Splitting up kits? What the heck?

Ok so one doe had 9 kits last week, one was born dead, another i lost yesterday. I'm not sure what happened but i found it cold out of the nest, tried to revive it but later found a small mark on the back of its head so I'm assuming mom killed it? it was healthy looking, recently fed.. so I'm not sure what would have caused her to kill it, if she did in fact do that.

Anyways.. the reason i found the cold kit was because this doe has been splitting her kits up into 2 different nests. The cold kit was left in the middle of the two nests. one nest is the original one she kindled in, inside the nest box.. the new one is outside of the nest box. She's moving only the largest kits to the new nest, and leaving her smaller ones (although not to much smaller) in the original nest.

I did take her two runts and fostered them to my other doe, who only had 1 kit. She was super excited to have more babies to care for! lol So now the doe who had 9 originally, now has 5 in her nest. I fostered over yesterday. This morning i find that the doe with now 5 has again split her kits up into 2 nests... the 3 largest in the new nest and the remaining 2 smaller kits in the original nest. I've since put them all back into the original nest. My worry is that she'll ignore the original nest and the 2 smaller kits in it, in favor of her 3 largest kits.

What the heck is going on here? Should i just continue to move the kits back into the original nest? should i foster the 2 smaller kits? all of the kits born to my 2 does were born with in 2 days of each other.. and my fostering doe took on her new babies quite eagerly.. so i have that option.

this is kinda driving me crazy. why is she doing this? how do i make her stop? I don't want to loose any more babies.

The doe is not very likely to be taking kits out of the nestbox.
(If she is and you can catch it on camera, I would really appreciate seeing it.)

They are more likely crawling out themselves, or being pulled while clinging to her teat.

What are the dimensions of the nestbox?

I'd say the nest box is about 10 in by 10 in... give or take.

its really weird that its all of the largest kits in the new nest, and the smaller in the old nest. <br /><br /> __________ Fri Apr 08, 2016 12:11 pm __________ <br /><br /> hmm maybe 10 x14 actually.. it covers a good section of the cage

I meant the front and sides, because if they are too low it can allow kits to crawl out. The largest kits might just be the ones wandering further in search of more food.

Oh The sides are 10 inches high.. the front is 5 inches...

Can you post a pic of your setup? That would help a lot but simply based on what I'm reading, I would put all of the kits together and move anything resembling a "nest" to the nest box.

I'll try!

So once i put the kits back in the nest this morning.. she hasn't moved them or they haven't moved. But I bet you $5 that tomorrow morning I'll find 2 nests again! lol

Also how can you tell if a doe is stressed out by her kits? is there any physical signs? This doe tends to stretch out beside the nest box and pant really heavily... but it's not that hot out! that hottest it got in the last 2 weeks was 12-15 degrees celcius (53 -59 F )... so not exactly hot weather ... if she's panting now.. and we haven't even hit our summer hot weather (where it gets up to 35+ degrees Celcius, 95 F ) This does not boad well for her. None of my other rabbits were acting like that. so I'm wondering if she would like a break from her kits? I will be moving her and the kits to a larger cage next week (I want the kits' eye open) so that may help.