| 22 days ago I forget to close the door of the buck for just 5-10 minutes and when I come back I find him in the next cage which belongs to a doe that newly gave birth to 7 babies. I wrote down the date and today I saw the first behavioral signs of pregnancy, she is acting like pregnant. I know 22 day is too early to tell but her behaviors are very typical. I'll make a new cage for her and her incoming babies. Her previous babies are now 1 month old and they will be 38 days old when she give birth to new babies and be separated from their mother. Will they be OK without their mother's milk? They eat greens, fruits etc. for weeks. Are they too young to be left without milk? |
Mother of 7 babies pregnant again, should I make a new cage and will 38 days old babies be OK without their mother's milk?
- Thread starter Bike guy
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We have ours in a colony and the older litter will stay with their mom when the babies are born. They will be 48 days old at that point. I think theybwill be fine. Thr moms naturally wean around 5 weeks, right?
Old babies will want to stay in the nest with the new ones right? In that case I'll have to use bigger nest and bigger nest means the doe will urinate in it (I know, she did it before).
They are 30 days old now and will be 38 days old when the new babies are born.
I have no idea what the average weaning time of rabbits are but I've seen another doe with 7 weeks old babies was still breastfeeding.
If it were me, I would probablybremove the biggest 2 or 3 babies everybfew days and possibly put thrm in the pen below their mom so they still get her cecotropes for good gut health. Win -win?
Buknee
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If the current litter remains with your doe, I would be concerned about the new litter getting their needed colostrum. They won't survive without it.
If they are eating and drinking, I would start removing them now and give the mother some days before the new kindle.
If they are eating and drinking, I would start removing them now and give the mother some days before the new kindle.
Young rabbits can be safely weaned at 4 weeks, though many of us like to leave them a week or two longer. At 38 days, your older kits should do just fine. I'd agree with @Captaincatholic and @Buknee about separating the older kits before the doe kindles again.
I would second your plan to move the doe to a new cage and leave the older kits where they are. Weaning is a bit stressful for kits and a move adds to that; since weaning enteritis is always a possibility lurking in the background, I always figure the least stress the better. Keep feeding them what they are used to, and they will probably do just fine.
I took mine out at five weeks, they ate alot of hay, pellets, greens. Did great.
So what's happening now with them? Is she due soon?
22 days from the beginning of the thread was day 0. We probably have 10 days before we hear from him about kindling.
I would be worried the new kits will not get enough milk from mom with kits around that should have been weaned at about 3 weeks and mom removed from them.
My doe is absolutely done with her kits by 4 weeks. She actively pushes them away when they try to feed. We have hutches with nursery boxes attached to the back. The doe kindles and raises her kits to 3 weeks in that hutch.
At 3 weeks, we move momma and kits to a 30×36 cage. Mom stays with them for one week, and then she goes to her own cage. By 4 weeks, she is ready to get away, and starts showing dominant behavior that leads me to believe she would hurt one of them.
The kits grow out in that cage until they start showing signs of puberty, then they are seperated by gender and the males are pulled out, put in another cage to finish growing out. That usually happens about 5 to 6 weeks old. The males start chin rubbing, spraying, and trying to hump the females.
Our nest boxes are lined with a grass and straw mixture of Oat, Wheat, and Barley. We have observed the kits actively eating the hay before the eyes are even open. I had one kit at about 7 days old mistake my finger for a bit of straw. They have teeth at that age, and were already eating the bedding.
By the time they are 2 weeks old, they are venturing out of the nest box, and following mom to her feeder. By the time they are 3 weeks old, they are fully eating what mom eats. Then I wait for her to tell me she is done before I take her away from them.
So far, all her litters have been weaned around 3 weeks.
My doe is absolutely done with her kits by 4 weeks. She actively pushes them away when they try to feed. We have hutches with nursery boxes attached to the back. The doe kindles and raises her kits to 3 weeks in that hutch.
At 3 weeks, we move momma and kits to a 30×36 cage. Mom stays with them for one week, and then she goes to her own cage. By 4 weeks, she is ready to get away, and starts showing dominant behavior that leads me to believe she would hurt one of them.
The kits grow out in that cage until they start showing signs of puberty, then they are seperated by gender and the males are pulled out, put in another cage to finish growing out. That usually happens about 5 to 6 weeks old. The males start chin rubbing, spraying, and trying to hump the females.
Our nest boxes are lined with a grass and straw mixture of Oat, Wheat, and Barley. We have observed the kits actively eating the hay before the eyes are even open. I had one kit at about 7 days old mistake my finger for a bit of straw. They have teeth at that age, and were already eating the bedding.
By the time they are 2 weeks old, they are venturing out of the nest box, and following mom to her feeder. By the time they are 3 weeks old, they are fully eating what mom eats. Then I wait for her to tell me she is done before I take her away from them.
So far, all her litters have been weaned around 3 weeks.
She will probably give birth 3-4 days later and I'm considering to give her to a young guy who really wants to start a rabbit hutch. If I don't, the number of the rabbits that I have will rise to 30+ and it is beyond my capacity. The guy already have chickens and an empty hutch for my rabbit. I'll also give him a 3 months old male.
The guy will take her 2 days later and by then I'll be finished to build the new nest for her. I'll be visiting her for a few times at her first week. First week is the most critical time for babies. Her old babies will stay with me.
great way to help someone out. so are you OK? I'm watching the quake news.
Thank you, I'm OK. I live in the northeast, far from the earthquake zone. I stopped watching earthquake news, the footages are so sad.
I can't take the rabbit to her new home today, roads are closed because of the snow. The outside is just like a scene from the novels of Jack London, all snow everywhere and fighting dogs. God help the quake victims.
I will not demand any money for this 2 rabbits but I have doubts about the young guy. He is very inexperienced. I'll be helping him at the very first weeks.
Thank you again for your kindness.
so glad to hear you are fine. Praise God.
