1st time doe not leaving nest box

[Charliehooks]

She had 1 on the wire this morning dead went out again tonight to her still in the nest box licking another kit idk if it's alive or not since I do not want to disturb her. She's a day early and so far with the nest so good..maybe one of the Kindle over a couple days situations?

 

[ladysown]

some does will kindle over the period of three days but that is the exception to the rule. Kindling normally is done within 1/2 hour unless there are complications.

 

[Charliehooks]

Is it safe to take her out of the box to check on what's happening? Worried about her scurrying and killing more kits

 

[Preitler]

Enticing her with treats might be a better option if you think taking her out would be the problem, otherwise I'm pretty sure it wouldn't hurt, but it's hard to tell without seeing it.

 

[ladysown]

what I do to entice does to leave a nestbox is simply to remove it from the cage. The doe will hop out. once it's been 1/2 an hour I want to know what is going on.

 

[Charliehooks]

She was out tonight all kits masacured so I decided to try palpation and I think there's 1 or 2 more to come still. On the positive this is 1 of 5 that were supposed to be pregnant so that's a plus she at least carried full term in my books. I should've given more time when I moved them here to breed them so back to square one if no other kindle by the end of the week

 

[MuddyFarms]

Any more kits since Sunday? Is she acting normal? How many kits does it look like she had? You can feed her alfalfa for some additional calcium, and if she is still in and out of contractions you could also feed her a small amount of lavender buds. Here are some threads about this:

https://rabbittalk.com/threads/retained-kit.34555/post-336562
https://rabbittalk.com/threads/help-with-difficult-delivery.34725/

 

[Charliehooks]

She's well done and rebred 2 others have kindled though 1 has 5 kits for 2 days now all alive and well and I got to learn a lesson this morning when I walked in and my number 3 (which I thought I missed breeding somehow) had 7 kits all over the wire. I must've caught it just in time because thanks to everyone here I got them all in a nest box put them under the infrared heater and they all came back to life!! Not after number 2 nibbled off an ear though so we'll see what happens with that... Thanks everyone for helping me out I've been a nervous wreck and it's clearly my first time but I'm learning valueable lessons along the way including to always listen to the wife because she suggested putting a nest box with number 3 a couple days ago

 

[Charliehooks]

Forgot to add number 3 had 7 kits

 

[Charliehooks]

Number 3 has zero now

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

What happened

 

[Charliehooks]

She consumed them

 

[MuddyFarms]

Sorry about number 3's litter! How many days did she have the kits before she did that to them?

 

[Charliehooks]

Half a day

 

[EastNeukRabbits]

First up, I’m sorry to hear of your breeding troubles…it can be tough. Secondly, possibly unintentionally, your thread has made me LOL..dry humour or what. Love it. Fingers crossed you have better luck next time round, and maybe don’t breed from that doe again..

 

[ladysown]

are you sure the doe ate them? For a doe to eat 7 kits is highly unusual, they will normally only eat only some and leave a head here, a leg there. For them to be completely gone has me wondering if you have a predation problem or something that spooked her.

But it can be hard learning, especially with first-time does.

I suspect with doe #1 that she had a stuck kit, maybe more than one. One stuck kit can kill the rest. and if it was a hard delivery she may have used her teeth to help move things along.

Second time should go better with both those does.

 

[Charliehooks]

Let's hope so everyone's rebred my number 5 has 5 kits still all alive and well. My 3 didn't consume the whole litter they were just dead with body parts missing I'm guessing they were dead by the time she got to them since I didn't put any hair in the box after reviving them and I'm using hay instead of straw

 

[Jamielrh]

So it's been over 31 days since you rebred. Any sucess?