Fostering Question

[Farm Girl]

My Silver Marten doe kindled yesterday and she had one kit.
I was hoping I could foster the SM kit onto the new litter of Dutch that were born this morning. There are 5 Dutch babies.

How would the SM doe act if I took her baby away?
The reason I am wanting to foster is so I can breed the SM right away.

What does everybunny here think?

 

[skysthelimit]

You could. If it was her first baby I would let her have it and still rebreed her. I let my holland keep her kit and rebred her. I can always give the kit over to another mother when she kindles, but I wanted her to have the mothering experience.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

You have two options- foster her kit to the other doe and breed her immediately or foster two Dutch to her so the lone kit will have others to help maintain its body heat. Some rabbits do well bred back immediately and weaning their litters at 3-4 weeks. I like the 14 day breed back cycle and wean at five to five and a half weeks, although I admit I am not yet consistently doing so.

 

[ladysown]

i'd foster the lone kit over. rebreed her right away. tis the best time to do it.

 

[Farm Girl]

Thanks for the advice.
I am pretty sure that it isn't her first litter.

Could she have had a single because she had been moved not long before she was bred? Would that make a differance on her fertility?

 

[skysthelimit]

Good question. Two of the bunnies I got from the breeder were bred, one had a litter of seven and the other is definitely due at the end of this week.