I have a doe out in the horse stalls with 3 other rabbits who is due to have her first litter Nov 1st. We got 3 bales of straw so I put one against the wall, leaned the other on to it, and then set the nest boxes in front and rested the 3rd bale on them. They've been keeping busy tearing the bales apart and excavating through the bottom one. Should I try to convince the doe to use the nest box, move the kits there if she gives birth elsewhere, put her in a cage temporarily, or should I just leave them to it? They only have a few inches of bedding and then chicken wire covering the floor because we couldn't have them digging out the floor of the stalls. Do you think she'll be able to build a good enough nest of straw if she can't actually dig?
nesting
- Thread starter akane
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I'd just let her decide what she's doing. Most likely, if the nestbox is in a dark, quiet area, she'll use that. She MIGHT dig a tunnel in the straw tho...watch for that. You don't want the strawbale collapsing on her. I think you'll find she makes a good nest 
They chewed through the twine a few days ago so I moved the bale that was leaning on that one and they've fluffed it up. I was trying to find a little 8 week old doe I turned loose out there recently and came across a tunnel longer than my arm. Judging by the warmth and wiggling of the straw I guess she's hiding out in there and the champagne doe will probably build her nest there.
