A way to check kits and care for doe?

[ZachsRabbits]

My doe had kits this morning and I would like to develop a system to check the kits and take the doe daily. My dad still believes if you touch the kits they will be killed. It's not that I don't trust this doe to check the kits myself I don't want her to freak out and trample them either.
Any Ideas?

 

[Zass]

Pull the nestbox out, and check the babies where she can't see.

 

[ladysown]

only way you know how she will react is to pull the box and take a look. Doesn't matter if she sees you or not.. she'll smell your scent on the kits. If she's a nervous girlie, doing it where she can see you helps them chill out MOST OF THE TIME.

IF she's set to attack you.... pull the box all the way out while minding your fingers. close the door and examine the kits. THEN stay in the rabbitry for a good hour after you put the kits back, stay quiet and let her check out the kits.

 

[Zass]

Those are good points Ladysown.

Only my crazy silverfox would ever become visibly stressed so long as their nestbox was in sight.
Some of those high strung girls actually seemed to be more comfortable with me keeping the nestbox out of their cages, and only returning it for nursing.

Scent isn't something I'm used to worrying about with rabbits though, since mine have never seemed to care about smells much. If I had nest boxes inside, I could bring any similarly aged box of kits to any doe, and they would hop right in and feed without bothering to sniff.

One exception being the smell of a buck in rare cases. A few of those crazy does REALLY hated the scent of a buck anywhere near their kits.

 

[ZachsRabbits]

Well Mama Bun is taking great care of her kits. One black and blue otter. I think the black otter is a peanut. Any advice on her raising a singleton when nature takes it's course on the peanut.

 

[Marinea]

With the cold weather, I bring in nest boxes and take them out twice a day for feeding for the first two weeksr. If I had a Singleton, I would do that for sure.

 

[ZachsRabbits]

She's inside my house and dosen't like me touching her kits. :]

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Give the doe some tasty treats and then check the kits. She will learn to associate good things with you checking her babies. I always do this with first time does, and then when they have kits again they never mind me checking them.

 

[Homer]

:yeahthat:

A nice little bowl of BOSS does wonders for the attitude of an excitable Doe.

 

[Stephanie]

Those are good points Ladysown.

Only my crazy silverfox would ever become visibly stressed so long as their nestbox was in sight.
Some of those high strung girls actually seemed to be more comfortable with me keeping the nestbox out of their cages, and only returning it for nursing.

Scent isn't something I'm used to worrying about with rabbits though, since mine have never seemed to care about smells much. If I had nest boxes inside, I could bring any similarly aged box of kits to any doe, and they would hop right in and feed without bothering to sniff.

One exception being the smell of a buck in rare cases. A few of those crazy does REALLY hated the scent of a buck anywhere near their kits.

Reading between the lines.... then I guess I should never tend to a buck before tending to the doe and her kits. See her first. Correct?

 

[Zass]

Reading between the lines.... then I guess I should never tend to a buck before tending to the doe and her kits. See her first. Correct?

It's not something I usually worry or even think about.

It only ever mattered with a few extremely neurotic animals that I no longer have. See, breeding crazy animals mostly just makes more crazy animals, and the world really doesn't need any more of those..