Of Baby Rabbits and Hope... finally!

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Truckinguy

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Well, follow along if you can on this convoluted tale...

Last Saturday a litter of 11 was born in the colony on the side with a buck and two does. They were all alive and wiggly and covered perfectly in a deep ball of fur. The doe was sitting next to the nest box looking quite pleased with herself. All was well.

Saturday night I came home from being out for dinner and was doing final chores and when I checked the nest box I found another litter had been deposited in the same box. There were at least 20 kits in there and I found three scattered in the straw around the colony, all cold but alive. I took the three in the house and put them under a heating pad to warm up. I went back outside and divided the pile of kits into two nest boxes, dividing the fur equally between them.

The next morning I took the three warm kits out to the colony. Nest box number two was cold and still so I put the three warm kits in nest box number one and took the cold kits inside and put them under the heating pad. Six warmed up eventually but four didn't make it. That night I took the six warm ones outside, removed the six fattest kits from the nest that had apparently been fed and put the six warm ones in. I did that for three days, removing the biggest kits in the morning, bringing them into the house for 24 hours and replacing them with the ones who had spent the night in the house, hoping the smaller kits who remained in the nest would get an extra feeding. We lost one here and there as I"m sure only one doe was feeding them and there's only so much one doe can do.

This morning there are nine kits in the nest, eight are fat and sassy and one has fallen behind and likely won't make it. I flipped the doe on her back and put the kit on her nipple but it seems too weak to latch on and is doing the slow motion "death run" so I don't hold out much hope for it.

It seems that my idea of a wide open colony with a couple of does isn't working so I"m doing some alterations which will result in the colony split in four with four does, each with her separate area. I"ll have to build separate housing for a couple of bucks and take the does to the bucks. I have the three does now plus one I bought a couple of weeks ago from Ladysown (Thank you, Ladysown, very nice to meet you!) so hopefully things will look up for this summer.

Never a dull moment on The Homestead.
 
Thanks. :) Good to know she's settling in well. Has she settled into her calm quiet girlie state again?

That's what I would LOVE to do sometime...have an area where I could divide things up with lots of room for a doe to run. I'd want to set up the buck between the does so they know him and all I would have to do is swing a door open to let a doe and buck together.

Not sure how you will work your set up though. :)

But if I had a barn with house stalls... that would be my ideal. :)
 
Wow... I can't think of a thing you could have done any better, Truckinguy! I'd probably end up doing what you're planning to do.

I'd love to have a colony... or at least stalls for separate doe/kits and buck, like Ladysown said. Fire ants make it a very risky setup down here, though. :(
 
ladysown":3tng7pwh said:
Thanks. :) Good to know she's settling in well. Has she settled into her calm quiet girlie state again?

That's what I would LOVE to do sometime...have an area where I could divide things up with lots of room for a doe to run. I'd want to set up the buck between the does so they know him and all I would have to do is swing a door open to let a doe and buck together.

Not sure how you will work your set up though. :)

But if I had a barn with house stalls... that would be my ideal. :)

Yes, she is a sweetheart and the little guy is getting used to having a good back scratch. I guess she knew there was a transition coming and didn't like it...lol. They are completely on my pellets now, poop is looking healthy and they are doing fine. Thank you again!

The colony (really a glorified huge cage with a straw bottom) worked great for the first two years but when I started housing two does together it just seemed that it didn't work. I think it has worked for others but I believe the colony was a lot bigger and more natural (think fenced back yard). I highly doubt I will ever return to cages but the colony is still teaching me lessons. I"ll get it all sorted out soon.

I also think that letting them breed as they like without giving the doe a break really wears them out. Housing the does separately will allow me to schedule them a little more easily and also make it easier to identify which doe is having a problem when one arises.
 

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