A watched doe never pops, but an unwatched doe has POPPLES!

[dayna]

I was very surprised to see babies today!

I bred Ashley on October 3rd to Buckaroo. Last time I bred her, I bred her to Ceasar and she had two HUGE kits that I had to pull one out. They dead during birth. They weighed three times that of the other kits born to other does that day.

So thinking she's due around Nov 3rd, I put in the nestbox YESTERDAY. Thank goodness!

I went out to feed her just now and noticed 2 kits in the nestbox. She didn't pull nearly as much fur this time, and I have no idea if she's done giving birth, they were still a bit bloody. I gave her a pat on the head, put my head under the cage to look and see if there was any stuck kits in her vent, gave her some alfalfa and went about my business. I'll check back later to see if there is any more babies.

So we know for sure now she can carry and give birth to normal sized babies. After these guys are grown, I'll re breed her to Ceaser and see if it's the pairing or if it was just a spot of bad luck for her. No other doe bred to him has had this issue.

The thing I'm happiest about? She gets to raise her OWN kits this time! Last time she raised another does kits because hers died and she was such a great mom!

Here is the proud momma!

And the two babies.

 

[Marinea]

Aww, good for her!

*fingers crossed for more healthy popples*

 

[dayna]

Even if she only has the two, my question about her ability to give birth to live normal sized kits is answered. So I'm pleased.

 

[MaggieJ]

Your Ashley is beautiful!

So glad she has given birth successfully to "normal" kits... She may well add a few in the next few hours.

:congratulations:

 

[AmysMacdog]

Yay! Congrats Dayna! Ashley's a beautiful doe. Hope she has at least one offspring that takes after her.

 

[dayna]

Well she's doing GREAT! She's had 8 so far, 7 of which are alive. That's a good amount of babies!

 

[Flemishstar]

YAYYYYYYYYAAYAYYYAYYA!!!1

 

[AmysMacdog]

Awesome! Nice size litter!

 

[Ramjet]

Hope you have better luck with this litter than I had with mine , Ive got 2 left of 12 at 12 days old.

 

[dayna]

7 babies. All I can think of is 7 Brides for 7 Brothers. Maybe I have naming theme!

 

[Ramjet]

They all look fat and healthy , congrats!!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Ashley is so pretty!

Congratulations on the litter. It looks like that second kit has a little white spot on the head!

Did you rebreed her soon after the birth of the two whopper kits last time?

 

[Heritage Homestead]

Congrats!! Ashley is such a pretty rabbit!

 

[dayna]

Ashley is so pretty!

Congratulations on the litter. It looks like that second kit has a little white spot on the head!

Did you rebreed her soon after the birth of the two whopper kits last time?

No, I let her rest and have a break.

__________ Sat Nov 02, 2013 3:25 pm __________

One of the babies was dead in the nest today. No obvious cause so now her litter is down to 6. Hopefully it stops there, but there is one very very tiny baby that I'm not sure is up to the challenge of getting the milk.

On that one I will def let nature take its course.<br /><br />__________ Mon Nov 04, 2013 1:43 pm __________<br /><br />Ugh another dead one. She's down to 4 babies now from 8. Do you think it could be because she had them a bit early? She had them on Nov 1 and her 30 days would have been Nov 3.

Still. I think one more tiny one will probably not make it. I might get 2 or 3 out of this litter.

After her last litter being those giant dead kits. I wonder.

Should I even try a third time? Maybe she's cut out as a pet but not as a breeder. She's super sweet and is a VERY good mom. I just don't know what's going on!