How long to warm kits in bra??

[duckcreekfarm]

My little polish girl had babies this morning!!!
5 total -
1 peanut (doa)
2 wiggly
2 were wiggly when she had them but cold half an hour later.
I have them in my bra, been warming them about 30 minutes. No blood pooled in nails. How long should I keep this up before considering them gone?

 

[katiebear]

warm a towel in the dryer if you can then put them in the towel and close the door. Or warm up a baggie of water wrap in a cloth and place them on top and cover with another cloth turn them every five min. or so. you can also use a heating pad on low..Once they are fully warm, that's about it..
I like to wait about an hour just to be sure....

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I saved one recently that was ice cold, and surprisingly even when it was still very cold to the touch it started to move feebly. I then placed it in the dryer in a towel as Katiebear mentioned doing.

If those two don't come back, I would recommend bringing the nestbox indoors and take it out to the doe only for feedings for the first week or so. If the days are warm you can leave them out, but I would be sure to bring them in at night.

 

[duckcreekfarm]

I tried the dryer trick and no dice, they are warm and dead. Bummer! But two healthy wiggly babies which I am very happy about. I brought the nest box in as soon as she was done and I noticed they were uncovered. Dad is a charlie, so they are all broken, but the dead ones all appear to be charlies. I wonder if charlie can be a fatal gene? And I did not think solid x charlie could yield any charlies?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I tried the dryer trick and no dice, they are warm and dead. Bummer!

Aww. Too bad, but at least you tried.

I did not think solid x charlie could yield any charlies?

It can't- those are what are referred to as "false charlies"- they are just lightly marked brokens.

When I first started breeding my rabbits, it seemed that it was always the broken kits that were likeliest to die. I don't notice that as much anymore, and think the solids are probably just as likely to die... I don't know if I have somehow selected for strong genes in the brokens, or if it was just that 'ol Murphy knew the brokens were my favorites... :?

 

[Miss M]

I consider holding kits against my skin to be a temporary measure, because they chill my skin pretty quickly, and I have to keep moving them. I do it until I can get them onto something that won't cool as easily.

I'm sorry you lost the kits.

 

[jimmywalt]

Duckcreekfarm, What state are you located in?

We are in Michigan and had 3 litters of kits 13 days ago. One litter had 3 BEW mini rex kits. They were born in the morning and by around 5pm we found all three almost dead. We tried to warm them all. Two were pretty much dead, but one still had a tiny bit of life. My wife put it in her bra and then transferred it to a warm heating pad. The good news is 13 days later that little kit is strong as can be. I'm sure it was just minutes away from death.

Since then we have been keeping the nest boxes in our house. We take them out to our semi-heated (40 degree) attached 2-car garage twice a day for feedings.

This weekend it's supposed to be -21 (negative) outside, so I'm sure our garage is going to be less than the normal 40 degrees so we aren't going to move the kits (which will be 2 weeks old) out with their mothers till maybe sometime late next week at the soonest.

Sorry to hear about your doa's, but you tried your best.

 

[DBA]

Excuse my ignorance please, but, what are charlies and false charlies?

 

[Miss M]

Excuse my ignorance please, but, what are charlies and false charlies?

A false Charlie is a broken that is almost all white -- very little color. It has one copy of the broken gene, and just ended up with a very sparse color pattern. It looks much like a Charlie, which is why it's called a false Charlie.

A Charlie will have very little color. It has two copies of the broken gene, and will be mostly white, punctuated here and there with color. True Charlies frequently have physical issues that are fatal, or cause their owner to cull them before they become fatal.

http://www.thenaturetrail.com/rabbit-ge ... lie-solid/ <br /><br /> -- Fri Feb 13, 2015 6:15 am -- <br /><br /> Also, here's a discussion about Charlies here on RT: no-more-charlies-t12145.html

 

[Susie570]

http://www.thenaturetrail.com/rabbit-genetics/broken-pattern-en-charlie-solid/

-- Fri Feb 13, 2015 6:15 am --

Also, here's a discussion about Charlies here on RT: no-more-charlies-t12145.html

Omgosh.... That link was uber helpful. I now understand why I was told I have 'false Charlie's' in my litter. It also gives a very brief, but clear, explanation of what an 'otter' and... something else is, and it made me say "oh! Got it now". Why can't all of this stuff be listed somewhere? 'In layman's terms'. Lol

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Excuse my ignorance please, but, what are charlies and false charlies?

In addition to what Miss M explained, when a true charlie is bred to a solid colored rabbit, all of the kits in the litter will be brokens.