Moving a doe with a litter

[Zab]

I need to clean out and sanitize the colony due to the cocci. I have a plan - I'll move the rabbits to the grow out pens, give them meds, sanitize the colony, give them a second dose of meds just in case they got re-infested from the grow out pen, and immediatly move them back to the sanitized colony.

But there is one question mark.. I have a litter of kits born the 20th, so they're 8 days old. It's still above freezing outside (and the barm where the colony is isn't heated) but it's getting chilly.. and since I'm sanitizing I can't bring the nestbox over either.

How do I go about this? Do I keep the kits indoors and bring the doe to them once/twice a day? I don't want to separete the doe from the other two rabbits completely.

Do I simply wait? How long?

Do I just move them and make a new nest in the grow out-pen (it has a house for the rabbits)?

There's 4 kits, big and well fed. There were 8 but 4 has mysteriously disappeared, I don't know how or why, but I can't find any spot where a rat or weasel would get in. Sanitizing the cages would be an opportunity to look it over more closely.

I would like to get it all done so I can breed Kummin and Spira once before the hard winter... right now it's still fairly light and warmish and I think there's still time.

 

[luvbunnies]

I would bring them inside and bring mom in a cuople times to feed them.

 

[Zab]

I'm leaning towards that option as well I'm a bit worrid about temperature differenses.. but then again, their nest wih mommas fur is way warmer than in here, and I won't bring any of the old nest in, so it would be ''just'' straw, hay and maybe some sheepswhool..

How would I go about feeding? Just let the mother in, or should I hold her or anything? What more than feeding does she do? Washing them and so?

 

[Disney]

This is what i did.. put the babies in a box and brought them to my room.
With feedings i took the doe out of her cage and put her on top of the babies and held her tight.. after a minute of struggling she will calm down and let the milk go. The kits will be fed within 5 minutes and stop drinking when they had enough.

I've raised 2 litters this way and i'm surprised it worked but the doe's don't mind because they need to lose the milk to relieve.

 

[ladysown]

that's a hard one. normally I'd say just move the babies with the mom, but in a colony situation that might be a bit trickier. I'd still be inclined to move the kits with mom though. the temp difference won't bother the kits in the nest.

 

[Cottie]

I'd be worried about the "changes" disrupting the colony and making the other does more apt to get aggressive. So...my vote is to bring them inside and put the doe with them for nursing.

 

[luvbunnies]

Well I have one doe who has had no problem jumping right over them and letting them nurse. I have one that I've had to lock in and wait for her to stop jumping around. I left, just in case she didn't want to feed them infront of me. After a while I felt thier bellies to make sure they ate. Usually twice a day. Once in the morning and in the evening. You shouldn't have to hold her. Hopefully instinct will just kick in. This is assuming your doe is used to your sent right? And you said they're healthy and well fed. I think it'll work out fine. And yeah I would agree to play it safe and try to not have a big temp. change.

 

[Zab]

I'm more worried about the temp-change as I don't have the great building-nest-ability as mother rabbit, and in order to sanitize I don't want the original nest with me..

I'll try to take them inside and bring Kyndel to them She is used to my scent, I've always messed around with the kits from day one and she never cared before. She goes into the nestbox when I check them as well.

Thanks for your advice.

 

[luvbunnies]

Your welcome. And yeah if she did
n't care before she won't now.

 

[Zab]

So, rabbits moved outside, rablets are inside with me. One is just about to open its eyes *squeee*:lol:

I know where the others are. Kyndel made a great, grande nest.. but somehow the original nest - with half of the kits - got pushed down to the bottom. When I moved these four, fat healthy ones, I had a better chance of going through the nest. After the first 5 inches of bedding a rotten stench and lots of fur showed up.. I saw one dead kit, can't have been more than a day or two, and didn't look further.

I'll be sanitizing all of the cages for cocci, I think I'll pay extra attention to the nest box and bleach it as well. I don't know why the four kits got buried, if they died first or got buried alive... but I can at least rule out predator attack. Kyndel has raised litters of 9 and 10 in the same nestbox before, so it does strike me as odd. I guess she felt the cold coming and simply overdid the nest in a building frenzi?<br /><br />__________ Wed Oct 02, 2013 3:32 am __________<br /><br />Tossed the nesting tunnel instead.

Feeding works great, I bring Kyndel in, she lets them feed and when she hopa away from them I take her out.