Daisy is 20 months old now but she didn't call for the first time until she was 16 months and went to stud for the first time at the end of May when she was 18 months old. She didn't get pregnant and started calling again 3 weeks ago. The problem is, she has been calling constantly for 3 weeks now and I have been told by a breeder on another forum based in the UK that she is having problems because she is too old to be having her first litter. Can any of the breeders on this forum confirm if this is true please?
My Janessa had her first litter at about 20.1 months and that was with my own stud Maxwell. She did call about 2 times prior and we had to send her to stud but that failed. I have never had luck sending out to stud but had no choice at the time. That was her only litter.
Dolly only cycled except every 4 months but at age 20.8 months had her first litter and her cycles are much more regular now.
The ages above are when they had their kittens and of course 9 weeks pirior is when bred.
As long as she is cycling perhaps wait another breeding or so. Was a mating actually witnessed?
I'm by no way experienced, but the only problems I've heard of concern young queens going into heat very early having problems later because they were too young to mate. These queens have also had a minimum of 3 "hard calls". Maybe she's a late starter and hasn't ramped up yet? Isn't a female's reproductive life longer than 2 years anyway?
Not true. Slow to first heat and difficulty getting pregnant CAN indicate problems, but they alone are not enough to retire a queen. If she is in good health and you have had her examined for things like pyo and cysts, I would not worry and would just breed her at each hard heat until she gets pregnant. If you do not already, you may want to let her reach three days of hard/presenting heat before she is with the stud.