SetskiesD
Active member
My kits are 15 days old and are starting to nibble on stuff. Is it okay to give them hay or pellets or are they too young?
Can 15 day old kits have hay?
- Thread starter SetskiesD
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I start mine on timothy hay and old fashioned oatmeal flakes before their eyes are even open. Just sprinkle a little in around them as long as the nest is clean. I do not start pellets till week 3 and then mix it with oatmeal.
Nest boxes are often full of hay and it is a good idea to clean it out and put in fresh hay when the kits start opening their eyes--around 10-14 days. I'd guess they may start nibbling it before they come out of the nest to eat whatever is being fed to the doe.
SetskiesD
Active member
Thank you guys so much! The babies love the hay! 
They are eating hay before their eyes open and mine had access to everything the doe did as soon as they left the box. It's easier for them to slowly work up to eating something as they grow than to try to introduce it later and control the amount yourself.
bigfoot_158
Well-known member
Rainey":3qzyvdx3 said:
I got nest box eye on first batch of babies. This is a standard practice now.
You know I never changed my boxes and I had 1 eye with problems that cleared up in 48hrs of rinsing with saline. It could be my layering system of pine pellet bottom, shavings, hay/straw... Dunno. It was just never a problem with any breed or line I raised. At 2 weeks I'd tip the box if the weather wasn't so cold they were staying hidden down in there still and shortly after I removed it. Although I had one doe that given all the straw she wanted would bury that box so deep you couldn't get your arm in to see if there were live kits. They'd just pop out at about 4 weeks old with no interference by me. :lol: She'd also make an entirely different nest between winter and summer.
