Swapping kits question

[sueand56]

This is a follow on question to my intro post.

My two does each had their (and my) first litters. The Californian had 12 on the 19th, one died right after birth. She built a nest, pulled fur, fed kits. The New Zealand had 5 biggish kits on the 20th, on the wire, no nest, no fur (I pulled fur for her nest) delayed feeding but fed on the 21st. Three of the Cali's kits were small,(runts?) not feeding well, so I tried to get her to feed them on Sunday and ended up flipping her and they fed, one was weaker, did not feed well.

Here is where I think I messed up. I decided to put the three small kits in with the NZ's kits so they would have less competition. When I got up this morning I started second guessing, thinking I should have put three of the bigger Cali kits in the NZ nest to better match size. When I checked them this morning two were fed ok, the other still weak, and fed poorly when put on the doe. He was dead when I got home from errands this afternoon.

The question I have now is should I once again switch kits and put the two little Cali kits back with their mom and move 2 or 3 of the larger Cali kits into the NZ nest box or should I leave well enough alone?

 

[ladysown]

when fostering match kits sizes regardless of breed. I've had polish raise litters with one meat kit, two holland and only one of their own. with hollands raising meat kits and a meat doe raising the remaining polish and hollands. You match size and sometimes you match vitality. Sometimes a small kit is a total fighter.

Put the kits you MOST want to save with the better doe.

 

[SarahMelisse]

Put the kits you MOST want to save with the better doe.

:yeahthat: That's exactly what I would do.

 

[sueand56]

Thanks ladysown and SarahMelisse. I'm very new at this so the size thing didn't occur to me at first and then I wasn't sure. I swapped the two smaller kits back to their mom, two of her biggest kits to the NZ doe. Everyone seems happy so far. I'll keep an eye on them.

By the way, you both have very interesting and informative blogs. There is so much to learn.

 

[coffeenutdesigns]

I would even out the litters with the bigger kits staying together, 8 big ones together and 7 little ones together (if I read that right and you now have 15 kits). I would keep less of the smaller ones together so they get fed more.

 

[sueand56]

Sad to say, but two of the runty kits died and I ended up culling the third one. It was not feeding and even when I flipped the doe he would not feed for very long. I tried supplementing/feeding with a goats milk/KMR formula, but he would do the same thing, nurse eagerly for a little while and then stop. He never gained any weight at all and I felt like I was just prolonging things with no benefit to the kit.

I suspect if i hadn't put them in with the bigger kits in the first place they might have done better, but I can't know that for sure. In any case I feel like I know better how to handle things if I have the same situation crop up in the future. Again, thanks for your help.

 

[ladysown]

sorry that you lost them and good on you sparing suffering for the third.

Raising rabbits is sometimes a hard thing.