1) Giving females a break between seasons is really dependent on how they recover their weight. I have a spider female who bred at 2300 grams last year, dropped to 1800 after she laid, and now she's up to 2500. I will breed her again this year without hesitation. Her weight is good compared to her length, I have no concerns. If she was too thin, or her weight didn't recuperate I would give her a year off, so there really isn't a golden rule. If the female isn't healthy enough to breed in the following season she wont be bred, period. If she recovers well every year than I have no problems breeding her every year.
2) I usually breed my males with up to 4 females, but I heard some people breed to up to 8. I think BHB breeds with up to 8 females per male. The problem with breeding a male to that many female is that the male can only produce so many sperm plugs in a season. If you breed with eight females instead of four you cut your chances of passing those plugs to your female by 50%. At least that's how I see it. You only have so much time to pair, and I would rather see my male lock with 2 females a dozen times each, than see my male lock with 8 females 3 times each.
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