Help. Lots of problems today.

[CameronW]

I have a doe that had at least 4. Last time she didnt make a good nest but 2 of the 4 were fine. This time there was no nest. The entire thing was full of poop with one baby on top of that under her. Thats the only live one. Then there was one on the ground in front of the cage and another in the middle of the cage. Then there was just a head of another. I have the live one in a makeshift nest in the house. It has not been fed. Should i flip the mom and feed off of her? Then another doe that had babies the 26 had 2 that had gotten drug out and died. Then today i find 2 babies smooshed. And the other is flat out gone no sign of it. Then in quarentine i had a older cali doe that was in a cage with wire put around the bottom to hold the cage up off the ground and it was smashed down to the ground with the doe against the front of the cage with no movement in her back half so i had my brother shoot her. I have no idea what caused this. And last week i had a first time doe not make a nest and lose the babbies so in total over the past 2 weeks i have lost 12 babies and 1 adult that i needed to breed to fill meat orders. This makes me so mad. we think coyote or a raccoon was the cause of all of this. But back to the baby should i buy milk replacer from the pet store for it or try and flip the one of the does that dont like being flipped.
Thanks ahead of time
Cameron :angry:

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

flip the doe... You have to find out what is going on..Or you will not produce no more babies. Or move them to a safer spot.

 

[CameronW]

I think the problem happened because i left the side door of the barn open to vent out some of the air that was pent up from being shut up through the really bad weather we have had the past few days. But thank you. i am going to try and flip the doe here in a few.

 

[AmysMacdog]

I'm sorry for all you've been through recently, I hope things get better soon. Hang in there.

 

[CameronW]

Thanks amybart4570. If these would have lived i would have been able to make a profit off of them which goes to feed for my 4h steer. At least now i have time to make adjustment to the cages before more are born

 

[Heritage Homestead]

So sorry you are having all this trouble. Hope it gets better. Do try to flip the doe and feed the kits that way. I had read somewhere that is very difficult to raise kits off of milk replacment.

 

[CameronW]

Thanks Heritage. But this does allow me to bring in a new meat doe that will be better behaved and allow to fix cages so babies cant fall out

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

There really is no need to 'flip' the doe-- just set her so her belly is above the kit-- the natural nursing position is for the kit to be on its back, under the mother... Gently hold the doe in place, perhaps hand feeding her some treat to keep[ her relaxed-- then see if she cleans the kit afterwards...

 

[AmysMacdog]

Hi cameron, Frosted Rabbits is right but if all else fails I have successfully raised bunnies from a few days old on kitten formula. Puppy formula won't work. I only did this on occassions like orphaned bunnies or rabbit with mastitis. (used to work for a vet) Try to get her to feed the babies first at least a few days. Hopefully she'll settle down good with them.

 

[CameronW]

Thanks guys but neither mom i have right now is producing milk. I fed it on kitten formula i had here. I was going to buy the special rabbit milk replacer i saw at the pet store awhile ago. But how much should the kit get each feeding? I will keep checking to see if milk comes in on the mom or not. She had some blood on her so i dont know if she has anymore or not. She wasnt in the mood to be touched. A lot of the rabbits were on edge last night so we will see if all is calm here soon. And how warm should i keep the kit? i have it in an old incubator thats around 98 to 100. Is that warm enough or too warm?

 

[OneAcreFarm]

Mix the kitten replacer double strength, as rabbit milk is much more rich than cat milk. I think that temp sounds ok, since the inside of a nest can get to 105f. I have never tried putting a kit in an incubator, so I am sure others that have will chime in soon! Good luck!

 

[AmysMacdog]

I used to put bunnies in a box roughly the size of a nest box in a towel then I used a heating pad under just half of the box so the bunies could thermo regulate themselves. I covered the top of the box with a towel and flipped back one corner a few inches on the cool side for ventilation. With the incubator I'm afraid the bunnies won't be able to thermo regulate properly.
Feed until they seem satisfied or until they have some fullness to their tummy. Also they will need to be stimulated to urinate and deficate with a tissue. Just rub a little with tissue and they should go for you.

 

[CameronW]

Thanks guys the incubator is a home made one so it is warmer on one side that the other. But I lost the baby. It knocked the wire over that was the divder between the the area it was in and got throught a small opening and was uderthe light bulb. It burnt itsself to death.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

Oh, so sorry!