AAARRRRGGGGHHJHHHH

[pastelsummer]

my palomino gave birth no nesting nothing dead baby laying in the middle of bloody hay and underneath was pieces of one she had eaten. and she had it in the POTTY CORNER!!!!!!! SUpposedly she is not a first time mom. I have no clue what happened or why. But the pieces looked like the one she ate was little and maybe underdeveloped i can show pics if any one wants to see.

 

[ChopSuey]

My sympathies, been there and wanted to throttle the doe. I have two that are due today and both of their last litters died (smothered & born on wire) I am going out to check on them every 20 minutes to make sure things go better. It is driving me crazy. Sometimes even a good mother does something bizarre like this. Better luck next litter.

 

[guinnessguy]

Darn! Sorry to hear that.

 

[MaggieJ]

Don't blame the doe too much. Sometimes kits get stuck in the birth canal (particularly when there are only one or two) and suffocate. The doe is smart enough not to bother making a nest for stillbirths. As for her eating them... she's just cleaning up. Normal behaviour.

 

[pastelsummer]

i have yet to have a successful doe kindle for me. either the kits die OR they just dont take at all. So when can i rebreed her? I am going to rebreed the oone to a different buck but with re i want her to have babies with the same buck. Thing is i think if i had been an hour or 2 earlyier i would have been there when she had then I keep thinking i could have done something to help save them

 

[MaggieJ]

If you are having ongoing problems, it might be time for a complete review of environment, feed and so forth. The problem could also be with the actual breeding stock. I'd look at how you are feeding them first, since it is usually the easiest to change. What are you giving them?

 

[pastelsummer]

purina professional, The does get as much as they want. They are in a colony, and they get acv in thier water 2-4 times a week depends on if i have a pregnant doe. I have to buy feed soon so if i need to change that then i can

 

[MaggieJ]

One thing you could try is to give them regular small amounts of wheat germ or wheat germ oil (for Vitamin E) and dark leafy greens (dandelion, parsley etc.) for Vitamin A. Both these vitamins are essential for successful breeding and both are vulnerable to heat and poor storage and therefore they are sometimes lost from pelleted feed, even though the feed contained them at the point of manufacture. Just something to consider.

 

[pastelsummer]

ok i waqs thinking of growing some dandilions but dont know where to find the seeds at for them. I have wheat germ i will try mixing it in with the feed. dh uses it in pancakes so we always have some

 

[MaggieJ]

If you check your lawn, you may still be able to pot up a few dandelion plants. They will be dormant but will soon put up new growth if brought indoors. Parsley is also an excellent source of Vitamin A, as are all parts of carrots (the tops are great for rabbits but wash them well if they are from the supermarket) etc. Raw wheat germ is better than toasted, since the toasting will damage the Vitamin E. A couple of teaspoons per day is all that is needed.

Naturally these additions to the diet will only help if the problem actually is a vitamin deficiency. But they certainly will not hurt and remember one case where the breeder was so discouraged until he started feeding sprouted grains and seeds to the rabbits. The population explosion at his place was impressive!

 

[pastelsummer]

lol we grind our own wheat berries i was wondering if that would work just crack them abnd give them to the does
I looked for dandelions but dh is aggressive at makeing sure they disapear so i havent found any

 

[MaggieJ]

Wheat berries certainly have Vitamin E, since they contain the wheat germ. I feed them whole to my rabbits. You could also plant some in a plastic dishpan to provide very nutritious greens for your rabbits. Wheat grass is wonderful stuff! And it only takes a couple of weeks to get a crop.

 

[pastelsummer]

ok i will start that tomorrow. I am lookingonline for somewhere to get dandelion seeds LoL next summer i will adverise that i want them. people already think i am crazy might as well make them think i have lost the last of my marbles

 

[eco2pia]

http://www.territorialseed.com/prod_det ... =dandelion

Fancy dandelions...But just look around in early spring and bring home a hand full of seed from someone else's yard!

 

[pastelsummer]

oh i plan on it saving all the ones i can this spring and making dh suffer with them.

 

[MaggieJ]

This site has a lot of great seeds:

http://www.botanical.com/products/seeds/seeds.html

 

[mountainrabbits]

I looked for dandelions but dh is aggressive at makeing sure they disapear so i havent found any

This might be odd sounding but you could try a neighbor or any vacant land and transplant to a bed on your property. Or if you live in livestock country you could ask to go pick them out of fields-most people don't see any value in dandelions so they rarely say no-most are thrilled that you want them especially if you carefully dig a little hole around them and pull them up roots and all. Church lawns and parks might be a good place to look as well. I would thoroughly wash any and all greens before giving them to your bunnies, patting them dry with a paper towel works for me, or when it's hot I'll leave all their greens wet and put them in the freezer for a few minutes-long enough to get cool but not freeze and not loose nutrition.

 

[Jack]

damn, they freeking grow like wild in my front yard cause I won't use the weed stuff after it mostly killed my shade tree
and the kids, don't want them on the freshly treated grass, 3 days after it breaks down, no prob, until then....
I need to get corn gluten and put an end to them, instead I made a garden shiv and help my big guy (3) get 'bunny flowers'