Colony Style breeding

[angels41105]

Hello,

I have a question, as i've seen it fail before i am curious how other breeders make colonies work. Quite a while ago i had two females in with a male. One of the females had gotten pregnant by a male she was previously with, whom was a 3 month old male ( that was sold to me as female, found out within 5 days otherwise but the deed was done). So she was preggo when i'd meshed the trio but i didn't know it....

When the kits were born the mother beat the snot out of the other female. Is this common? I know most of you remove females into a maternity cage. Assuming that if a male and female are together it's a fact that they will breed. But given that i've owned chins for 12 years.... and had only 3 litters (aka my chins refuse to multiply), it wasn't a natural assumption to me that either of them could be pregnant.

So questions would be:

1. Do you ever leave a pregnant female in with other females? I heard once that other females would help raise the kits i'm skeptical.

2. Is there any sure fire way to tell a female is pregnant earlier on? I only seem to be able to catch it when the kit is nearly due, until then they just aren't pronounced enough for me to pick up on it, most of my females are pretty chubby anyways.

I ask this becuase i have a single female chin that someday i'd like to move in with a pair that i have. But with my last experience i am a bit hesitant.

 

[tunes]

1. Do you ever leave a pregnant female in with other females? I heard once that other females would help raise the kits i'm skeptical.

I never remove anybody from a colony. My colony cages are kit safe, nobody gets removed.

2. Is there any sure fire way to tell a female is pregnant earlier on? I only seem to be able to catch it when the kit is nearly due, until then they just aren't pronounced enough for me to pick up on it, most of my females are pretty chubby anyways.

Nope. Not unless you want to take her in for an ultrasound or have a very experienced, long-time rancher to carefully palpate her.

 

[angels41105]

so your females dont fight after kits are born? Or try to hard them? I guess i have to admit this particular female had a tendency to be female aggressive, maybe it's just her personality?

 

[tunes]

If your females are fighting, they shouldn't be in a colony. My females don't fight. I am very careful about who I put together.

 

[AZChins]

Females in a trio or other colony take care of each other and each other's babies. If there is a squabble, it's going to be with the male and not the babies or other girls. In the trios I have the girls nurse each other's little ones and keep each other safe. Their instinct is to protect their colony mates.

The girls that I breed in colonies have been together since weaning and haven't just been placed together for breeding at an older age. I don't know if that makes the difference or not, but it works out really well for the chins here.

Like Peggy said, if the females are fighting at any time, they ought to be removed completely from the colony.

 

[Megan]

My colony cages are actually my runs. My females that are safe together, I just leave uncollared and they can share the run. I do not remove anyone from the colonys, they all help raise each others babies. If I have any aggressive females, the entire run is kept collared.

I haven't had any problems with another female attacking or killing someone elses kits. If my females don't get along, they are not given the chance to stay together when kits are born.

 

[angels41105]

Yeah i figured it might have just been her personality since other people seem to do this successfully.

 

[RDZCRanch]

I also do not take a female out of a colony when she has her kits unless absolutely necessary. The only time I've had to do so is when mom is not sitting with the kit enough and trying to have the other females take care of her kits. In that case I remove the mom and kit(s) for about a week until the baby is gaining steadily and then they go right back in.

If your females are not getting along in a colony or attack each other at all, they shouldn't be in a colony as previously stated.

 

[kathiva]

My colony cages are actually my runs. My females that are safe together, I just leave uncollared and they can share the run. I do not remove anyone from the colonys, they all help raise each others babies. If I have any aggressive females, the entire run is kept collared.

I haven't had any problems with another female attacking or killing someone elses kits. If my females don't get along, they are not given the chance to stay together when kits are born.

Myself I could never keep them uncollared, even though I only had one run of one male with 4 females and the rest where pairs, it happened to me that two females gave birth almost at the same time, and they were side to side, and my run didn't have a solid side wall, it was all wire, and the moms bit each others fingers, and they bit the fingers of the other mom's kits, and viceversa, so it was crazy like that, so I had to separate them from the run, so they wouldn't bite at each other all the time.

 

[ann1]

I have never had any problems with colonies. If your females dont get along now I wouldnt have them caged together. I have never had my colonies deliver on the same day but I have had them deliver within days or wks of each other and they all got along just fine. unless you want a breed back you will have to remove the male tho after wach female delivers or if you know when the babies are gonna be born a few days earlier.

 

[starleomach]

I breed mostly in colonies. My colony females stay in and raise the kits together, If I have an issue with a female in a colony she is pulled and no longer bred in a colony

 

[Ash]

I have an additional question about colony breeding. How many people pull the males vs letting them stay with the colony?

 

[starleomach]

I usually leave the males in. I have a few males I pull for a few days as they are more agressive to try to get breedbacks, but most I leave in

 

[Megan]

I don't pull the males in my colony style cages. I've found MOST of the females don't breed back, those who do I'll block the male off into one of the holes for a little while.

 

[angels41105]

Thank you all, this gives me a bit of hope. And reaffirms my observations of her being female aggressive.

 

[Riven]

If she's ever show aggressiveness then she shouldn't be in a colony because momma chins are full of momma hormones.

I've never separated my colonies, never removed the males or anything. Once I did have two females litter at the same time, I had to watch to see which kits went to who and mark them. You have to really know your animals for any kind of breeding.

Last night I had a female get her collar off and kill another female in her hole of the run, she had her collar on and couldn't escape. When I found her she was picking on another female as well. She'd been in a colony before with no issues though... it's all about the chins and how they get along with each other. If you're unsure, don't do it.

 

[Kelley]

If she's ever show aggressiveness then she shouldn't be in a colony because momma chins are full of momma hormones.

I've never separated my colonies, never removed the males or anything. Once I did have two females litter at the same time, I had to watch to see which kits went to who and mark them. You have to really know your animals for any kind of breeding.

Last night I had a female get her collar off and kill another female in her hole of the run, she had her collar on and couldn't escape. When I found her she was picking on another female as well. She'd been in a colony before with no issues though... it's all about the chins and how they get along with each other. If you're unsure, don't do it.

I'm curious. . .in this case would you remove this female from colony breeding?

 

[starleomach]

I have had females not do well in one colony but do fine in another. With any breeding set up you need to watch closely attacks can happen at any time with breeding animals.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

I too have 3 colony cages. The females were weaned together. When they deliver, the other female helps. Sometimes they deliver together (around the same time) and the kits go to whichever female is closest. If a female became agressive with the other female I would remove the female and never put her back with a colony I too leave the male with the females - he often helps keep the kits warm. I find male chins, most of the time, make great fathers - helping with the kits.

 

[saphire]

Out of curiosity... I assume some are all standard chin colonies. If two females have their kits at the same time and you are not there to see and identify the kits right away.
How do you differenciate who belongs to who for the pedigrees?

I want to try colonies, but am unsure for that reason.