First litter!!!

[isdapous]

We ae so excited at Big Dog Rabbitry!!! Our black doe Mama gave birth to 10 kits today. When I left for work at 5:30am, she was in her box, but no kits. At 8am when the Daughter checked her, there were 6 popples. When I got home a little after 4pm, there were 10.

It looks like they are all going to be black like their Mom, although their Dad is a broken rex in gray and white.

I haven't handled them much yet, only to pick one up and do the count. I have always handled my puppies a great deal from the time of birth, and hope to handle the kits as well. She is not a first time Mom, but this is our first litter, so I am cautiously optimistic. I did give her a tums and some celery greens along with some show supplement in her food. She has free access to pellets and fresh hay. Anything else she needs at this point?

I will add pics, but only have a phone pic so far. How does one add pics on this site?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

:congratulations:

Ten is a big litter! How exciting.

I handle my kits once or twice a day and it makes for very friendly rabbits. Bring Mama a tasty treat when you want to examine the kits so she associates them being checked and held with good things.

I like to give parsley to my does after they kindle. It helps the uterus to contract and stimulates lactation.

We would love to see pics! Here are two tutorials on different methods you can use:

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[Dood]

Congratulations.

I handle my kits daily, partly to get them use to people and partly because they are so cute I also grow them out in a colony and they don't seem as wild as some RT members.

Were you hoping for brokens? It's really odd that you didn't get any in a litter of ten but colour genetics is definitely not predictable.

 

[isdapous]

Not knowing for sure what breed Mom really is makes it kinda hard to call. I had hoped but since she is all black, there may be no brokens behind her. We can keep a doe or two and try again.

She is a bit smaller than a NZ but has a longer head than any of the dwarfs, plus isn't really dwarf shaped. She is about 8 pounds and shiny black with a few flecks of silver throughout her coat. Her ears are more like a rex than an NZ as well. I sure hope she can keep this whole crowd fed. We will keep a very close watch since we don't have another doe with kits since SnowMomma kids are no where to be found.

I'm pretty sure my NZW ate her kits. She pulled fur, nested like a maniac, then got very skinny from when I left for work and when I got home, but no kits to be found. I rebred her to my rex buck last night, hoping for better luck this time. I will build her a new cage and place it farther back in the garage. She is the closest to the garage door in a Great Dane crate we put a wire floor in. She loves her cage, but I'm afraid the feral cats mewing outside the door and peeping in the windows may have caused the loss of our babies.

My daughter did post 1 pic on our FB page. They are black as is the hair in the nest altho the pic makes them look silver: https://www.facebook.com/BigDogRabbitry :bunnyhop:<br /><br />__________ Thu Mar 28, 2013 6:28 pm __________<br /><br />Here is the pic the daughter sent me this am. Kinda fuzzy but you can see how dark the baby is.

 

[Dood]

Broken is actually dominant, the black doe cannot carry it, if she had a broken gene then she would have a broken pattern.

Since the buck is a broken grey(chinchilla?) 50% of the kits should have been broken.

Could the buck be Dutch marked instead? It is a recessive gene that typically causes white around the neck, and a blaze on the face. If you post a picture we can figure it out.

 

[isdapous]

I just looked at my breeding calendar again, and she didn't kindle when bred to the rex, so I bred her to the Siamese marked Satin (which with research I think is actually a Classic, although they are shiny and sleek as all get out). He is a fawn color with a brown points.

 

[Dood]

That explains it. The siamese satin is a black rabbit with two recessive genes, one of which is shaded and gives him the fawn/ sepia colour with darker points, so I am not surprised all the kits are black. If you keep any does from the litter and breed them to him, you should get some kits that are Siamese sable.

 

[Heritage Homestead]

:congratulations:

Such a cute popple!