And they just keep coming

[TMTex]

DW texted me and said we have a new litter of kits! This is a first time NZW doe. The doe had her kits on the wire and evidently freaked out that there were these intruders in her hutch. She killed 3 and was eating them when DW went to check on her.

DW saved 4 and put them in the nesting room. A subsequent check found them all together and wigging in a different area inside the nesting room. So 4 survivors and a confused doe. No fur pulled yet. I'll be home in a couple of hours and will be have some clean up to do and will try to get mom to take care of her babies.

I wouldn't call this a complete strike, since there are survivors. I guess it's an infield foul. Then again, an infield foul is still a strike.

Wish us luck!

 

[Marinea]

*fingers crossed for the kits and their mom*

 

[coffeenutdesigns]

Hope they all do okay and she feeds them!

 

[TMTex]

Thanks, folks.

She's not feeding them and hasn't pulled fur yet. We tried force feeding with little success. We hand fed them tonight and I'll check on them in the morning.

I built the nest with hay, cotton balls and some fur that I pulled from her dewlap. This pic is from before we fed them. I pulled more fur and covered them for the night.




Here's the dam in her suite.

 

[paintrider89]

Very best of luck with these guys. And with mom, maybe she just needs to sleep on the idea?

 

[ottersatin]

TMTex,
I suggest that you take out the Dam and hold her while pulling
Fur from her sides and Rump, pull enough to make a nice nest covering the Kits.
Pull more fur to cover the kits. This will stimulate the Dam to start nest-building herself.
What I am saying will not harm the Dam in anyway. I hope this is helpful.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[TMTex]

Thanks for the advice, ottersatin. I did that several times and each time, the dam looked interested in my pulling fur. She still didn't feed her kits and we kept feeding them with formula.

Two died in the mean time, but last night something seemed to click. Sort of, anyway.

I was holding her down for a force feeding while pulling fur. She didn't fight me at all and let the kits feed for the first time. (We hadn't had luck with force feeding). When it was all over, the 2 surviving kits had full bellies with their mother's milk.

I'm cautiously optimistic that the two might make it.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

sometimes it takes a day for the to pull fur and others do it days ahead of time..Mothers sometimes don't feed there babies till the next day also.. happy to hear that your hubby saved some. She will do better next round.