So I'll start with the background info.
My bunnies right now are a colony style trio. Male champagne d'argent (Sir Captain Overlord Nibbler), female champagne d'argent (Alfalfa), female Flemish giant (Clover) (REW).
they will be a year in May. Back in December they both lost a litter due to the cold. Was the first time kindling for both of them. I don't think it was their fault due to a random cold snap of -40°f the week they had them... And it being their first time something was bound to go wrong. They each had 12 that time. Yeah, huge litters. I would be butchering and selling a bunch of bunnies right now. Stupid cold weather. (Its really strange to be on a forum that its okay to say butcher and bunnies in the same sentence. So awesome too!)
So, fast forward to last week. I have 2 litters again! The does are choosing to breed the buck at the same time, which is awesome.
Alfalfa is an awesome mom this time around. She had 6, lost 1, and has adopted two of Clovers to =7. Her nest making leaves something to be desired but she is using a ton of hay around the babies, just not pulling as much fur.
Clover made an awesome nest. Had 9 babies, all survived. Gave 2 to Alfalfa. Her nest looks like she pulled half her hair to make!
Now here's the issue.
Alfalfa is feeding her babies until they look like balls with feet. As of today (her babies are a week old today) they are huge. Each is the size of my hand. GIANT babies. Full bellies constantly.
Clover... Clover, clover, Clover. Her babies are alive. But they are about 3/4ths the size of Alfalfa's. And her babies are 2 days older. The ones I put in with Alfalfa are the same size as Alfalfa's. Clovers babies have full bellies, but they look, well, wrinkly all the time still. Not at all like Alfalfa's. So either her milk production is way less, or Alfalfa is feeding hers 3x more than Clover.
These ARE for meat, and I'll sell a few just for feeding themselves.
I was already planning on keeping two of the cross breed does to breed back to the buck and have 1/4 flemish, 3/4 champagnes for butchering.
Should I give Clover another shot at mother-hood this spring? Or should I sell her as pet-only? How can I determine if its genetic or not without spending a year on her babies? I mean, I will do it if I need to, of course I probably WILL to see what happens. If its genetic I don't want that anywhere near my herd and future babies. She is a really sweet bunny overall, and has no issue with me in the box checking on the babies. Alfalfa is the one that hates being handled, hates touch, refuses to let us pick her up, but is such an awesome mother that now I know I will DEFINITELY be keeping her. Because of her behavior I actually was willing to put her on the chopping block. But I can deal with rarely handling her and having a great momma.
I wish I could just combine the two of them into a super momma. Great hair-pulling, great feeding. Although to me right now the feeding is trumping the fur, since Alfalfa is using so much more hay to cover her babies its a non issue.
My bunnies right now are a colony style trio. Male champagne d'argent (Sir Captain Overlord Nibbler), female champagne d'argent (Alfalfa), female Flemish giant (Clover) (REW).
they will be a year in May. Back in December they both lost a litter due to the cold. Was the first time kindling for both of them. I don't think it was their fault due to a random cold snap of -40°f the week they had them... And it being their first time something was bound to go wrong. They each had 12 that time. Yeah, huge litters. I would be butchering and selling a bunch of bunnies right now. Stupid cold weather. (Its really strange to be on a forum that its okay to say butcher and bunnies in the same sentence. So awesome too!)
So, fast forward to last week. I have 2 litters again! The does are choosing to breed the buck at the same time, which is awesome.
Alfalfa is an awesome mom this time around. She had 6, lost 1, and has adopted two of Clovers to =7. Her nest making leaves something to be desired but she is using a ton of hay around the babies, just not pulling as much fur.
Clover made an awesome nest. Had 9 babies, all survived. Gave 2 to Alfalfa. Her nest looks like she pulled half her hair to make!
Now here's the issue.
Alfalfa is feeding her babies until they look like balls with feet. As of today (her babies are a week old today) they are huge. Each is the size of my hand. GIANT babies. Full bellies constantly.
Clover... Clover, clover, Clover. Her babies are alive. But they are about 3/4ths the size of Alfalfa's. And her babies are 2 days older. The ones I put in with Alfalfa are the same size as Alfalfa's. Clovers babies have full bellies, but they look, well, wrinkly all the time still. Not at all like Alfalfa's. So either her milk production is way less, or Alfalfa is feeding hers 3x more than Clover.
These ARE for meat, and I'll sell a few just for feeding themselves.
I was already planning on keeping two of the cross breed does to breed back to the buck and have 1/4 flemish, 3/4 champagnes for butchering.
Should I give Clover another shot at mother-hood this spring? Or should I sell her as pet-only? How can I determine if its genetic or not without spending a year on her babies? I mean, I will do it if I need to, of course I probably WILL to see what happens. If its genetic I don't want that anywhere near my herd and future babies. She is a really sweet bunny overall, and has no issue with me in the box checking on the babies. Alfalfa is the one that hates being handled, hates touch, refuses to let us pick her up, but is such an awesome mother that now I know I will DEFINITELY be keeping her. Because of her behavior I actually was willing to put her on the chopping block. But I can deal with rarely handling her and having a great momma.
I wish I could just combine the two of them into a super momma. Great hair-pulling, great feeding. Although to me right now the feeding is trumping the fur, since Alfalfa is using so much more hay to cover her babies its a non issue.