Monday, March 10, 2008
Mothers Who Eat Their Young
My teenagers have sometimes driven me to the brink of exasperation. At those times, I have to wonder whether the mothers who eat their young have the right idea. Nah. I guess it's really never a good idea.
In all seriousness, occasionally we do get a doe that eats her young. It's confusing, gross, and disturbing.
You may be tempted to think that a doe that eats her young only eats dead ones. She's just confusing the normal clean-up of the nest box or trying to protect her nest from predators.
Sorry, but I've found them half-eaten and still alive. That made me discard my easier-to-live-with explanation that they were probably born dead.
Why do does do this? I think someone told them about teenagers.
But in reality, they may do it because they are misinterpreting their hormonal and instinctual signals. They may be frightened or disturbed and think that they must get rid of anything that might attract predators.
I cannot be convinced it is because they like doing it.
If you have a doe that eats her young, the first question to ask yourself is whether she's really worth the hassle of trying to get kits from. If she's not, cull her (do not sell her as a breeder without disclosing her past behaviors).
If she is really, really worth it, you might consider using oxytocin to induce labor so that you can be there to whisk away the babies to a waiting foster mother. Those situations are often difficult to work out unless you have some luck or a very large barn. But you can breed several does a day or two before Miss Cannibal so that they are ready to nurse when she delivers.
Or, you can just continue to breed her and hope that she grows out of it.
I just had a doe who had 7 babies in her nest box that were covered with fur. They were all dead - we had a really cold night. But I was thrilled because she hadn't eaten so much as an ear. I can't say the same for her first two litters. Perhaps she just needed to fine tune what those instincts were telling her. Perhaps she's just calmer now that she's been through it before. Maybe 7 kept her too busy to start eating them before the nest was full of babies. I don't know. I just hope it bodes well for the future and I expect that it does.
I got a phone call the othe rday about a litter where half had been eaten. I allow kits that have been severely damaged to die rather than try to save them. That's too much suffering, in my estimation.
But a mother like that has earned 100% supervision. I suggested that the remaining kits, who could not be fostered since there was no other doe available, be raised on the shelf. Nursing would then be done while the breeder watches.
I would not let one instance of cannibalism deter me from breeding a nice doe. I would think very hard about breeding a doe again who eats her young twice. And if I get cannibalism in a second generation, that would be the end of that.
Cannibalism is rare. I've had only a few instances of it in my barn. Only one doe has repeated it. But with a third place at Convention and being one of the nicest does I've produced, she was worth seeing if she would grow out of it. She did. Thank goodness.
Laurie ¶ 10:08 AM
In all seriousness, occasionally we do get a doe that eats her young. It's confusing, gross, and disturbing.
You may be tempted to think that a doe that eats her young only eats dead ones. She's just confusing the normal clean-up of the nest box or trying to protect her nest from predators.
Sorry, but I've found them half-eaten and still alive. That made me discard my easier-to-live-with explanation that they were probably born dead.
Why do does do this? I think someone told them about teenagers.
But in reality, they may do it because they are misinterpreting their hormonal and instinctual signals. They may be frightened or disturbed and think that they must get rid of anything that might attract predators.
I cannot be convinced it is because they like doing it.
If you have a doe that eats her young, the first question to ask yourself is whether she's really worth the hassle of trying to get kits from. If she's not, cull her (do not sell her as a breeder without disclosing her past behaviors).
If she is really, really worth it, you might consider using oxytocin to induce labor so that you can be there to whisk away the babies to a waiting foster mother. Those situations are often difficult to work out unless you have some luck or a very large barn. But you can breed several does a day or two before Miss Cannibal so that they are ready to nurse when she delivers.
Or, you can just continue to breed her and hope that she grows out of it.
I just had a doe who had 7 babies in her nest box that were covered with fur. They were all dead - we had a really cold night. But I was thrilled because she hadn't eaten so much as an ear. I can't say the same for her first two litters. Perhaps she just needed to fine tune what those instincts were telling her. Perhaps she's just calmer now that she's been through it before. Maybe 7 kept her too busy to start eating them before the nest was full of babies. I don't know. I just hope it bodes well for the future and I expect that it does.
I got a phone call the othe rday about a litter where half had been eaten. I allow kits that have been severely damaged to die rather than try to save them. That's too much suffering, in my estimation.
But a mother like that has earned 100% supervision. I suggested that the remaining kits, who could not be fostered since there was no other doe available, be raised on the shelf. Nursing would then be done while the breeder watches.
I would not let one instance of cannibalism deter me from breeding a nice doe. I would think very hard about breeding a doe again who eats her young twice. And if I get cannibalism in a second generation, that would be the end of that.
Cannibalism is rare. I've had only a few instances of it in my barn. Only one doe has repeated it. But with a third place at Convention and being one of the nicest does I've produced, she was worth seeing if she would grow out of it. She did. Thank goodness.
Laurie ¶ 10:08 AM
