First Time Moms

[BunMama928]

I have 2 Holland lop does who both lost their first litters. All of them were dead when I found them except one who died hours later. They both built nests the day they kindled. The first one had all her kits in the nest except one but then buried the nest. The only one that survived was the one that was born outside the nest and did not get buried but passed later in the day. The other only had 2 in the nest, the rest were scattered about. One of the does is currently pregnant and due tomorrow. She has already built her nest. My question is has anyone else had trouble with breeding Holland lops? Any tips or tricks I can be aware of?

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

None of my Netherland dwarfs have successful first litters

 

[BunMama928]

None of my Netherland dwarfs have successful first litters

I’m thinking the doe I thought was due to give birth tomorrow gave birth sometime today but I can’t for the life of me find the kits. I saw her eating a ton and when I went to her pen she came running right up to me which she usually doesn’t do when she’s pregnant so I picked her up and palpated her, sure enough she was empty, no kits in her belly, and I noticed her nipples even had a little milk coming from them. I rechecked the nest she made again and around the area (she’s in an outside semi free range type pen) and no kits anywhere. She’s the one who buried her last litter so I dug through the dirt around where she built her nest (which was almost exactly where she buried the last litter) and still nothing.

 

[user 8990]

I’m thinking the doe I thought was due to give birth tomorrow gave birth sometime today but I can’t for the life of me find the kits. I saw her eating a ton and when I went to her pen she came running right up to me which she usually doesn’t do when she’s pregnant so I picked her up and palpated her, sure enough she was empty, no kits in her belly, and I noticed her nipples even had a little milk coming from them. I rechecked the nest she made again and around the area (she’s in an outside semi free range type pen) and no kits anywhere. She’s the one who buried her last litter so I dug through the dirt around where she built her nest (which was almost exactly where she buried the last litter) and still nothing.

Perhaps she ate them or a predator got to them?

 

[BunMama928]

Perhaps she ate them or a predator got to them?

Possibly. We had what we believed to be a coyote attack on one of our rabbits in a separate pen so we reinforced the area and set up “bunny cams” to keep an eye on them. Of course the cameras died literally the day before she was due to give birth (talk about bad timing) or else I would be able to see what happened to them.

 

[user 8990]

Possibly. We had what we believed to be a coyote attack on one of our rabbits in a separate pen so we reinforced the area and set up “bunny cams” to keep an eye on them. Of course the cameras died literally the day before she was due to give birth (talk about bad timing) or else I would be able to see what happened to them.

That is bad timing! Coyotes are not something we have to deal with on Long Island, thankfully! The worst predator we’ve had recently was a broad wing hawk. Went to feed my chickens and found one very tired hawk, hanging from the netting over the pen, on the inside. She’d finished off a lovely Black Copper Marans cockerel and there she was. I wish I’d had a camera!

 

[BunMama928]

That is bad timing! Coyotes are not something we have to deal with on Long Island, thankfully! The worst predator we’ve had recently was a broad wing hawk. Went to feed my chickens and found one very tired hawk, hanging from the netting over the pen, on the inside. She’d finished off a lovely Black Copper Marans cockerel and there she was. I wish I’d had a camera!

Oh no!! That’s terrible! Our neighbors who are renting on the same acreage as us have chickens too and the coyotes patrol that area almost nightly. There pen is more free range with a coop in the middle. Usually the coyotes don’t bother their chickens though unless they fly out of the pen. I don’t think the hawks bother their chickens too much but they also have dogs that scare off most of the predators during the day