Doe not producing... And other questions

[Freezer_pets]

Hi all. First I want to say thanks to the many posters here that take the time to share their experiences and advice. It is soooo helpful!

Last August, we bought 5 rabbits, NZ reds, with plans to keep a trio and share the other 2 with friends. The plan was for us to get a good mix of unrelated purebred rabbits and each maintain a small rabbity so we could trade stock as the years went on.

Fast forward. We have since lost / culled all 3 bucks. We have one doe who is awesome, produces great litters. The other doe however has never successfully bred. She also has no dewlap. We've bred her many times to both our bucks (which I recently lost due to incompetence on my part). She has never kindled. She is definitely a doe, have checked many times. She is however overweight, IMO. Her owners, our friends, are very much pet lovers, whereas I tend to be more of a livestock person... Hence they over feed her, I think.

My first question. Are hermaphrodites common? I keep wondering why this doe has not bred despite 2 proven bucks having successfully serviced her many times. Can weight be the more likely culprit? The lack of any dewlap has me puzzled.

Second question. I have kept a doe and a buck from past litters of my successful doe. Both sired by different bucks. If we are just looking for meat, is there any problem breeding these 2? I am hoping they will have strong large litters since their parent produced so well.

I do have access to NZ whites and am wondering if I can breed those genes I to my reds and still get the solid and broken red patterns I have now... Thus keeping the inbreeding down to a minimum.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

 

[Bossroo]

I have raised hundreds of rabbits and have never seen a hermaphrodite. Overaight, hormone imbalance, uterine infection or deformed/ lack of uterus may be the culprit in not producing a litter. I have inbred rabbits for University research for MANY generations will no ill effects ( if the parents do NOT have a fatal/ unwanted gene). When crossing a NZR x NZW... don't be surprised when they produce black offspring. Then when you breed the offspring together , the original colors will start to reappear in following generation in mixed colors in the litters.

 

[SA Farm]

Breeding half-siblings together is fine as there's enough genetic diversity there. It is wise, of course, to watch for problems and as Bossroo said unwanted or fatal genes. Most serious breeders breed daughter to father and son to mother for the purpose of checking the strengths and weaknesses in their lines. It's a very accepted and common practice.
The pet doe that won't breed sounds like a cull from your program. Our rabbits have a 3 strike rule for breeding and with repeated fails, they are culled (either sent to freezer camp, sold as pets, or occasionally kept as a pet.)
Introducing white will diversify your blood-pool and, again, as Bossroo said get you some interesting colors that you can breed back to your reds to get more reds back again.
You may even get lucky and get a rew hiding/carrying red

 

[Freezer_pets]

Thanks everyone, it appears we'll still be eating rabbit

 

[Bunnylady]

The problem with breeding to the NZW is that you can't be sure whether one carries all of the necessary genes to make a "good" red. Red is a complex color; it takes the input of several genes to get it right. Without all of the right genes' input, you can get an animal that is technically a red, but has very poor color.