Kits not being fed

[Jay_ho]

Good afternoon - new to this group and rabbits. I have read some older posts and gave some things to try, but didn't see exactly an answer to my concern. Forgive me if I missed it

I have two sister does that had a litter within 3 days of each other. "Good" mom had her litter first, 6 days ago with only 1 kit. The kit is nice and plump and warm. "Bad" mom had her litter of 6 kits 4 days ago. They are cool to the touch, not plump and look not fed and have really been crying today. One was dead this morning.

Can I move some or all of the kits to "good" mom?

 

[MaggieJ]

Welcome to RabbitTalk, Jay_ho.

Yes, I suggest giving the kits to the "good mom" and the sooner the better. If they are already 4 days old, they may have been getting something, otherwise they would probably have died by now. No guarantee they will make it, but it is your best option.

Chilled kits cannot feed properly, so I suggest making sure they are good and warm before you put them with the good mom. There are various ways to do that. If you have a clothes dryer, putting a towel or something similar in it to warm and then nesting the kits in it for a while should do the trick. Warm, not hot.

Good luck with them.

 

[ladysown]

Plunk the kits into the warm nest, remove the box from mom for an hour, and then give back to mom. Hopefully they will still be alive when she feeds her kit and voila! you'll have thriving kits!

 

[Jay_ho]

Thank you both for the reply.

All the kits died - they were too malnourished by the time I identified the issue. I had checked them each morning to make sure they were active, but did not pull them out of the nest to observe their health (warmth and plumlness). It wasn't until they were very vocal and 'crying that I looked deeper into the problem.

Inexperienced mom, but more so an Inexperienced breeder. I think i will give us both another chance and watch the mom/kits more closely next time.