Quote Originally Posted by nevohraalnavnoj View Post
One more thing that I think is worth point out is the longevity of your breeders. In a colonial setup the females will be chaining litters back to back (if the male is not pulled out), and will be need to be replaced faster.

If you use momma tubs or pull out the male, your females will last longer.

JonV
I've wondered about breeding life as well but I generally replace all the adults at 12 to 14 months anyway.

Interesting stuff.

I find deadfornoreason babies from time to time as well. It's usually from a first time mother, I think, or the heat spikes. Even with A/C we still get some hot days here.

I've also noticed in the last 6 months or so, that's all I've been keeping records for, that in groups of 1.6 I get tons of pinks but as they get older the moms get skinny. So, if you need pinks are are pulling regularly, this is a good ratio.

At 1.5 I get lots of babies and not so skinny moms IF I leave all the babies in and nice average moms if I pull a few every week.

Lower than 1.5, 1.4 or 1.3 I get a fair amount of babies, not as many as in higher male to female ratios, as is to be expected, and everyone does just fine even if I leave all babies until weaning.

I shoot for 1.5 because I do pull some almost every week. What may be over crowded at birthing will consistently be lessened as the weeks go by but I do keep some at 1.6 just for the extra pinkies.

Moms that kill or tubs that don't produce the way I think they should are "recycled" as soon as I determine they are not up to snuff.