Eight dead babies and little fur...

[rdartist]

My Cal doe was due yesterday and showed no interest in the nest box. She has always been a late kindler by at least 2 days and sometimes 3 days, so I didn't think much of it. I went out to the hutch this morning to find a nest box with 8 cold kits and one clump of mother's fur. The kits were all good sized and fully developed, but scattered about the box. At first I thought still born, but some looked like they crawled onder the hay.

Does anyone have any thoughts?

 

[mystang89]

I would take the ones that you thought were dead and try to put them in warm water up to the head, DON'T get the head wet. If they start moving around then put them in a warm towel you took out from the drier.
The kits that started moving around towards the hay I would put in a warm towel until I had put drier lint, hay and pulled some of the moms fur out. I would put these things in the nesting box and, if the babies looked like they had round bellies I would put them in the nesting box too, nice and comfy like. If they didn't have round bellies I would hold the mom on her back in my lap and once she had gone into a trance I would take a baby, 1 at a time, and let them latch on to her nipples to eat. Afterwards into the box they would go.
I would keep a close eye on them to make sure the mom was doing what she was supposed to. Give the mom some parsley if you had some just to help in the milk production process. If the mom wasn't feeding them and you have a surrogate I would move as many as I could to the surrogate. If I didn't have a surrogate.....well, I don't know but there is a sticky here that says how to care for kits by hand feeding them.
Hope all goes well.

 

[rdartist]

I tried the warm up trick prior to posting and none responded. I have had to "warm water" kits from a different doe after the first cold snap. It worked well in the past, but these were gone before I got to them.

Two days ago I was running a chain saw near the hutch. Is it possible that she was stressed out and forgot to pull fur? Does the season change effect the ammount of fur availible to pull?

 

[3mina]

I'd say possible but not likely especially if you've had her for a while and this isn't her first litter UNLESS she got a visit from a predator overnight but you know your set up and how likely that might be

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Sorry you lost a litter. That is always a sad sight.

I doubt the chainsaw had anything to do with the lack of fur pulling.

Oddly enough, several of my does, who usually pull lots of fur, didn't do so this last round of kindling. I have no idea why- if anything they should pull more now that it is getting chilly. Fortunately I had saved lots of fur so was able to add it to the nests.

The only thing I can think of is that it isn't really natural for them to kindle so late in the year because of the lack of natural forage. The fact that they are captive rabbits and provided with plenty of food doesn't negate their biology. Last year I only had two does in production, and one lost all but two kits from a litter born in December. This year I have more than a dozen of production age, so I will have a wider sample to base that hypothesis on. Since I intend to breed year-round, that may mean that the does that fail to raise good litters in the winter will be culled from the herd.

 

[michaelhodgejr]

My rabbits have also opted for not pulling large amounts of fur. I've supplemented the nest boxes with some dryer lint to help, and I'm trying to save the unsoiled fur from previous does in order to have enough extra in supply.

 

[ZRabbits]

So sorry to hear of your loss. Hope the next breeding goes better.

Karen

 

[rdartist]

I just started raising rabbits in March, so I am not familiar with breeding through the seasons. She is a good doe as far as numbers (7 - 10) kits per litter. I went out this morning to find a giant clump of fur in the cage, so I really don't know what's going on.

The cages are not in an enclosed space yet, so the predator scenario is possible. I have caught raccoons, oppossum, and skunk around the part of yard where the cages are. I have seen stray cats running about the area as well.

I thank all who have replied. I guess what I am not understanding is what caused her to not pull enough fur to warm the babies when kindling then pull fur the next day.

Thanks again everyone.