Pregnant Does In An Indoor Colony

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Epic

Epic

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Location
Southern Ontario, Canada
I have this cute little shed in my backyard, it's 11 feet by 8 feet, so it's not a bad size. I have spread a thick layer of straw on the floor & given the does plenty of houses, nesting boxes, etc. There are 10 does living together, all of them get along just fine, my buck is in a hutch in there.

Question is I have 2 first time Harlequin does due on the 9th, will they build nests in there? Will they use the houses given?

I have 3 other does due, not not till the end of the month or so.

Thoughts on this are appreciated.
 
To each their own,
but if it were me I would place those soon to kindle Does
in their own cage with a nestbox provided.
Better to be safe than sorry.
Ottersatin.
 
The does may use the nest boxes or they may just build a nest in the straw. Hard to predict.

Your colony sounds overcrowded to me. And once the kits start moving about, it's going to be chaotic. I am in the process of setting up a colony in my shed. It is about 8 feet by 8 feet and I only plan on keeping 3 does and a buck in it. I may reduce that to two does and a buck, depending on how it seems once we get going.
 
10 in 11x8 sounds way too much. I'm not sure what size your rabbits are but I found 3 ~10lb d'argent does or 4-5 mini rex to be pushing it in my 8x8' building with no kits. I'd especially be careful if you leave the buck in there because every doe will have a litter before the previous one is even ready to sell/butcher. Quick recipe for disaster. I couldn't find a way around that problem plus not knowing which kits were from which doe/buck so I chose to cage my bucks in order to control who gets pregnant when.
 
I should have worded this better, 7 of my does are in cages in the shed & the three pregnant ones have free range to build nests in the straw and such.
 
Ive seen your set up, and overall i like it! It works good for you bunnies and guinea pigs.

As long as you give them lots of places to hide their babies and lots of materials, they will find a spot!
 
Well my does that I locked up don't seem pleased at all, they are being let back out, I don't find 10 is crowded at all, when they babies are old enough to be weaned, they will be moved to a fryer pen. :)
 
Be sure to post a follow-up, Epic, to let us know how your set-up works out. There is not a lot of information available about indoor colonies and it will be useful to keep track of what works and what doesn't.

My indoor colony is almost ready. I'm really looking forward to getting my rabbits out of cages too. :)
 
I will keep posting updates MaggieJ, all of my does get along, they sleep in big piles, it's kind of cute. I just hope they build nests and such.

Only time will tell ! I'll post though, they are due in 2 days. :)

__________ Sun Nov 07, 2010 2:03 pm __________

Update: I went out to feed & water and she had her kits in the open top nesting box, seven - one was dead, she built a nest and everything, the other rabbits were to nosey, so I moved her and her kits into a hutch. I hope she takes care of them, :O
 

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