First litter in years

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R Buns

R Buns

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We successfully have a litter of kits. Day 31. Fairly long frustrating road to get here. Don't know how many yet. She was working on her nest early this morning very early. Pulled a ton of hair later in the morning. Just checked and there's movement under the hair. Pretty excited to finally have babies. Drawing a blank on what to do from here. I offered a second feeding of food. Some research says unlimited feed, some say double feed. Otherwise not much to do with them at the moment. Would like to check on them. When is it safe to investigate the kits and remove any dead? This is her first litter. I don't want to stress her out. She happily went to the carrot piece I offered and didn't care that I was taking a video of the moving fur.
Second doe (Day 32) hasn't done much with her nesting box at all. Ate a little bit of hay out of it but nothing else. Fear she isn't bred. Will keep waiting for now. Would be disappointing if she didn't get bred again.
Would love some advice on the basics. Want to do right by them.
Thanks!
 
R Buns said:
We successfully have a litter of kits. Day 31. Fairly long frustrating road to get here. Don't know how many yet. She was working on her nest early this morning very early. Pulled a ton of hair later in the morning. Just checked and there's movement under the hair. Pretty excited to finally have babies. Drawing a blank on what to do from here. I offered a second feeding of food. Some research says unlimited feed, some say double feed. Otherwise not much to do with them at the moment. Would like to check on them. When is it safe to investigate the kits and remove any dead? This is her first litter. I don't want to stress her out. She happily went to the carrot piece I offered and didn't care that I was taking a video of the moving fur.
Second doe (Day 32) hasn't done much with her nesting box at all. Ate a little bit of hay out of it but nothing else. Fear she isn't bred. Will keep waiting for now. Would be disappointing if she didn't get bred again.
Would love some advice on the basics. Want to do right by them.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Congratulations! It's hard to describe that feeling of seeing a moving fur blanket in a nest box! 😄

I usually keep the doe on her normal feed ration, or maybe a bit more, for a week or two, but I often add about a Tbl of BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds) especially if she has a large litter or looks like she's lost any condition. After the bunnies start coming out, I shift to free-feeding.

I handle kits briefly every day, starting the day they are born. It helps me keep track of their health, and I can find and remove dead kits before they become a problem. It also results in much calmer bunnies.
Here's a thread with more details:
https://rabbittalk.com/threads/handling-babies.36726/#post-355941

Giving the mothers BOSS, in a treat cup on the other side of the cage right before I check the box, makes the does very happy to see me coming. Even the most protective does ignore me while they're snorfing down the BOSS. :ROFLMAO:
 
Alaska Satin said:
Congratulations! It's hard to describe that feeling of seeing a moving fur blanket in a nest box! 😄

I usually keep the doe on her normal feed ration, or maybe a bit more, for a week or two, but I often add about a Tbl of BOSS (black oil sunflower seeds) especially if she has a large litter or looks like she's lost any condition. After the bunnies start coming out, I shift to free-feeding.

I handle kits briefly every day, starting the day they are born. It helps me keep track of their health, and I can find and remove dead kits before they become a problem. It also results in much calmer bunnies.
Here's a thread with more details:
https://rabbittalk.com/threads/handling-babies.36726/#post-355941

Giving the mothers BOSS, in a treat cup on the other side of the cage right before I check the box, makes the does very happy to see me coming. Even the most protective does ignore me while they're snorfing down the BOSS. :ROFLMAO:
Click to expand...
Awesome! Thank you! I'm excited but trying to keep it tamed down. 😂 Especially so I'm not really disappointed when the other doe doesn't kindle.
I just saw those are available at our feed store. I'll pick some up. I've been told they also help bucks with fertility so I need to get some anyways. She did completely ignore me when I gave her a piece of carrot which surprised me. I guess I'm used to larger livestock that want to eat you for lunch after delivering. 😂
I absolutely want calmer babies. This is the doe we nick named cruella (de vil). She's been quite grumpy but yesterday did let me pet her which told me she might be close.
 
So happy to post this! I counted 8 live babies. They look good from what I could see. Didn't spend too much time in there. Just enough to make sure everyone had movement and looked ok and there was no dead ones to remove. Mom didn't even pay any attention to me while chewing on her carrot piece.
IMG_6435.jpeg
 

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