A 3 wk nzw died

[Lmannyr]

Toady my litter of 10 is 22 days old. this my first litter.

I walked out to feed them this morning and found 1 kit laying on its side, still alive. Not weaned obviously. I picked up the kit and noticed right away it was just skin and bones. Kit had NO energy. Yesterday, all the kits seemed fine. It died within 2 hours of me taking it out the cage.

Mom and kits have access to free pellets and free hay. Kits can't reach water nipple, waiting on parts to change that. Could this have been the cause, dehydration? I would think that the kits would still be nursing? I know momma is 14 days pregnant.

I've read on the forums where people would weight the kits each week. What shouldthee NZW kits weigh week to week? How can I keep track of which kit weighs what? They all look the same. Lol

Also, how do I put kits out of their misery exactly, their so small!

Thanks

 

[Secuono]

Possibly, 10 kits is too much for mom to handle and being bred already would stress that further.
It's your first litter and you are already forcing out another? Any reason for the rush??
Is the doe a new/1st time mom or did you get her at breeding age and she has had other litters?

 

[Rae]

Could be dehydration. I know at 3 weeks my kits can all be found at the water bottle at one time or another. When I look at my records at 3 weeks my kits have ranged anywhere from 6.5oz to 12oz all full NZW or MM/NZW crosses. The average for all the kits at 3 weeks comes out for me to be just under 8.5oz.
Please don't feel guilty about rebreeding your doe again early, if she's in good condition and the kits up to now have been health and active, there was no real reason not to rebred her if you wanted to.
You may want to just go ahead and add another waterer to the cage, even if its only temporary while you wait for your parts, a crock will be fine. Also it's said that oats can increase milk production so adding a few to the doe's feed won't hurt. My kits love them too. BOSS is a great supplement, it adds fats and protien and can really help give your rabbits a boost. Just a tablespoon a day is enough to start with as the kits eat more and more you might feel comfortable adding more.

 

[Lmannyr]

Rae, thanks for the tips. How do you track the weights of each?

Is old fashioned oat meal ok?

 

[MaggieJ]

Is old fashioned oat meal ok?

Yes, the large-flake old fashioned kitchen oatmeal (like Quaker) is very good for does and kits. And they love it.

Please do put a crock in the cage until the watering system is lowered and you see the youngsters using it. It's simple insurance against dehydration. The doe, due in another two weeks, may be drying up.

 

[Lmannyr]

Got them a crock and oats in the cage. The kits were all over the water. Sheesh! I ordered the pressure regulator Klubertans 10 days ago and still hasn't arrived. The bucket system is too much maintenance.

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

oh yes-- three week old kits really ingest a lot of water when Mom is pregnant--- Last summer, I hung two water bottles on each cage-- one high for mom, one low for the kits. I also offer crocks when the weather gets real warm--Besides ensuring a ready supply of water, the kits learn how to use both sources-- a plus when selling them.....

 

[Lmannyr]

How can I track each kits weight?

 

[skysthelimit]

you can mark their ears and weigh them weekly.
At three weeks my kits are out of the box, eating and drinking the does food.

 

[Lmannyr]

Mark them how? The ears are so tiny. What do I mark it with and what should I write?

Thanks.

 

[skysthelimit]

Mark them how? The ears are so tiny. What do I mark it with and what should I write?

Thanks.

i did mine with a sharpie, named them doe1, doe2, buck1, buck2, etc.

 

[Rae]

I use sharpies too. I do black for does and just number 1, 2, 3, etc... and Orange for bucks. Each sunday they get weighed, numbers redrawn in each ear and a gender check. Then I take the weights and put them into excel which plots it onto a graph for me along with the average for the litter. Then I can compare the graphs for different litters to see how they stack up. I found it's better to do it that way then to compare individual numbers. As long as they follow the same general progression I'm happy. I do the same thing to track where my feed goes.

 

[Lmannyr]

So you don't use Evans software or kit track to keeP a history?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Also, how do I put kits out of their misery exactly, their so small!

Thanks

I had to do just that myself for the first time. I used the technique posted by bowbuild to dispatch rabbits for butchering. ?hilit=butcher video

We had tried the method a few days prior on the rabbits we processed, and it worked very well for us, so I chose to do the same with my ill kit.