's cycling yet, then see if she'll accept a buck.
Don't mean to hijack the thread, but what about if you don't know the age of your doe?
That's a good (and not-hijacking) question.
I'm not sure, actually.
