12 Day Old Kits REFUSE to STAY in Nest Box.. 😬

[TKT]

I have six twelve day old New Zealand kits that have been popping out occasionally for the last couple days, but now they ALL insist on being out so yesterday I took the nest box out and cleaned it, put fresh hay in, put most of Mama's hair pads back in just holding back what was wet. Then I put it back in the same place only on its side, and made sure there was plenty of soft timothy all around the nest box. I watched until I saw them sort of crawl back in, but of course they came back out looking for Mama because they were HUNGRY, which I suspect is why they are all crawling out in the first place. I also watched to make sure that they would pile up, or burrow into the hay which they did. My American Blue litter, which is one day younger, was starting to do the same. I cleaned their nest box out and freshened up, got them all put back in and so far they've stayed put.

It was 42° last night and I was worried about them, but didn't want to create more havoc by taking them away from their mother, since they were burrowing and they hadn't eaten yet. This morning they were all in a little tight circle of baby bunnies right in front of the nest box. They were all warm and fed. But they were outside of the hay. Are they just too hot? The original nest that the mama made was just packed with hair. So I went and fed and watered all the rabbits and came back and she was redoing the nest box with it on its side, but she was stepping all over the kits in the process! How much of being trod on can they withstand? Is that normal? She's also sitting on them as she's so into her nest rebuilding. Nobody is crying or anything.

I just need some advice and reassurance from all you pros! This is my first pair of litters and it was a lot of work and money to get here. I have six New Zealands and seven American Blues and I'm hoping for the best with them. It looks like I have a good number of does in both litters, and of course I have high hopes for them. I will probably fret daily until I get them well through weaning successfully, but I also know there's a lot of nature involved. I just don't want to mess up on my side by not doing something I should have done!

 

[Alaska Satin]

I have six twelve day old New Zealand kits that have been popping out occasionally for the last couple days, but now they ALL insist on being out so yesterday I took the nest box out and cleaned it, put fresh hay in, put most of Mama's hair pads back in just holding back what was wet. Then I put it back in the same place only on its side, and made sure there was plenty of soft timothy all around the nest box. I watched until I saw them sort of crawl back in, but of course they came back out looking for Mama because they were HUNGRY, which I suspect is why they are all crawling out in the first place. I also watched to make sure that they would pile up, or burrow into the hay which they did. My American Blue litter, which is one day younger, was starting to do the same. I cleaned their nest box out and freshened up, got them all put back in and so far they've stayed put.

It was 42° last night and I was worried about them, but didn't want to create more havoc by taking them away from their mother, since they were burrowing and they hadn't eaten yet. This morning they were all in a little tight circle of baby bunnies right in front of the nest box. They were all warm and fed. But they were outside of the hay. Are they just too hot? The original nest that the mama made was just packed with hair. So I went and fed and watered all the rabbits and came back and she was redoing the nest box with it on its side, but she was stepping all over the kits in the process! How much of being trod on can they withstand? Is that normal? She's also sitting on them as she's so into her nest rebuilding. Nobody is crying or anything.

I just need some advice and reassurance from all you pros! This is my first pair of litters and it was a lot of work and money to get here. I have six New Zealands and seven American Blues and I'm hoping for the best with them. It looks like I have a good number of does in both litters, and of course I have high hopes for them. I will probably fret daily until I get them well through weaning successfully, but I also know there's a lot of nature involved. I just don't want to mess up on my side by not doing something I should have done!

That is a little early for bunnies to be leaving the nest box, but by 12 days old they are at least well-furred and have each other to help stay warm. And honestly, 42F isn't all that cold; it's not so warm that they should be leaving the box to cool down, but they'll probably be just fine if they hang together. Unless there's something very wrong, kits more than a few days old seem to know what to do to keep themselves comfortable.

As for why they all sometimes want to be in the front of the box, I haven't entirely figured that out. Your instinct to clean out the box was good - it was what I would have suggested first. Once in a while there's a dead bunny left undetected under the bedding, and the living ones, if they can't push it out, will sometimes do what they can to get away from it once it gets, uh, ripe. The other thing that can happen, if the box or cage is tipped slightly toward the front, is that gravity sort of prompts the bunnies to gather at the low point. I've started to build my nest boxes with a floor sloped toward the back to prevent that.

A common reason bunnies pop out is, as you observed, that they're hungry. Since 12 days is a bit young for kits to be eating a lot of solid food, you might think about giving the doe a little extra fat in the form of BOSS or oats or Calf Manna, to help her produce more milk. It doesn't need to be a lot - a tablespoon should do. Has she noticeably lost condition in the last two weeks? It's a good idea to weigh your does 1-2x a week to catch weight loss, since once they are obviously skinny they've really gone downhill.

As long as they're not crying, I wouldn't worry about the kits getting stepped on by the doe. They're pretty sturdy.

 

[Preitler]

I would just make sure that the way back in is way easier than out with a ramp, compressed hay or such, maybe limit their possible radius with a 4" board wall the doe can eaily get over (I need to do this because I have the hutch doors open all day) and stuff all gaps where they could squeeze into.

