Mother stealing other kits

I raise Flemish Giants and French Lops, and I house my females together in a communal run. They all get along wonderfully. One of my Flemish Giant's just had a litter yesterday... she is a second time mother and seemed to really drop the ball this time around. She did not make a nest, and couldn't seem to pick a spot to kindle. Oddly, the new French lop immediately started nesting, even though she is not bred this time around and has no milk supply. She plucked fur and made a nest for them, cleaned them all off and got them bundled in together, basically all of the motherly duties. My question is, will the actual mother go and nurse them if they are in another doe's nest? Or will the scent put her off now? When I checked them this morning, the actual mother has made her own empty nest in another corner. Should I move the babies into her nest and remove the overly mothering lop from the pen? I've never had this problem before... usually my females just nurture their own young.

Wow, that's a wierd situation.

*skip to the edits below*

Can't tell for sure what to do, I once had to relocate a nest from a tunnel in the garden to the hutch (I gave them a seperate, smaller hutch for some days, then I opened it to the others). I showed the nest with kits to the doe several times (by shoving her nose in), she accepted it and and all was good.

In my experience smell dosn't mean anything to rabbits, more important seems to be where things are.
If it were me, I would move the kits to her nest, wouldn't bother which does fur keeps them warm, show the doe where they are every hour and restrict her to that general area with a fence or pen for a few days, or at least until you are sure she fed them. That would also keep the other doe away, mine tend to protect their nest fiercly (against me, sometimes, the other doe in the hutch wouldn't dare to touch the hay plugged hole of the nestbox anyway)

Alternativly, block the way to the nest she made, and restrict her to the nest they are in now, but me, I would try to relocate the kits.

I wondered before if a unbred doe can produce milk, I keep my does in pairs, and once I could swear I saw the kits diving under the wrong doe several times...

:good-luck:

EDIT: If you are not sure which does kits these are (wouldn't be the first them the new bunny was pregnant, surprise, surprise) I would just watch closly if the kits get fed and who does it. Show the kits to the doe anyway.
EDIT2: Palpate the doe that started to build a nest recently before you do anything to check if she is still pregnant, and that it's not the other doe's litter. Which would make some sense.

With my mutts it's impossible (for me :? ) to tell which kits belong to which doe by colour, have now a nice litter of black and broken black from a agouti doe and light brown checkered buck, in other litters I get all colours mixed up)

Excellent suggestions from Preitler!!! :goodjob:

He mentions possibilities that had not even crossed my mind. I had a colony of rabbits (before mobility problems interfered) and never encountered a situation like this. I do hope you will keep us updated on developments, Finnegan, so that we can all learn from this.

Thanks for all of your advice!

Update... so far the kits are still looking healthy and active. I went out to add a mesh panel that would keep the mom in with them and the others out, but when I checked both of the doe's bellies, the lop doe seems to be producing milk... She was definitely NOT bred, as my bucks are in a totally separate area on the farm, and I have to bring the does to them one by one for breeding. She did lose a litter in mid October though, so I'm thinking she may still be fresh enough to just kick her milk production back in. I think that if the kits haven't been fed by the morning (I can usually tell by their bellies) I will follow through with restricting the actual mom to them. Her nest is still sitting empty, but I have seen both doe's go to and from the babies, so hopefully one or both is nursing them. The mother does seem back to normal now... yesterday she seemed really tired and overwhelmed. I'm sure if the lop doe hadn't stepped in, the kits would have all frozen, because the mother had them all over the place and left them. The lop doe gathered them all up, made a nest, and cleaned them up for her.

Amazing experience, Finnegan! That lop doe must have superb mothering instincts, in spite of losing her own litter.

Don't be afraid to handle the kits regularly. It helps to make them friendly, trusting rabbits later on. As long as you don't keep them out long enough to get chilled, regular handling is fine.

Please keep this thread updated. We'll want to hear how it progresses.