The American Beagler Forum

I have an older female, 10, that has been a top producer in the past.
She is out of some of the old time proven branko breeding. I just purchased her a few months ago to hopefully get a few breedings from.
Here is the question. I was told at the time I purchased this female she had always had 6/7 pups per litter. Last time, by the way the bred her back, she had only 3. Obviously I am waiting for her second cylce to breed her. Is there anything that you might give to a female to increase the number of eggs at this age. Thanks for any input.

A female is born with ALL of her eggs (if I remember my biology correctly). It may be that a larger percentage of the eggs are defective due to environment and health issues that the female has been exposed to over her lifetime. There may be something that can be done to cause her to release more each cycle. HOWEVER, I do not like to fool with nature. Smaller litters in an older female (in my opinion) is nature's way of protecting the mother from having more babies than she can handle. My friend just bred a ten year old female to one of my males. We are hoping for a female each and everything beyond that we will consider "gravy". You may not have many chances left if you are breeding once a year. You can not AKC register her pups in the normal manner once she turns twelve. Good luck with her and the pups if you get any!

Age and diet can play a major role in the quality & quantity of pups produced. Some feeds are pitifully low in folic acid ... it will be listed last or next to last on the ingredient panel when it should be somewhere closer to the high middle. Bitches can't live up to their genetic potential if their feed is low in folic acid & other nutrients. I've always supplemented bitches with a human grade folic acid supplement (400mcg daily).
If she's been bred back to back, that will also give you a lower number of pups. It takes a while for her body to recover from the stress of pregnancy, so she won't be able to handle carrying and nourishing as many pups.
Older bitches have older eggs, and th enumber of quality eggs is significantly lowered. So that alone might be the problem. I wouldn't worry too much about the size of the litter so long as she's still throwing quality, healthy pups.