Help with determining reason for dead kits.

I have a 1 1/2 year old doe that has had 3 litters. The first 2 litters were the best survival ratios we ever had out of all of our does. Every single kit survived first 2 litters. We had a litter of 8, 5 days ago. 10 hours after discovery the litter I found 6 dead. They had full bellies, but they were very hot when I picked them up. The temperature outside was 64 degrees. No injuries were present on any of the 6 kits. 2 days later I found another kit dead. This one was cold which is what I would expect to find if a kit was dead. This morning I saw Mom in the kindling box so I decided to go look in on the last survivor. I was astonished to find the front feet gnawed off to the body. Kit was still alive with full belly. I did notice over the last five days that mom was in the kindling box a dozen times or more a day, and that was counting the times I looked in on her, I am sure she was in more often then that I just did not observe it. I have raising meat rabbits for 2 1/2 years so I kind of know the procedure that happens with kindling and nursing. I am usually lucky if I see mom with the kits 2 times a week. They like to keep away from them unless it is time for feeding.
Can anyone help? I am ready to cull mom because really never want to go thru this again. I am perplexed and upset about this. I had to put the baby out of her misery. Is mom a changed doe or is there something else going on here?

I take it that she is outside in a structure. Could a predator (cat, weasel, coon, ect.) be coming around and scaring her? If you have dogs that can go near where the rabbits are, are they possibly messing with her?

Wow, what a horrible series of events! :x I'm so sorry.

I'm not sure why the first round of dead babies would have been so hot. :? If the nest had tons of fur in it, they could have gotten overheated, but they usually spread out when that happens.

As for her chewing the feet off, and her hyper attention to the nest, that could be due to a predator in the vicinity. The over grooming (chewing the feet off) could also possibly be because she didn't have a whole litter to spread her attentions to and was too focused on the one.

Since she has given you two good litters, I would be inclined to go ahead and breed her back immediately and see how she does next time. If she continues going into the nest incessantly, I would suggest removing it and bringing it out to her twice daily to allow her to nurse.

A couple things come to mind.

A predator harassing her as others stated. Great horned owls roosting in our Hickories really freak our chickens out.

Is there any vaginal discharge? A tear in her uterus or a retained kit or placenta could be causing her pain or rotting and releasing toxins. If you are good a palpitating give the area a feel for abnormalities.

Does she have any signs of mastitis? Again, if she is in pain she may have odd behaviours.

What is the protein level of your feed? If its low she may be craving meat, BOSS is a quick and easy way to add protein to a rabbits diet.

Two possibilities come to mind.

!. Your doe may have become a rogue mom. I see this as unlikely, given her good track record, but not impossible.
2. You have a problem with a small predator, rat or weasel. These can enter cages with anything larger than 1" x 1" wire and can also squeeze through any gaps around doors or through J-feeders. I can make a case for Mom hanging out in the nest to protect the kits and inadvertently smothering or squashing them. The hot dead kits fit into this scenario.

Does tend to become agitated when a predator is around and will jump in and out and do other ineffective things because they are really unable to protect the kits. The chewed kit speaks to this as well. I can't recall a case where a doe that is feeding her kits turned around and killed them. It doesn't seem to go together. So I'm guessing there are rats or a weasel about.

If it was after she lost the 6 kits, she might have been engorged with milk and constantly going into the nest in an effort to relive herself, since she was making enough milk for so many more kits than she currently had?

Also, the warm kits you found dead might have been suffocated if she was trying to sleep in the nestbox. (the only time I've ever seen a doe do this is when she was unwell, but others see it from time-to-time for various other reasons)

I'd try again with her, do a careful predator check, make sure she isn't given the nestbox too soon, and it isn't larger than she needs (which can encourage them to use it as a bed), and if there is any funny business this time, pull the nestbox like MSD suggested and cull the doe after the kits were weaned.

Thank you for every ones advice. I am going to breed her tomorrow and give her another try. I will take some extra steps with predators. It is not her diet nor is it her health. She is more skittish then most of my does, so I will do my best to give her a safer environment. The gnawing off the legs thing was more then I want to ever deal with again. Thanks again.

I strongly recommend setting either a live trap (squirrel-size) or rat snap traps. I truly believe you have a predator issue here. Dayna, in Hawaii has had major rat problems this past year. Here are two of her threads.

warming-up-a-baby-in-dryer-and-rats-ugh-graphic-talk-t19929.html

not-throwing-the-towel-in-but-darn-i-m-tempted-t20067.html