hello everyone. i am a rookie at both rabbits and forums. i bred my 2 nzw/calif. does (7mo old) to my buck (8mo old) on jan 10th. one of the girls is building a nest but not the other. could one not have taken? although it looked like the deed was done. i waited 2 hours between the 2 acts. my second question. should i move them inside for the next few weeks until they get some fir? it gets cold here in pennsylvania. but not like our neighbors to the north. will this have an affect on the kits or mother moving them around. totaly enjoying this whole prosess. other than the frozen water. thanks schmitty

Hello Schmitty, and welcome to RT! Your does are only at 21-22 days, and most will have their kits (kindle) at around day 31...so you still have a little time. Some does don't pull fur or build a nest until right before, during or after kindling. If they build a good nest and pull a lot of fur you should be good to leave them out. If not, bring them in and only take them to mom twice a day to feed. Have you gotten any good books on rabbit raising? Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits by Bob Bennett, or Raising Rabbits the Modern Way by Anna Kanable are good ones. Here is a link to some online info in the meantime....

http://world-rabbit-science.com/Developping/Fichiers-pdf/Lukefahr-et-al-1995-rabbit-Texas.pdf

Hi schmitty!

I'm a rookie too- more so with forums (RT is my first), but I only started my herd of breeding rabbits last April.

Most does kindle (give birth) between 28 and 36 days, with 30 or 31 days being the norm for most, I believe. Does vary a lot in their nesting behavior, some start really early and others wait until the last moment, so don't give up on your other doe yet.

It was in the 20's at night when some of my does kindled a couple of weeks ago and the kits were fine. The does made nice nests and pulled a lot of fur, plus they all had 7 or 8 kits so they kept each other warm. Make sure the nests are out of the wind, especially when there is rain or snow so they don't get wet.

About 7 weeks ago one of my does had very little milk, and her kits were dying one by one. I brought her into the house so I could take the kits out of the nest to nurse on the doe without them (or me!) getting chilled. She did fine with the transition. The kits didn't fare so well- only 2 out of 7 live-birthed kits survived, but that was from lack of milk, not the move.

There is tons of great info on this site and lots of helpful people, so if you spend some time here you will learn a lot and have a good time too! Welcome to RT!

Just my thoughts on this..Wait till day 30 to get excited. Be sure that your nest box isn't cold on the bottom. The kits will work their way down to the bottom of the box and will freeze if its cold. I use a piece of Styrofoam with cardboard and a piece of plywood under the nest box to ensure I don't loose another group of kits..Be sure the mother rabbit cant get at the Styrofoam or she WILL chew it.Another way to keep them warm is to use a heat lamp with a standard 60 watt light bulb UNDER the cage that holds the nest box. don't put the light in the box or the cage itself, or you may start a fire! Were in Ontario Canada and it gets extremely cold around here. I have lost 1 litter to extreme cold. That was a sad day...