Ok. She actually had them a bit early. Her due date is in two days. Is that common? We took them from her for a few hours and now they’re back with her and she seems fine. I watched her have them outside of the nest she made. Then I waited to see if she would move them into it for about 10 minutes not wanting to touch them this early. She didn’t move them so I did by that time they had lost a lot of body heat. We’re doing everything we can to warm them back up and it seems to be working they’re still moving and they’re pretty warm. Do you still think I should shelf them? They seemed to improve once I put them back with her.
There is one that I believe lost two legs and I think we’ll have to put him out of his misery…Would that be the thing to do?
There's a fairly big variation in gestation length among different does, different breeds, and different genetic lines. Our Polish routinely have their babies at 28-30 days and I have one Californian that goes 35-36 days every time; it's best just to learn what is typical for your own rabbits. I've never had a doe move kits into a box, or anywhere else really, other than possibly evicting one or more from the nest. They usually ignore sick or dead babies, and it's up to you to pull those out so they don't cause harm to the other kits.
If kits are born outside the next box I don't usually wait to move them, as they can get chilled quite quickly and it typically does take a lot out of them. Depending on whether the dam has made a fur-lined nest in the box already, I'll move them into the box, or gather them up and take them in the house for a few hours (or put them in the nest box along with fur the doe may have pulled and just left floating around and under the cage). Warming them while they're held in your hands, with a hair dryer set on low, has been the best approach for us; in the palm of your hand, you can feel how warm they are and adjust accordingly. Heating pads can (and have, here) overheat the bunnies. It seems to take a few days for kits to figure out how to move reliably toward warmth but away from too much heat, so it's on you for the first few days.
I like to give them every chance of getting several meals of colostrum from the doe right away, as that really seems to make a difference in their health and survival. Sometimes early kits will be able to nurse during and between the deliveries of later kits, so I don't pull them unless there's another reason (dam eating their appendages would be one!). If I come upon the doe having the kits outside the box, I either leave them there underneath her, or pull them out one by one if they are away from her and getting chilled.
As long as there are enough kits to keep each other warm, and she seems to be done "cleaning up," leaving them in the box in her cage should be fine. Do check them frequently, though, since if one dies it can chill the others to the point that they die too.
If I bring the kits in, I leave the empty nest box (or a clean new one if the original is soiled) in the cage, as sometimes a doe will continue to have another few kits after the main event. I've lost later kits when I pulled the box without replacing it. It doesn't seem to matter to my does whether it's the same or a new box (in fact if there was something she didn't like about the original box, she may be more likely to use a new one). Also, the dam may continue pulling fur for several days after kindling, and may put it in the box even if she didn't put the kits there (!), and having it collected in a nest box results in a lot more clean, usable fur to add to a nest that is a bit light on fur.
And yes, sad though it is, if a kit is missing legs I usually put it down. Sometimes kits missing ears are okay, sometimes not; it depends on how much damage was done to the skull, brain and possibly the eyes, but you'll figure that out eventually.
