Question about litter sizes

[Suzy74]

Do you find that your does tend to have the same size litter every time? We've bred our new does twice and one of them has had small litters both times. Is there a chance this will change with future litters? She's a great mom and has fat little babies, just wish she had a few more

 

[Hopalong Causually]

I've been curious about a possible genetic link to litter size myself. I have one older doe that averages less than 2 kits per litter over four breedings. She's due to kindle tomorrow and, I dare say that, her results in this attempt will play a deciding role in how much more feed I want to invest in her. Another doe has had nine kits three consecutive times. Knowing that there was, or wasn't, a genetic predisposition for litter size would aid in management decisions of the herd.

 

[Pastor Dave]

@Bunnylady is a great one to ask genetics questions. I culled a doe the other day that had 10 kits first kindle, then 5 or 6 live kits each time after til she was down to abt 4. Most of mine have a 25% or higher mortality rate.

 

[promiseacres]

Personally feel litter size is genetic. I have a line of velveteen lops that usually have 10 to 13 kits. On the 3rd generation. Only once did I get a litter of 5 and she was only bred 1x.
I am sure nutrition and other things factor in but genetics plays a big part. Actually I prefer litters of 8 to the 10-11.

You could make sure you breed another doe at the same time and use your doe with small litters to foster.

 

[mystang89]

I don't know much about genetics (actually nothing) but I believe that there are multiple factors. First I do think genetics come into play. I've tried to breed for large litters and it's seemed to work for me. At the same time though if the doe want in the "mood" when she was bred then there weren't as many eggs dropped therefore fertilized which means not as many kits.

 

[Pastor Dave]

The doe I had that would have small litters would foster another doe's kits when she had 8 or 10. It evened the nursing potential and the doe was a good foster mother.

Back in the day, my Mom said she had one doe that was a good foster mother, and that was rare in her opinion. But, my does all do a good job fostering, so Idk. I just take the kit with some gloves on, then rub and pet the foster mom while handling the kit, then place it in her nest. I also try to locate the stronger or bigger kits that are probably pretty viable. It leaves the weaker ones, or less viable to not have to compete as hard.

 

[Hopalong Causually]

I have only had two experiences fostering kits. Unlike Pastor Dave's practice of using gloves, I did nothing other than place the foster kits in the nest with their new litter mates. Maybe my doe was exceptional in accepting new kits, but she treated the new ones as her own in every way. In my case, I took the smallest kits from huge litters of first time does and fostered them over to a very attentive doe with only one or two kits of her own. In both cases, they all did splendidly. I don't discount the possibility that my doe was an exceptional foster mom and not representative of rabbits in general.

 

[Bunnylady]

There are a lot of things that come into play regarding litter size, including genetics, age of the doe, health of the doe, the owner's maintenance practices, timing of the breeding(s), the buck . . . and I'm sure there are others that I can't think of right now. But yeah, some does just never have really big litters, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. Someone doing research on meat rabbits came up with 6 as being pretty much the ideal litter size when it comes to efficiently getting the babies to slaughter weight. Apparently, does produce only so much milk, so babies from large litters grow slower until they start eating on their own.

As for fostering, I have rarely had a problem; as I like to say, my does can't count. I just try to make sure that any babies I put in with a different mother are somehow distinguishable from her own (different breeds and/or colors, usually); if I am writing pedigrees or possibly retaining a breeder, I want to know who the parents were.

 

[popcornchicken]

When we kindle anything over 6 we foster if possible. We always breed at least 2-3 Does at a time so we have several options to foster, but if it gets to the point of too many kits, we will cull so we have 6 kits at the most, preferably 5. We raise NZ whites and are usually hitting 5 #s at 10 weeks, there are always some stragglers, but typically we're real close to 5#s, with several being over