Does not taking care of her young

[meyersgb]

Recently I started raising rabbits again for food. Two of my does had litters and they all died. I prepped the cages as I learned before but it does not seem to help. Any ideas of what could I be doing wrong?

 

[Marinea]

Welcome Meyersgb! Sorry that this problem is your intro here

You might get more help if you give us some more details- were they born on the wire, were they still born or did they die right away? If they died later, were they getting any milk at all? At what age did they die? What kind of rabbit? Had the does had litters before? How old are the does? As much info as you can give will help us help you.

I am sure you will get folks trying to help you. I hope this situation gets better.

 

[meyersgb]

Thanks Marinea for the reply. Well, I'll try and answer the questions you had. The Doe is about 2 years old. She had never had a litter. She is a California/New Zea breed. She pulled fur and make a nest on a solid floor, not wire. She had 8 little ones, and all were dead when I got to them. They were all in the nest of fur but all dead. Not sure if they were still born or died afterwards.
P.S. - This is not the first Doe that I have that has lost her litter. I had 2 other Does that did the same thing. I since got rid of those Does. ???

 

[Marinea]

Was one of the kits larger than the others? Maybe stretched out looking? I am thinking maybe she had a stuck kit and the others died while she tried to pass the first one. I am not an expert, but I am thinking she might be a bit old for a first time mom and it might have caused problems.

You might want to rebreed her and see how it goes. Hopefully, someone with more experience than I have will add in. If they do, listen to them over me I am a rookie still at breeding.

 

[AnnClaire]

Nah, Marinea got it right Probably a stuck kit and the rest were DOA. Eight is a good number for a first time doe! I second Marinea's recommendation to rebreed her immediately. She will be most receptive, and her next litter should be more successful.

Also, a general rule of thumb that rabbit breeders use is a three strike rule with new moms. If they can't get it all right by the 3rd litter, then it may be time to cull that doe. First time moms sometimes just don't get it all right in the right order, and then there are the times when outside issues are to blame for a doe losing a litter.

Good luck!

 

[MamaDani]

Are they outside? Could they have been too hot? Just throwing that out there too b/c we just lost half a litter b/c it was 80-90* out and mama rabbit still put 2-3in of fur on them.