Keeping kits in the nestbox

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J

jjgrappler

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I need help and advice on keeping kits in the nestbox. I have 3 litters that are 14 days old. I came out yesterday to find one kit frozen on the wire. I changed their nestbox material yesterday and put the boxes back in. This morning I came out to find 5 kits total on the wire frozen with a few of their heads stuck in the chicken wire. I now know the value of babysaver wire and will be installing it on all my cages. What do you guys do to keep them in the box? I pulled all 3 nestboxes and brought them in the house in case they get out again during the day. These are my first litters and any help would be appreciated.
 
I just recently started raising rabbits myself. A friend of mine told me that they will stay latched to the mother when they get older, thus them getting out the box when the mother jumps out. He told me to turn the nestbox on its side. The kits have the instinct to go back into the nest. So far it has worked perfectly for me.
 
We have wooden nest boxes, so along with the front part of the nest box being about 3inches tall, We screw another 1 x 2 inch board on the front also. This is on the slanted part of the nest box, so its at kind of an angle, to kind of kelp "scrape" kits off as doe jumps out. Then depending on the season we take off the second front board of nest box when kits are 2 - 3 wks old so they can get in and out of nest box. Its kept the kits in so far.
 
We lost one last night that way. I found 3 out on the wire, still warmish...got them back in. One other was way off to the side and quite dead. I checked the nestbox and the whole nest had moved it's way to the front. Usually they're dropped off the nipples by the time the doe gets to the end of the box. so...I moved the next well back again.

The extra lip on the front works well usually, but if the box is filled up with hay, it's really not much of a "lip" anymore, so beware of that and keep the area right near the end of the box cleared out.

Sorry you lost the kits. it sucks :(
 
Two week old kits likely hopped out of the box on their own and could not hop back in. The bedding makes the hop out easier than getting back. I put a brick next to the foot of the nest box to act as a step. It really helps. :)
 
Yes I believe they hopped out on their own accord as well it just sucks because I feel like I could have prevented this. I also know that chicken wire is no good for newborn kits I had kits all tangled in the chicken wire between cages. I had to cut 3 loose, I now know the importance of the babysaver wire and will be installing it on the wire cages I just built. I feel horrible and wish I wouldn;t have learned this lesson this way.
 
I also know that chicken wire is no good for newborn kits I had kits all tangled in the chicken wire between cages. I had to cut 3 loose, I now know the importance of the baby-saver wire.

The truth be known,Chicken Wire is NOT a good choice for housing rabbits.
Rabbits can chew right through Chicken Wire.
From experience: I had a bunch of weanling rabbits in a chicken Wire cage,
[Back in the day] I kept finding them loose and would place them back into the cage.
Out again they would come, they had chewed a large escape hole in the side of the cage.
That is when the Chicken wire was abandoned and ALL my cages were built of 1" X 2" cage wire
while the floors were always 1/2 X 1 " wire. Lesson learned, one must often go that extra mile
but it pays off tenfold in the end.
Ottersatin. :eek:ldtimer:
 
Chicken wire isn't good for much... It's not sturdy enough to hold anything but chickens and it won't keep anything out. It's cheap for a reason. Always use hardware cloth or field fencing wire unless you don't care too much about what you are using it to contain.
 
I don't even use chicken wire for chickens. Sure it may keep chickens in, but the predators can always get through it. But we usually learn the hard way. Sorry you lost those kits. I found one of my kits on the wire the other day, half eaten by the doe. I figure it wandered out of the nest or was latched onto momma while she hopped out. Too bad. It was the biggest kit. I thought I'd lose the runt first. Nope.
 
Jessykah":2xwnr0yq said:
Too bad. It was the biggest kit. I thought I'd lose the runt first. Nope.
Click to expand...

It always seems that it's the biggest or best kit that ends up dead on the wire.
 
probably the strongest can get away easiest, but then can't get back--they need brains with that brawn!
 
My nestboxes are five inches to get out but the nestbox sits three inches lower than the floor of the cage so it's only two inches to get back in. Aside from the actual day of birth, where I've found the odd kit dead on the floor wire after not surviving birth, I"ve had no problem with kits not getting back in and freezing in the cage. I have New Zealands so if 5" keeps NZ kits in the nestbox that should be sufficient for the smaller breeds too. I also use shredded newspaper in my nestboxes which doesn't pile up as much as hay so that might help.
 
Well I appreciate all the advice guys and I have been keeping them in the house till they get big enough to be out on their own. I am also going to be installing the babysaver around all my new cages that I just built.
 
well I have lost 4 more! I need to do something! I have never had this problem before. 5 out of 7 are dead from getting out and freezing on the wire. I think I will try the brick idea, as I cannot adjust my cages. Although I like how Truckinguy's boxes are dropped down a bit. -33 today! Not good. :(
 
Sorry you lost more, Jessykah. I really hate those few days where they can get out and not back in. If you can't get something in place you might want to bring them in for the night until your temperatures moderate.

Yikes! You've got -33? It's -4 here... and I didn't think we were that far away.
 
not as cold today. Supposed to be wet snow/rain today. Crazy changes in temperature. But that's March for ya... I am near Ottawa/Pembroke. I had those rabbits spoken for. Oh well, I guess I will have to tell him to wait on the next litters. I have learned a lot anyways.
 

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