Sometimes things are just not on your side... We have been having one of the mildest winters in history up here in interior Alaska. On a normal year we would be seeing temperatures around -20 to -30 right now and very rarely coming above 0. I would normally not even think about breeding a rabbit to have babies during the winter up here and a lot of them won't breed anyway because of the short days we have during the cold months (currently at about 4 hrs daylight although my buns get artificial light for about 15 hrs a day). THIS year we have only seen one day reach -20 and that was Thanksgiving day. Every other day has seen temps mostly above zero and we even had 28 degrees this Tuesday.
I had a doe have a litter 5wks ago now and they are normal and healthy. I decided to go ahead and breed my other doe (who SHOULD have kindled along with the other one 5 wks ago but turned up not preggers). How was I to know that Tuesday it would be 28 degrees and then yesterday (her day 31/due date) it would not get above 5 and then drop to -12 during the night :shock: Murphey's Law I suppose :evil: Well, as my subject says I lost all 8 from that litter
It's my first BIG loss I checked on her when I got home from work and she was busy pulling fur. When I went out again to put the light out for the night and water, about 4 hrs later, they were cold. I grabbed the nest box and went to the house. Sorted through what was in there and began to warm them up. One was already half eaten and one was obviously stepped on and pretty flat the rest I set on a heating pack and put a warm towel over them directly in front of our wood stove. After they began to warm I was able to bring one back. Sadly it is not possible for one to survive in the nest alone and bringing the nest in when not feeding is not an option in my situation. I had my hubby quietly dispatch the one live one and dispose of all of them
I tell you what, I can dispatch a jr/grow out or an adult rabbit with no problems but babies are TOTALLY different I tried not to think about it too much the rest of the night but it is still sad. It was a learning experience as I hadn't had to warm "dead" babies before to bring them back and I wish more would have come back but at least the one did so I know it works. I will not be rebreeding this doe right away (won't risk the cold again) and I may even dispatch her before the winter is over as she lost two from her last litter (one at 3wks and one at 8wks for unknown reasons). Some may think it's harsh and I will admit the fate of this litter probably was my fault, but I want the survival rate of my litters as close to 100% as I can get so she isn't proving to be an asset in my rabbitry. Also this doe has taken two breedings each time to get her pregnant which then throws her off the cycle with my other doe so I don't have the option to foster which could have saved the lone survivor's life.
I had a doe have a litter 5wks ago now and they are normal and healthy. I decided to go ahead and breed my other doe (who SHOULD have kindled along with the other one 5 wks ago but turned up not preggers). How was I to know that Tuesday it would be 28 degrees and then yesterday (her day 31/due date) it would not get above 5 and then drop to -12 during the night :shock: Murphey's Law I suppose :evil: Well, as my subject says I lost all 8 from that litter
It's my first BIG loss I checked on her when I got home from work and she was busy pulling fur. When I went out again to put the light out for the night and water, about 4 hrs later, they were cold. I grabbed the nest box and went to the house. Sorted through what was in there and began to warm them up. One was already half eaten and one was obviously stepped on and pretty flat the rest I set on a heating pack and put a warm towel over them directly in front of our wood stove. After they began to warm I was able to bring one back. Sadly it is not possible for one to survive in the nest alone and bringing the nest in when not feeding is not an option in my situation. I had my hubby quietly dispatch the one live one and dispose of all of them I tell you what, I can dispatch a jr/grow out or an adult rabbit with no problems but babies are TOTALLY different
I tried not to think about it too much the rest of the night but it is still sad. It was a learning experience as I hadn't had to warm "dead" babies before to bring them back and I wish more would have come back but at least the one did so I know it works. I will not be rebreeding this doe right away (won't risk the cold again) and I may even dispatch her before the winter is over as she lost two from her last litter (one at 3wks and one at 8wks for unknown reasons). Some may think it's harsh and I will admit the fate of this litter probably was my fault, but I want the survival rate of my litters as close to 100% as I can get so she isn't proving to be an asset in my rabbitry. Also this doe has taken two breedings each time to get her pregnant which then throws her off the cycle with my other doe so I don't have the option to foster which could have saved the lone survivor's life.
