2 Jills & 1 Litter in the Same Cage?

[hideandshoot 13]

I have two jills (sisters) which are housed together in a large cage, and they have not been separated since they were born 3 years ago.  I would like to breed from one of them, but not both as I only have homes for 3-4 kits.  I only have the one cage which is a large two-storey affair, so I guess I could simply block-off the chute which connects the two levels and add a sleeping box to the lower level, effectively making it in to 2 cages.  Is this really necessary though?  I'm wondering if the jill which isn't mated will become a kind of foster mother if they are put back together after mating and kept in the same cage during and after the birth.  I've kept ferrets for a number of years, and always understood that any interference (of any sort) with a new litter could result in the litter being abandoned or eaten, however the 2 jills are sisters so may be happy to share.  In fact they might only be half sisters as they are themselves the result of two simultaneous litters in the same nest, so I guess communal parenting is not normally an issue.  So the question is, should I separate them or keep them together?  And if I separate them, when is the best time to do this?

Any advice or similar experiences would be appreciated.

[Sirblessed 2,511]

I always separate mine, but have seen many people who don’t, the breeding box down the bottom sounds like a good idea, you may see the odd disappearance but generally the Jill will protect them.

[socks 32,253]

I've bred multiple litters year in year out with up to four jills in the same ferret court with no problems .... I used to have a snipped hob that stayed in with the jills and would be like a foster dad with the kits ... it's all down to knowing your ferrets ....... 

[tsteve9999 456]

As long as you have 2 nest boxes I cant see a problem, they should sort themselves out. One thing I would say is that you might want to look round for other homes for the kits because they can have a lot more than the 3 or 4 you want, and feeding growing kits is expensive..(I speak from experience here as once when I was a kid I ended up with 20)

[Sirblessed 2,511]

13 minutes ago, socks said:

I've bred multiple litters year in year out with up to four jills in the same ferret court with no problems .... I used to have a snipped hob that stayed in with the jills and would be like a foster dad with the kits ... it's all down to knowing your ferrets ....... 

The main reason I separate them Ken, is so I know who's is who's they steal each others every now and then just makes it easy to keep track of them. If you have a court its never a problem, I have seen litters get eaten, when they are all in the same small area, with only one nest box.

[hideandshoot 13]

Great advice guys.  I feel more confident now keeping them all together, which is what I preferred to do anyway.  I've already got two nest boxes in the cage so that may reduce any potential stress between the jills.  Tsteve999 - I assume the 20 kits you mentioned was the result of multiple litters and not just from a single jill?  The most I've witnessed was 14 kits in one litter, but my personal best is only 9.  I guess I'd prefer half a dozen strong kits than a large litter which the jill may struggle to adequately nourish.  I'll offer any surplus kits on here FOC, so long as any takers don't live within 5 miles 

Thanks again

[The one 8,396]

When i bred  them i lined two sisters who never having been apart i left together  and as i never checked the amount of kits to start with  i think they reared all the kits , then i had  3 jills which i thought where lined all the same time but as the litters grew  you could see there was at least a weeks difference in size but they still reared a good enough amount .

Its up to you but unless you want to fill the garden with hutches i honestly think you have to double up jills in reality 

[tsteve9999 456]

10 hours ago, hideandshoot said:

Great advice guys.  I feel more confident now keeping them all together, which is what I preferred to do anyway.  I've already got two nest boxes in the cage so that may reduce any potential stress between the jills.  Tsteve999 - I assume the 20 kits you mentioned was the result of multiple litters and not just from a single jill?  The most I've witnessed was 14 kits in one litter, but my personal best is only 9.  I guess I'd prefer half a dozen strong kits than a large litter which the jill may struggle to adequately nourish.  I'll offer any surplus kits on here FOC, so long as any takers don't live within 5 miles 

Thanks again

Yes mate, I had 3 or 4 jills and being a kid just let them get on with things. I had mouse traps set all over our garden and the air gun out every day, there wasn't a bird for half a mile by the time they went.

My uncle, the guy who started my interest in hunting took them and "found them all good homes" which I'm guessing now probably involved a bucket of water...

[Guest vin]

Someone we all know on here once gave me 2 beautiful BEW jills. . . cracking little grafters. also both Pregnant at the time of passing over...lol.

I ended up with about 16 kits....by the time they were 6 weeks old...I couldn't wait to get them new homes.

I'm seriously considering breeding some this summer..I want a couple of young hobs for next season... but the thought of all that cleaning and feeding and messing about puts me off..Then there's the problem of finding decent homes for the spares.

In an ideal world, I would give a pregnant jill to a foster carer and let them have the fun of rearing the litter etc and give me back the jill and kits when its time for them to leave the mother. ( Let them keep a couple for themselves etc etc.). Some people love all that caring and cuddling the babies etc, get the little kids involved and the kits are reared and ready to go perfectly handled and socialized.

I have one litter in planning with my Old Hob and one of the keepers Jills, which is the old hob's daughter from last year..very good little grafters.So hopefully things will work out for next year and if the kits are anywhere near as good as the last lot...I will be a very happy man.

[Phil Lloyd 10,736]

Far too many ferrets being bred... 

I remember a time,..(after the myxy) when most lads had said goodbye to their ferrets,..when a good genuine working line was almost impossible to locate...

This situation continued year in, year out, for a very long time...

Nowadays, we have the luxury of seeing plentiful supplies of these wonderful wee hunters, .there is no shortage of kits.

That being said, I would urge folk to think carefully if they really do have the facilities for finding genuine homes for their young ferrets, before embarking on breeding projects.

I remember seeing a pair of young ferrets up for sale at a local market, ferret box combined. 

 The purchaser elected just to take the box, but left the ferrets behind,...that kinda made my mind up, not to produce kits, ad-infinitum...

 

 

[stones 23]

I've done it with 3 jills in a 12 ' x 2' x 2' hutch 27 kits raised in all... took some feeding from 3 weeks onwards anything dead on the road went in the back of the van.. was travelling through the Altcar estate to work every day at the time so rabbits. hares. Woodpigeons. ducks. pheasants etc all ended up on the menu the amount of shite that came out of the hutch and the amount of shavings that went in was unreal... clean out three times a day but everyone went to a good home... deffo wouldn't recommend it though... 

[Jerry71 269]

On 22/03/2018 at 21:32, hideandshoot said:

Great advice guys.  I feel more confident now keeping them all together, which is what I preferred to do anyway.  I've already got two nest boxes in the cage so that may reduce any potential stress between the jills.  Tsteve999 - I assume the 20 kits you mentioned was the result of multiple litters and not just from a single jill?  The most I've witnessed was 14 kits in one litter, but my personal best is only 9.  I guess I'd prefer half a dozen strong kits than a large litter which the jill may struggle to adequately nourish.  I'll offer any surplus kits on here FOC, so long as any takers don't live within 5 miles 

Thanks again

I know folk are saying leave them together but it don't always work out rosey, I had two Jill's nesting together one had 9 kits couple days later they was 12, so the other Jill had given birth to just 3kits.?  She has had 7 kits last litter so I really believe they culled a few for some reason, maybe one of the Jill's ate them to make sure hers do well, many reasons this kind of thing happens but I split them up just to be safe.  

[bobhow 57]

the problem i see with having a unmated jill in the same cage is if she starts stealing kits she will not have milk to feed them and they starve in the past i tried keeping two jills with kits together it does not work for me each jill will spend to much time stealing the others kits and getting stressed