Gravid girls that eat?

[vpjimmyd]

I'm a first-timer through this whole process, so bear with me.

I've got four females that I've palpated and I felt the "bumps" for sure in three out of the four. All four had a great shed in the last week, and all four of them are showing at least one of the signs of being gravid (bowl wrapping, inverted laying, concentric circles, etc.). Here's the weird part. I offered all four of them tonight, and they all ate. With gusto. What's up with that? I thought they should be refusing by now.

[A.VinczeBPs]

Before ovulation they can eat, and sometimes with a distinct ferociousness. Once the building gets close to ovulation (month before) then they tend to go off feed, sometimes they go off even sooner. Some will continue after, but most don't.

They continue again after eggs are layed.

Normally they eat while building to get the best chance of healthy eggs, and not taking too much out of them. I have a female that just stopped feeding lately, when we started breeding her she was only 1600 grams, once building started she gulped down everything! She stopped at 1900 grams.

[LGL]

I'd say they're still building follicles at this point. Bowl wrapping is very common in this stage, and it is extremely rare for females to feed when gravid. Though that could have been their pre-ovulation shed. I'd say just keep pairing for now. I had the same thing happen a few years back - my "gravid" females were eating, and ended up reabsorbing their follicles since they hadn't ovulated yet and I had quit pairing them for like a 1-2 months or so.

Best of luck with them!

[jjmitchell]

Congrats sounds like you will be having eggs soon

[Meltdown Morphs]

Not trying to hijack the thread or anything but I'm having same sort of confusion, I have my one girl she's been off feed for prolly 2-3 months now. I've palpated her not accurate at all probably but I felt a few bumps, she went thu a shed on 4/6, and shes been paired with a male since december or late november. Her weight for the longest has been around 2500 and only recently had I noticed her weight go up by 300gr without a single meal going into her, though she doesnt look like she changed outwardly at all. I suppose she is still building cause she still hangs on the cooler end of her tub but I havent seen any bowl wrapping or anything. Whats perplexing me now is shes refusing the male. Is that a sign she might be reabsorbing or nearing ovulation?