I have two first time mom sisters. Both kindled same day. One with 5 doing great. Other one kindled 8. All looked much smaller than the doe with 5. Each day one or two looked malnourished. I would hold mamma on back to nurse two or three of the smallest ones. It didnt look like they were getting any milk and I'd hold her to nurse like 10 min. Her teats had red tips, but otherwise looked normal. One by one they started getting so weak, they died. Do you think they were deformed in some way they couldnt nurse, or did moms milk not let down. The rest look okay for now, full looking bellies but are significantly smaller than the other litter. They are now 2 weeks old. I'm sure I've stressed momma out holding her down. Any advise as to what's going on? Thanks
What breed are these rabbits? Eight sounds like an unusually big litter for dwarfs, but if they are a dwarf breed, you might be dealing with peanuts.
Kits from a large litter are generally smaller than those from a bigger litter, so the size difference is not too surprising. Usually they catch up by weaning. Eight is not an especially large litter (for full-size rabbits), so if a couple of them didn't make it, it could have just been something not quite right with them. If the rest have full bellies, it's not likely that there's anything seriously wrong with the dam.
I tend to avoid holding the doe down on the kits, or flipping her over on her back; I've had kits seriously injured that way, and it really stresses the doe. If there are a couple of kits that are lagging behind the others, removing the bigger kits for one feeding (
not an enforced feeding), as
@RabbitsOfTheCreek suggests, will sometimes allow them to catch up.
I'd agree also with putting some clean hay and a few pellets into the nest box, to encourage hungry bunnies to start to eat those things, although at two weeks of age they definitely still need to nurse. But if a few of the kits aren't eating well, and the doe is feeding the rest, I just figure that sometimes the doe knows something I don't. Although breeder selection has improved the tendency of domestic rabbits to have and raise big litters, not
all the babies of prey species can be expected to live.
And as
@RabbitsOfTheCreek points out, sometimes it takes a litter or two for a doe to come into her own, in terms of raising bunnies.
