I can't believe this might work!

ilovehome · Sep 16, 2014

I have an Elop who gave birth for the first time on the 12th. She didn't make a nest, pull fur, or clean them well and when I forced her to stay in the nest box to nurse, she urinated all over the five kits. Unfortunately, the other two experienced back up does refused to breed 30 days ago. So, in a last ditch effort to save them, I decided to pull the 4 week old kits from one of my Lilac does, and put the newborns in with her. I put the nest box in last night and I expected to find 5 dead kits this morning.

Instead I found 5 live kits-and four of them had very large, round tummies!! I can't believe that this doe, Mrs. Howell, is taking care of these babies, but she is! And so far, the four week old kits I pulled from her are doing well, too.

I'm trying not to get too excited yet...but this just might work!

akane · Sep 16, 2014

i kept breeding a mini rex just to use as a foster. She had 3 different ages of kits at one point. She'd raise anything you gave her. Some does just inherit good mothering instincts and produce milk well.

MaggieJ · Sep 16, 2014

Good for Mrs. Howell!

Some does are wonderful foster mothers. I hope she keeps on taking care of them. It sounds promising. :clover:

MamaSheepdog · Sep 16, 2014

Excellent! There are certain does that will do that.

I am about to try it with a litter of lilacs that I am fostering for a friend. They are in with a mini-Rex doe, but there are too many for her to feed.

Zass · Sep 16, 2014

My Lilac was also a super mom who would take in kits as late as 4 weeks.
I never tried kits older than that, but she was colony kept for a while before I owned her, and was never aggressive to older kits.

Absolutely great mothering, and a good personality to boot.
She totally spoiled me on how a doe should be.
Currently she is the grandmother or mother of every single one of my meat does, since she had a strong tendency to pass her good traits on to her daughters.
I just haven't found a bloodline that I like more

I also hope your doe keeps it up, and I think that there are pretty good chances she will.

ilovehome · Sep 30, 2014

Unfortunately, this experiment did not work. I expected to lose the runt, and was not surprised to lose the next smallest one. The other three appeared to be going strong, until a couple of days ago. The biggest one was having difficulty walking, so I thought the mom had stepped on it. It passed within 24 hours. The other large one passed today. It appeared to be weak, though it had a large stomach. After I handled them, the Lilac doe groomed them, and seemed to be caring for them. She appears healthy, as do all of her 6 week old that were removed a couple of weeks ago. The buck and doe that sired this litter of elops both appear healthy. The only explanation I have been able to come up with is that these kits got no colostrum, and maybe the milk was not rich enough to support the young kits since her own kits were already 4 weeks old.

Just wasn't meant to be this time.