Fostering

[fuzzy9]

I had two litters born yesterday, one had 7, and the other 2. Both are new moms, but doing awesome so far. They are also sisters. I've never fostered anyone before, never had anyone close enough. Can I put some of the 7 kits with her sisters 2, and see how they do? How many would you suggest moving?

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I would take the two largest ones and put them with the doe with only two.

 

[fuzzy9]

Thank you OneAcre, appreciate your time to answer.

 

[MaggieJ]

I only foster if one doe is overburdened. Seven is not a huge litter. I'd leave them where they are, I think... but if you did decide to even up the litters, I'd do as Shannon suggested and move the two largest.

 

[akane]

I end up losing more kits when I try to even out the litters than if I just left them. Usually the doe that has a small number can only handle that small number that time even if she has more in other litters. I end up losing most of the ones I move so I don't worry about it anymore unless I see kits are not getting fed and may die anyway.

 

[ladysown]

my rabbits do just fine with fostering. I happily play around with who is raising whom.

Partially to even out litters, partially (particularly in the cold weather) to make sure that babies stay warm, partially to make sure that calm tempered mommas are raising kits off of more high-wired mommas, and partially because I can.

I find it fascinating to watch the people friendly holland lops and how they can positively affect the more curious let me get into mischief before I come and say hi to you mini rexes. It's just a fascination for me, so I play around, and don't tend to lose kits in the process.

 

[eco2pia]

mine too in my limited experience. I had a pair of sisters, one with 13, one with 8. they were next door and I originally evened out the litters. once they were out of the box they would pile up so high that they SPILLED OVER the baby saver wire into the adjacent cage. It was musical mommas for a while until they got too big, and everybody was fine.

One thing I noticed that I thought was interesting, the larger litter never caught up with the smaller litter in size, even though they both had access to both mommas...the larger litter was born smaller and still is smaller.

 

[fuzzy9]

Thanks for the input, it's very helpful. I'll make my decision this morning, one thing that concerned me last night when I went out, was the two kits were not sleeping together. It was a warmer day though, so I don't know if that's why. It gets chilly at night now, so if I go out this morning, and they are still apart, I will probably foster a couple.

 

[LilFish_JWQueen(:]

Its kinda something you have to figure out kinda like your feed for your rabbits..you have to feel it out to what works best in your barn.
Ive never had a problem with fostering babies but ive heard some people have so again i feel like its whatever works for your rabbits.

 

[Pickles]

Hope the new kits are doing well.