I have a ton of litters coming up very soon, if all goes well! Currently 4 does are bred, which is the most I've ever bred at one time. Their due dates are scattered over this month and next, which I didn't do on purpose, but one doe refused to breed on the same day as another, and lately I haven't had enough time in the day to spend breeding all the stubborn does while letting the bucks rest as well.
In this post I just want to talk about a few things I've been thinking this week.
In this post I just want to talk about a few things I've been thinking this week.
Beth is a cream doe from LCL's Angus and Bramblehedge's Typhoon and I bred her to Holly's Finn last month. She's due on Sunday (tomorrow, lol) and has a huge belly! Yesterday I felt and saw lots of kicks and wiggles. I think she's going to have quite a few, since she's a first timer I don't know if she'll do everything right but I'm hoping for more than 4 in her litter, and honestly, I'm guessing she'll have 6. She started nesting at the beginning of the week, and a few days ago started pulling fur for her nest. I gave her the nestbox a couple days ago finally and now she's ready - just the waiting game now!
Most likely when her kits are born they'll come inside with me every night since temperatures often drop below freezing for a portion of the night. However, this also depends on how many babies she has. If she has 2-4 surviving kits most likely I'll bring them inside, if she has 5 or more I'll probably leave them out because they'll stay so warm together. I'm also really excited for this litter because Beth is a false dwarf, which means no peanuts! I'm excited to see what colors we get too. Possible colors are chestnut, orange, opal and cream, among others!
Most likely when her kits are born they'll come inside with me every night since temperatures often drop below freezing for a portion of the night. However, this also depends on how many babies she has. If she has 2-4 surviving kits most likely I'll bring them inside, if she has 5 or more I'll probably leave them out because they'll stay so warm together. I'm also really excited for this litter because Beth is a false dwarf, which means no peanuts! I'm excited to see what colors we get too. Possible colors are chestnut, orange, opal and cream, among others!
The next doe I bred, around the 18th of this month, is Clementine. She's had two litters before but the first one was 3 or 4 DOA and the second was 5 - with 4 DOA and a kit that only lived a couple days. I bred her to Finn. If she doesn't have live kits this time (that actually LIVE), she'll be sold as a pet. This is really her last chance so we'll see how it goes. Clem is due on February 17th. She was being pretty stubborn with Finn, and he was only able to get two takes. So we'll see if she even gets pregnant.
Another thing that really bugs me about Clementine (as if only having dead babies wasn't enough), is that she absolutely REFUSES to nest in the nestbox. She always ignores it and builds her nest in the opposite corner. It gets so irritating. Last time, I just let her have the babies in the little nest she made opposite to the nestbox. I was there for the birth so I was able to put the kits in the box right away. But they were all dead anyway, except for one that died a few days later, which is so weird. Hopefully this time she'll get her act together and raise some babies!
The next does I bred on the same day, and they are due on the 20th of next month. I tried to breed the chestnut doe, Heidi, on the same day as Beth and then again on the same day as Clementine but she REFUSED to lift. She finally bred for me on the 19th of this month. Yay! She's getting older (she's around 9 months old now) and I need to get some babies out of her. I bred her to Holly's Percy, and it was his first time, so we'll see if she even gets pregnant. She only got two takes, which is still better than none, but it's not as many as I like so we'll see.
Another thing that really bugs me about Clementine (as if only having dead babies wasn't enough), is that she absolutely REFUSES to nest in the nestbox. She always ignores it and builds her nest in the opposite corner. It gets so irritating. Last time, I just let her have the babies in the little nest she made opposite to the nestbox. I was there for the birth so I was able to put the kits in the box right away. But they were all dead anyway, except for one that died a few days later, which is so weird. Hopefully this time she'll get her act together and raise some babies!
The next does I bred on the same day, and they are due on the 20th of next month. I tried to breed the chestnut doe, Heidi, on the same day as Beth and then again on the same day as Clementine but she REFUSED to lift. She finally bred for me on the 19th of this month. Yay! She's getting older (she's around 9 months old now) and I need to get some babies out of her. I bred her to Holly's Percy, and it was his first time, so we'll see if she even gets pregnant. She only got two takes, which is still better than none, but it's not as many as I like so we'll see.
Finn has been getting a lot of ladies lately! I bred M&S Sarah to him and she was SO ready and willing! So nice to have an easy doe for once! She lifted three times no problem, and then I let her and Finn rest for a couple hours and introduced them again, and he got another 2 takes! I'm super excited to see babies out of her. She's produced amazing bright orange kits for my friend Liz so I'm hopeful for some fun colors! I'm also hoping she has a nice big litter. I bred her on the same day as a first timer because, if need be, I can foster Heidi's (or even Clementine's), babies over to her since she's a great foster mom.
Out of all of these litters I'm most hopeful for some brokens from my broken orange girls! I need a nice broken buck and I would prefer not to buy one, so I've been hoping I'll be able to produce one. We'll see how it works out this time around. I would also love it if Sarah produced a showable version of herself so I can work with just does out of my own line. Out of the solid girls, I'm really hoping for nice show quality replacements. If one of them has huge litters and produces showy babies, they'll be kept for that. But this year I'm trying to have more show quality rabbits than brood does and bucks. Right now my herd is predominantly brood rabbits. Besides my new junior doe Fern, the only doe I have that would do well at a show is Butterfly! That needs to change!
I hope you guys enjoyed this long (and possibly, boring), post about the upcoming litters in my rabbitry. I enjoy writing these because I love looking back a year or more later and seeing where my herd has been.
Out of all of these litters I'm most hopeful for some brokens from my broken orange girls! I need a nice broken buck and I would prefer not to buy one, so I've been hoping I'll be able to produce one. We'll see how it works out this time around. I would also love it if Sarah produced a showable version of herself so I can work with just does out of my own line. Out of the solid girls, I'm really hoping for nice show quality replacements. If one of them has huge litters and produces showy babies, they'll be kept for that. But this year I'm trying to have more show quality rabbits than brood does and bucks. Right now my herd is predominantly brood rabbits. Besides my new junior doe Fern, the only doe I have that would do well at a show is Butterfly! That needs to change!
I hope you guys enjoyed this long (and possibly, boring), post about the upcoming litters in my rabbitry. I enjoy writing these because I love looking back a year or more later and seeing where my herd has been.
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