First time moms - Nesting?? {Kits!!}

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Susie570

Susie570

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All of my does (River, Sprinkles (River's kit), Chrissie and Lady) were 'bred' on 6/3. I rebred Chrissie and Lady two weeks later, in case the first breeding was unsuccessful.

River (the harlequin dutch) is definitely pregnant. I bred her specifically to be a foster mom if the first timers have trouble. She's such a great mom. She loves her kits, she loves to build nests. If I had a Dutch buck, it would be worth breeding her but I don't.

Anyway, she started wanting to nest early, which totally didn't surprise me. She will build nests even when she isn't pregnant. I gave her a nest box at around day 18, she went to work, built her nest and is happy now.

Today is day 22 and I put a nestbox (with hay) into the cages of the other does.

Sprinkles and Chrissie seem to be... 'playing' in the hay?? I don't know if it's nesting behavior or if they're just playing. They're not carrying the hay around in their mouths, they're digging in the hay and nibbling at it. I'm not worried about Sprinkles not being pregnant. I gave it as an early 'test breeding'. I didn't really expect her to Take, so I'll be surprised if she's pregnant. Chrissie I'm not sure about. I feel more confident about her second breeding, so she MIGHT be due around 7/15 instead of 7/4.

I guess my question is, are first time mom's sort of clueless about nesting? Could they be trying to nest? Or do they usually jump right into the whole haystaching thing?
 
Some girls build nests the day before they are due, and some build nests whenever they see a box.
Some build nests and pull hair on day 31 and don't bother to actually have any kits. (See, games bunnies play.)

Some of mine try to tunnel in the box before they give up and nest in it. I've had a doe burrow right through the bottom of a wooden one.

I can't tell the difference between a first timers nest and an older more experienced doe's nest in my herd, so I tend to think it's mostly instinct and not a learned behavior.
 
Zass":1czxgue5 said:
Some girls build nests the day before they are due, and some build nests whenever they see a box.
Some build nests and pull hair on day 31 and don't bother to actually have any kits. (See, games bunnies play.)

Some of mine try to tunnel in the box before they give up and nest in it. I've had a doe burrow right through the bottom of a wooden one.

I can't tell the difference between a first timers nest and an older more experienced doe's nest in my herd, so I tend to think it's mostly instinct and not a learned behavior.
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Thanks :) I'm hoping for some clue as to whether or not the girls are actually pregnant because I'm apparently terrible at palpating. I can feel kits in River now, but that really doesn't surprise me since she had 9 her last litter and she'll probably have quite a few this time. :p It would be great if she were actually one of my brood does. :roll: I've tried to check the others and thought that maybe I felt something, but... you know how that goes. I can't tell if Chrissie has just gotten plump or if she's expecting. I'm anticipating small litters from the first time moms.

We need bunny ultrasound machines :p
 
Our does this year were all ones we kept from last year's litters. We put the nest boxes in on day 28 and the first time around they ate the hay because it was easier to get than the hay in their feeder maybe. We just kept filling it up and on day 30 they started arranging it into a nest. The next time around they ate some of the hay but also shaped a nest in it. Some didn't pull hair until just before kindling, some earlier.
Oh, and they all had haystaches way before they got their nest box. About mid-pregnancy they seemed to realize something was happening and started carrying hay from their feeder around looking puzzled about what to do with it. Everybunny that got put in with the buck kindled, even if there was no classic fall off and only one even possible covering.
 
Well, if nothing else the does are having fun playing in the hay. :p
I guess I should let them do that more often since they seem to enjoy it.
 
Well, now I'm pretty sure SPRINKLES is pregnant! That's a surprise.
I put her with the buck when she was about 4.5 months old, didn't really expect anything to come of it. I let him cover her once (she didn't seem to be into it) and didn't try again. I just figured I would wait until she's older.

If the breeding was successful, she would be due on the 4th and she just started haystaching today! I thought she was looking a tiny bit chubby, but really didn't expect anything from her.

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HOPEFULLY I'll get something from the Mini Lop does!!
 
Yeah, it was kind of an experiment with her being so young and all.
She's bred back to her father, so I'm expecting some Charlies, but also (hopefully) color! :D

Another reason I kept her back for breeding is that she has the sweetness gene. She's a smoocher and super sweet rabbit. I can't ignore those genetics for pet rabbits.
 
Susie570":1iklj5lk said:
Yeah, it was kind of an experiment with her being so young and all.
She's bred back to her father, so I'm expecting some Charlies, but also (hopefully) color! :D
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My harli doe was bred awfully young (but she was asking for it).

She's taking great care of her second litter of 9 (and another doe has some of the extras she produced).

In the same amount of time, her litter-mate sister kept by her breeder has just recently had her first litter, and failed to care for them, so there is one kit surviving with a foster doe.

I'm convinced that going by the doe's readiness signs instead of a set scedule gets the best results.
:soap:

Although...9 and then 15 live kits was a bit more "results" than I'd intended. :oops:
 
She isn't very big so I will be surprised if she has more than a few kits.
She was showing signs of wanting to breed, but when I put her with Scarlet, she ran away from him. He cornered her once, but I didn't think much of it.
 
*fingers crossed*

The last time I bred my black NZ doe, I wasn't sure she took as she never got really big. I was shocked when she had 13 kits! Some hide it better than others, I guess.
 
Marinea":3raf3rp6 said:
*fingers crossed*

The last time I bred my black NZ doe, I wasn't sure she took as she never got really big. I was shocked when she had 13 kits! Some hide it better than others, I guess.
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I would actually prefer it if she only had a few kits!!! :p
River - her mom - had a large litter last time (9) and although I did manage to sell all of the bunnies, I would rather not be overrun with the mixed breed litters. Then again, who knows what will actually sell the best around here? It's likely that people won't care so much about 'purebred' rabbits for pets, as long as they are pretty, sweet and friendly. The lop-ears do sell better than the upright ears. Well, I guess we'll see.

In the meantime, I'm scrambling to get some proper nest boxes as the plastic litter pans I thought would 'make do' don't seem to be the right thing to use. <br /><br /> -- Fri Jul 03, 2015 3:16 pm -- <br /><br /> River just delivered.. I knew she was close, she's been pulling fur all day. Her due date was tomorrow.
Looks like 7 kits, one DOA kind of malformed, squishy kit. I flushed it pretty quickly. The other 6 appear to be healthy but they're pretty fresh. She JUST had them. I only noticed because she was staring into her nest box like :shock: lol but she's been a mom before.

Now, waiting for Sprinkles....
 
Congrats!!
Can't wait to see pics! And colours!

My Clover showed NO signs of pregnancy or nesting with her first litter and she raised 10 beautifully.
Her second litter was only 7 and she looked pregnant and began nesting around day 25, but delivered on 31.
 
Yeah, I saw two broken black kits for sure and a few pink. I need to get a better look at them all. One that looked chestnut, maybe?

Oh, and Chrissie definitely has buns in the oven. I finally managed to feel her and felt them moving, so she's due too and acting totally clueless. No nesting yet, just digging in the bucket I gave her. I guess we'll see.
 
TF3":1brcf6wk said:
Is it 4 litters planned?
So exciting!

Monday is day 31 for our first of four (we hope!) in the next two weeks!
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Yes, but I think one of the does was a miss on the first breeding. I checked checked her again yesterday and didn't feel anything. Then again, who knows? Ill be heading over to check rabbits here shortly. Here's to hoping for healthy litters for your girls! :) <br /><br /> -- Sat Jul 04, 2015 1:48 pm -- <br /><br /> Yay! Chrissie is FINALLY haystaching! Good girl!
Maybe she'll get it right :)

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