Kits do leave the nest and pile up just outside when it's hot, I've seen that too..

 

[TKT]

Thank you both so much!

I first thought it was kits being latched onto teats because of their age, but I have a baby scraper on the front of the nest box, and then suddenly they were ALL out! They were following Mama around and some were trying to nurse. She gets a good tablespoon of oats and I started adding a few BOSS too. There are also some oats in their pellets, I'm feeding them 50% Purina and 50% Modesto Milling at the moment. I intended to keep transitioning them to 100% Modesto. The does are getting all they can eat of pellets and timothy hay.

It was pouring rain all night here and I kept wanting to go out in the middle of the night and check on them, but I didn't want to turn a light on all of a sudden and startle anybody. And the kits seemed to be burrowing as needed into the hay and fur. They were all fat and feisty this morning! I know it's not that cold here right now, and the humidity from the rain softens the effect of the cold. It was in the '20s when they were born but they were all very toasty in the box.

Thanks again so much! I have learned such good info from everybody here and really appreciate that!

 

[TKT]

Same stinkers a week older. I adore them! Very curious and sweet!

 

[Mckatie]

So beautiful! I'm loving the reds!

 

[Skai]

I have six twelve day old New Zealand kits that have been popping out occasionally for the last couple days, but now they ALL insist on being out so yesterday I took the nest box out and cleaned it, put fresh hay in, put most of Mama's hair pads back in just holding back what was wet. Then I put it back in the same place only on its side, and made sure there was plenty of soft timothy all around the nest box. I watched until I saw them sort of crawl back in, but of course they came back out looking for Mama because they were HUNGRY, which I suspect is why they are all crawling out in the first place. I also watched to make sure that they would pile up, or burrow into the hay which they did. My American Blue litter, which is one day younger, was starting to do the same. I cleaned their nest box out and freshened up, got them all put back in and so far they've stayed put.

It was 42° last night and I was worried about them, but didn't want to create more havoc by taking them away from their mother, since they were burrowing and they hadn't eaten yet. This morning they were all in a little tight circle of baby bunnies right in front of the nest box. They were all warm and fed. But they were outside of the hay. Are they just too hot? The original nest that the mama made was just packed with hair. So I went and fed and watered all the rabbits and came back and she was redoing the nest box with it on its side, but she was stepping all over the kits in the process! How much of being trod on can they withstand? Is that normal? She's also sitting on them as she's so into her nest rebuilding. Nobody is crying or anything.

I just need some advice and reassurance from all you pros! This is my first pair of litters and it was a lot of work and money to get here. I have six New Zealands and seven American Blues and I'm hoping for the best with them. It looks like I have a good number of does in both litters, and of course I have high hopes for them. I will probably fret daily until I get them well through weaning successfully, but I also know there's a lot of nature involved. I just don't want to mess up on my side by not doing something I should have done!

It seems I always have at least one in every litter that will constantly pop out of the nest box at a time that I consider too early. I have found that I can pile up straw in front of the box and they'll use the straw like a ladder to crawl back in. Straw holds it shape better than hay. Once most of them start coming out of the box I just remove it and use straw to create a burrow for them in the same corner the nest box was in and they will use it. Once my NZ/Cali buns are furred out well they are a lot tougher than they look as long as they can bunch together. I'm not talking about single digits but 42° doesn't sound too bad to me.

 

[Scooter1A]

I have six twelve day old New Zealand kits that have been popping out occasionally for the last couple days, but now they ALL insist on being out so yesterday I took the nest box out and cleaned it, put fresh hay in, put most of Mama's hair pads back in just holding back what was wet. Then I put it back in the same place only on its side, and made sure there was plenty of soft timothy all around the nest box. I watched until I saw them sort of crawl back in, but of course they came back out looking for Mama because they were HUNGRY, which I suspect is why they are all crawling out in the first place. I also watched to make sure that they would pile up, or burrow into the hay which they did. My American Blue litter, which is one day younger, was starting to do the same. I cleaned their nest box out and freshened up, got them all put back in and so far they've stayed put.

It was 42° last night and I was worried about them, but didn't want to create more havoc by taking them away from their mother, since they were burrowing and they hadn't eaten yet. This morning they were all in a little tight circle of baby bunnies right in front of the nest box. They were all warm and fed. But they were outside of the hay. Are they just too hot? The original nest that the mama made was just packed with hair. So I went and fed and watered all the rabbits and came back and she was redoing the nest box with it on its side, but she was stepping all over the kits in the process! How much of being trod on can they withstand? Is that normal? She's also sitting on them as she's so into her nest rebuilding. Nobody is crying or anything.

I just need some advice and reassurance from all you pros! This is my first pair of litters and it was a lot of work and money to get here. I have six New Zealands and seven American Blues and I'm hoping for the best with them. It looks like I have a good number of does in both litters, and of course I have high hopes for them. I will probably fret daily until I get them well through weaning successfully, but I also know there's a lot of nature involved. I just don't want to mess up on my side by not doing something I should have done!

I've been told after 3 days they have enough baby hair to stay warm. If they are coming out there's no stopping 'em now ha. I think you are doing the right thing. If they have a place to jump in together if they want that's great. They will probably just poop in it but you never know. Keep up the good work.

