Like every rabbit, GC Funck's Zinfandel has her quirks. I had bred her with GC Carrot Garden's Starry Knight right after the Silver Fox National show. She lifted readily and two weeks after the breeding she began to make a nest and stopped eating much of anything. I put in a nesting box because and she made a nice nest that she kept clean to be used only as a nest even though she was making it so early. However, it was pretty obvious to me a week later that she was not pregnant. I waited to be sure past her due date, because I have had a doe fool me before, but no kits.
Then I had a dilemma. I wanted to breed Zin before she turned a year old, which she would do in mid September and it would be too hot to breed her in the summer. It was already hot enough to be a concern to breed her again so late in May, but we decided to try and place her in a smaller buck cage to bring into the garage. Our garage is part of the basement and even though it is well insulated, it usually stays in the 70s so she would be good there. I bred her with Starry Knight again.
We went through the same ritual. At two weeks, she would hardly eat and wanted to build a nest. Concerned that she may have had a complication when she went off feed the first time and absorbed the fetuses, I fed her lots of greens which she would eat up like she was starving, even though there was plenty of pellets mixed with oats and Calf Manna in her feeder. When she should have been in her last week, again I was pretty sure there were no babies to be kindled and her due date came and went. Now I was concerned about her fertility. Since the bucks were in the summer heat, I thought it would not be worth trying for another breeding because they all could be heat sterile, so I would wait until the fall.
Then I had a dilemma. I wanted to breed Zin before she turned a year old, which she would do in mid September and it would be too hot to breed her in the summer. It was already hot enough to be a concern to breed her again so late in May, but we decided to try and place her in a smaller buck cage to bring into the garage. Our garage is part of the basement and even though it is well insulated, it usually stays in the 70s so she would be good there. I bred her with Starry Knight again.
We went through the same ritual. At two weeks, she would hardly eat and wanted to build a nest. Concerned that she may have had a complication when she went off feed the first time and absorbed the fetuses, I fed her lots of greens which she would eat up like she was starving, even though there was plenty of pellets mixed with oats and Calf Manna in her feeder. When she should have been in her last week, again I was pretty sure there were no babies to be kindled and her due date came and went. Now I was concerned about her fertility. Since the bucks were in the summer heat, I thought it would not be worth trying for another breeding because they all could be heat sterile, so I would wait until the fall.
When I was a meat breeder, I would just have waited until the temperatures were consistently in the 70s during the day and 60s or lower at night usually the later half of September to the mid October, but being a show breeder I was considering other things. I wanted Zin to be in the our GSRFB's first specialty show in mid November, so it was either breed her after that show or breed her before with plenty of time for her to get back into condition after nursing her kits. The latest date before was going to be mid August.
Our summer started out wet, humid, and warm, but by August it was dry and hot. I was not even sure if any of the bucks would be fertile, but I decided to try it and this time with Astro Man instead. So on a cooler week, she again readily accepted the buck. We hoped it would cool off a bit by the latter part of her pregnancy, but instead the day temperatures stayed quite high although the nights were dipping into the 60s at times.
My friend had bred one of her does to Astro Man a week before I bred Zin and had some kits in her nest, so I knew he was fertile. I also was hearing from her and other breeders of losing rabbits and kits in the nest because of the heat, which had me very concerned about how we were going to keep Zin and her kits cool. We really did not want to bring them into the garage this time.
We watched forecasts and it just did not suggest any real relief from the heat. We already had individual fans on every cage plus large fans for the rabbitry in general, but a pregnant doe would need more attention and coolness. We decided to keep her outside in the kindling suite this time, but we bought a mobile air conditioning unit and there were times she was so chill that her ears felt like it was in the 50s outside.
I could feel the babies at around two weeks inside Zin and, like before, she when off her feed and even did not drink much. I brought her lots of greens and oats and Calf Manna, all of which she ate like she was starved still shunning her pellets. I also had to change from a water bottle to a crock—still do not know the reason for that—but at least she was getting some water and nourishment this way.
She was haystaching for the nest at that same two week mark that she stopped eating pellets, but did not pull fur this time. I was absolutely positive about her pregnancy a week later. Day 31 and 32 past, but on the evening of the 32nd day she began eating and emptied her feeder, pellets and all! As I suspected, mid morning on the 33rd day, I found five nice sized kits in the nest with very full bellies of their first milk.
Zinfandel with all her false pregnancies and pregnancy quirks turned out to be not only fertile, but also excellent first time mother!
