Does with milk?

[home*sweet*home]

Ok, we have a colony with 3 does and one buck. We have 4 adorable 5 1/2 week kits from one of the does. Well our other two does have milk. They got milk about 2 weeks ago. We assumed the were pg, but they have not even pulled fur yet. Two weeks seem like a long time to have milk before kindling.

So these are both experienced mothers, could they be making milk for the other does kits? They all cuddle together since the kits started coming out of the nest box. They clean them and the kits love all their aunties and daddy. Is this something that is even possible or probable, or do you think the girls are actually pg.

All my girls are healthy and these two have some nice size hind ends (Jaylene's mother was named Jaylo because of this trait lol) so I cant tell for sure if they have kits in there or just fattening for the winter.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I think that all three must have had kits...why else would they have milk? Does your colony allow them to dig warrens?

 

[home*sweet*home]

No, they have nest boxes inside the hutch. I know they are from the other doe because of the colors. They are solid black, the other two does are broken black tort.

There are no place kits could hide. I know women start making milk half way through their pregnancy.<br /><br />__________ Tue Dec 20, 2011 10:54 am __________<br /><br />Ok, well I KNOW Sundae is pg, We brought her in to feel and she was so cuddly and lovey. I was petting her and felt a lump on one side (the size of a newborn head) and it moved! So I am thinking any day we should have some more cute little buns! Woohoo!

 

[Jessykah]

i had 2 does in the colony that had their kits in the same nest and took turns feeding them. could it be that they had dead kits and ate the evidence and are nursing the kits also? if so, then check for kits that are fed too much. mine were, so i had to remove one of the does and rebreed her.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I would get the does that haven't kindled away from those kits! When our barn cats nurse kittens before having their own, they lose some or all of their own kittens after a few weeks, presumably because they didn't get any colostrum. You could reunite the colony after the kits are a few days old... but if the does allow the older kits to nurse, they may not have enough for their own. We don't raise rabbits colony style, but we definitely have a "cat colony", lol! We try to keep Queens with same age litters together, because they will nurse them communally and usually combine their litters. If the kittens are too far apart in age, the larger kittens thrive, while the younger ones don't since the bigger ones just push them away from the "milk bar".

Jessykah, I had no idea kits could be "fed too much"- how do you determine that?

 

[OneAcreFarm]

They get too fat and their legs cannot hold up their chubby bodies....they develop "splay leg" if you let it go on....

 

[Jessykah]

they were really bloated and the 2 does were almost fighting over them, jumping in several times, one after another, to feed them. it was better after I removed one doe.

 

[home*sweet*home]

I would get the does that haven't kindled away from those kits! When our barn cats nurse kittens before having their own, they lose some or all of their own kittens after a few weeks, presumably because they didn't get any colostrum. You could reunite the colony after the kits are a few days old... but if the does allow the older kits to nurse, they may not have enough for their own. We don't raise rabbits colony style, but we definitely have a "cat colony", lol! We try to keep Queens with same age litters together, because they will nurse them communally and usually combine their litters. If the kittens are too far apart in age, the larger kittens thrive, while the younger ones don't since the bigger ones just push them away from the "milk bar".

Jessykah, I had no idea kits could be "fed too much"- how do you determine that?

I have never seen them nurse the other kits and they were always just right, we struggled with one and had to bring it in to feed with the doe on her back). They kits are almost 5 weeks old and I dont think they are nursing anymore. They eat tons of food and had and grass.