 

[TKT]

It seems I always have at least one in every litter that will constantly pop out of the nest box at a time that I consider too early. I have found that I can pile up straw in front of the box and they'll use the straw like a ladder to crawl back in. Straw holds it shape better than hay. Once most of them start coming out of the box I just remove it and use straw to create a burrow for them in the same corner the nest box was in and they will use it. Once my NZ/Cali buns are furred out well they are a lot tougher than they look as long as they can bunch together. I'm not talking about single digits but 42° doesn't sound too bad to me.

Thanks! I got over it in a couple of days, lol. It was because it was just one at first, then two, I didn't know how they were going to keep each other warm or get back in. Once I saw one hop back in I was okay with it. I was afraid they wouldn't have anybody to cuddle with and that mom would step on them. Once the nest box was on its side and filled back with hay they used that or they laid around outside if they were hot. But I had two litters doing the same thing. It's so much work to get successful litters that I was afraid of losing someone.

 

[TKT]

I've been told after 3 days they have enough baby hair to stay warm. If they are coming out there's no stopping 'em now ha. I think you are doing the right thing. If they have a place to jump in together if they want that's great. They will probably just poop in it but you never know. Keep up the good work.

Thanks! They are all fine now because they just hop in and out, plus they are 3 weeks old today so look like miniature adult buns fur-wise, note photo. Having a nest box on its side with hay in it gives them a place to hide, and it's a bigger area for mom to hop up on to get away from them. I also have a hay pile on the cage floor so they can huddle into that instead like in the photo, or lay there and chew on it.

We are supposedly going to have almost a week of snow starting Friday, so I'm glad they have all their fur! As a first time rabbit mom I'll probably still worry somewhat. Plus they cost me a ton to get here!

 

[TKT]

And as a side note, yesterday when I had one out and was holding it I counted six in the cage. Not five, SIX. Which means I have seven and didn't count them correctly for 3 weeks. I know I counted six like a hundred times!

The same thing happened with my blue litter but I caught it the first week...

 

[Scooter1A]

Thanks! They are all fine now because they just hop in and out, plus they are 3 weeks old today so look like miniature adult buns fur-wise, note photo. Having a nest box on its side with hay in it gives them a place to hide, and it's a bigger area for mom to hop up on to get away from them. I also have a hay pile on the cage floor so they can huddle into that instead like in the photo, or lay there and chew on it.

We are supposedly going to have almost a week of snow starting Friday, so I'm glad they have all their fur! As a first time rabbit mom I'll probably still worry somewhat. Plus they cost me a ton to get here!

Saw the pics, they are really nice looking bunnies. Adorable.

 

[Julie Stade]

Thanks! I got over it in a couple of days, lol. It was because it was just one at first, then two, I didn't know how they were going to keep each other warm or get back in. Once I saw one hop back in I was okay with it. I was afraid they wouldn't have anybody to cuddle with and that mom would step on them. Once the nest box was on its side and filled back with hay they used that or they laid around outside if they were hot. But I had two litters doing the same thing. It's so much work to get successful litters that I was afraid of losing someone.

The first time I see a kit pop out, I put one of the wood step sets in that my husband made for me. There are two screws which protrude slightly on the bottom, so they don't slide around on the wire. They work super well for us.

 

[TKT]

Perfect! Thank you! I will do this like all have suggested. At a little over 3 weeks both litters have been popping back in whenever they want. We'll make sets for each nest box.

 

[Dimplz]

I find having nest boxes that are hard to get out of, but easy to get in to work really well when my 10 day old kits start following mom around like little blind mice. If they can get out and follow mom, they get extra feedings and grow faster. They are so fun to watch.

The first time a 10 day old kit followed mom out I was worried about them coming out before their eyes and ears were even open. I watched it follow mom, wobbling, and bobbing along behind her obviously blind and deaf.

I said "Look at your cute little bean momma." That kit spun, and ran straight back in the nest box like it could see where it was going. They are amazing animals.

 

[TKT]

Thank you! I have standard wooden nest boxes that we put a baby scraper panel on the front.

 

[ladysown]

since I tip my nestboxes at 10 days --- 12 day old kits getting out and wandering isn't a big deal to me. I tip the the box, leave a wee bit of the mess of the litter in it, put in a wee bit of straw (cause momma tends to eat it anyways) and call it done. The kits will huddle together if they need to for warmth. sometimes they need some encouragement to stay in the box when it is freezing out---(piles of hay/straw in front of them works wonders for that.

I tip the box at 10 days as it prevents kits from getting stuck outside the box and freezing because they get too cold. This way they can wander and get back in if necessary. Supplementing them with clean hay helps with their hunger.

 

[TKT]

That's what I did, is tip the box on the ones that were getting out. I cleaned it up, saved the clean hair, put clean timothy hay in and made it nice and cozy. Then I put hay all around the box for them to snuggle in and nibble. I check and replace it if it gets dirty.

Now all the little stinkers are hopping up into both Mamas' food bowls and sitting there, and then from there they go up into her hay rack and sit there munching.