Colony & kits question

[swaggymama]

We have 7 buns.. 5 does and 2 bucks. We always had them in hutches... we built out a colony setting for them this year, with underground boxes and tunnels. The 1st litter was born in a box.. only 2 out of 8 lived. 2nd and 3rd litters were born in a burrow the doe dug.. the first one just never came out.. like mama closed up the hole and never went back. The 2nd burrow was better... but this morning noticed it seemed like mom tried to dig in, but the ground was too hard from the cold... so I opened it up a bit so she could get back in. I stuck my arm in, couldn't reach the end so I have no idea if there are babies in there.. I'm assuming so, as she came out of it 5 days ago with a bloody behind and has been going in and out, tamping down the dirt when she leaves.

anyone have a clue what the chances of survival are?

 

[ladysown]

you'll know in about 3-4 weeks I"m guessing. I'm thinking a well made nest in an underground burrow... probably pretty good.

 

[Kelly Pfitzer]

You kind of went the opposite route i did. I started in a pen, then moved to huthches. Long story short, i found the con's of raising a colony outweighed the benifits. Specifically when it comes to the overall health of the rabbits and the fighting. When they started on their very impressive array of rabbit holes, i soon learned they can tunnel over 150'. I wasn't concerned about them digging out so much as they were just creating burrows to hide in and escape the heat, but the concern was always there that if they had a kindle down there....you'd never know. And that is a whole host of problems.