1st time mom pulled no fur

[alforddm]

This is one of the reasons I decided to breed all my first time mom's a bit younger than ideal so that I they would have their first litters while it's warm, but before the summer heat really hits. I have a young doe have a litter of 8 in the nestbox and is feeding them but she hasn't pulled a stitch of fur, absolutely none. Thankfully it was in the 80's yesterday so they were fine. I stole some fur from another doe's nest but this is the first time I have had a doe pull absolutely NO fur. Most of my rabbits are good first time moms and pull a ton of fur. I've only lost two litters (out of many many litters). In previous litters where the doe has pulled no fur, the hormones were just late kicking in and both of them actually pulled fur after I had removed the dead kits.

So thoughts on this? Do you think she will pull fur next time? It just kinda threw me that she had them in the box and is feeding them but poor babies were laying there nekkid as could be.

 

[Homer]

That's why I keep a bag of this around, https://www.kwcages.com/accessories/nests/litter-saver-nest-filler.html An 11oz. bag will take care of several nests. It only takes a small amount fluffed up to keep the little guys warm. I've only had to use it once but keep it around for the just-in-case mom.

The second time I bred that doe she did an amazing job of building her nest. In fact after I used it the first time she started pulling fur. Guess you just have to give the new ones the idea sometimes.

 

[shazza]

yeah it's pretty common for first-time does to not do everything exactly right. they usually figure it out the second time though!

i actually keep a big container of fur in my barn just in case someone didn't pull any or enough fur. if a doe pulls an excess of fur for a nest i'll steal a little, or when i groom my rabbits during shed season and i brush off another entire rabbit, i'll save that. it's really come in handy a few times already when a doe pulled only a little fur because it was warm then the temps bottomed out almost overnight, etc.

 

[alforddm]

I figured that would be the case. I'm not sure why I was so surprised. She just had the kits early yesterday morning, so I guess it's still possible she could pull some fur.

 

[a7736100]

I keep my current litter of 3 in a crew sock. They stay warm and cannot craw away. The milk didn't start flowing till after 3 days. After that she started nursing them when I put them in the cage. They go back in the sock after feeding.