My first litter of rabbits born today

[dayna]

I was surprised that she did have them in the nest box (her first kindling), but after that flood and having to move all the rabbits. She put labor off a day. I noticed her acting a little off today, running around her tractor. She also was really begging for treats too.

Anyway, so far I could visually see 2 in there squirming around. I didn't want to disturb or really check on anything till she's done giving birth. It looked like she was still working on getting at least another one out.

I uploaded a video to facebok of one of the new babies!

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=4885170281819&set=vb.1074499170&type=2&theater

 

[MaggieJ]

Glad that moving her didn't upset her too much. I think you did the right thing to get her out of that weather. By tomorrow she should be calm enough for you to bribe her with a treat and take the box out to check the kits. It is important to do this in case any of the kits were stillborn. You don't want them to decompose and foul the nest. Besides... you will want to see and handle the popples.

 

[dayna]

She was begging for treats so I snuck a peak. 8 babies (I think) none dead (so far). I did a quick feel through to look for dead babies and I *think* I counted 8. They were in two piles.

She watched me check out the nest but was more interested in her kale treat then me messing in the nest. Hopefully that's not a bad sign.

I gave her 2 leaves of kale, rabbit pellets, alfalfa pellets, alfalfa cubes and a tiny bit of calf manna. How much calf manna can she have? She really likes it, but I know it's bad to give too much to the goats so I worry.

I don't do or have hay. Hay is a HUGE expense here on the Island.<br /><br />__________ Sat Feb 23, 2013 3:12 pm __________<br /><br />Here are two photos. The babies appear very healthy! Hopefully momma feeds them...

How do I check for that?

 

[SuburbanHomesteader]

Congrats!!!

Good that you moved them and hope your weather has calmed down. Keep us posted on how they're doing.

 

[LeAnn24]

Congrats on the new buns! If they have fat bellies, are warm and active you will know she is feeding them.

 

[Miss M]

Awwww, what a cute bunch of popples!

Her not being upset about you checking out the babies is not a bad sign, so you can relax.

Feel free to check on them at least daily... sometimes kits die for unknown reasons, so you want to be sure the nest is clean. Besides, it's a good excuse to play with popples.

 

[MaggieJ]

:yeahthat:

They look good. I posted a link with pictures of fed and unfed kits in your other thread. The one being held looks fed to me, but the fingers are hiding too much of its belly to be certain.

 

[dayna]

Most of them looked fed. A runt, while it looked like it was "kinda fed" so I'm not having much hope that it'll thrive.

All 8 babies are still alive today and very active!

 

[MaggieJ]

If your doe is docile, it is sometimes possible to flip her on her back in your lap and let the runt get an extra feeding or two. Often this is enough to help it get strong enough to compete.

 

[dayna]

She seems to be feeding them. I keep seeing one or two with bellies that are not full but I assume she's going in and out more than once a day or they'd be dead and they are all growing. I check them over pretty good a couple times a day.

These two photos are from this afternoon.

 

[MaggieJ]

Wow, they've grown quite a bit already. Getting nicely furry too.

 

[AnnClaire]

Dayna, those little runts can surprise you too ... I find that sometimes they are the most aggressive feeders ... while they may not get uninterrupted time at the teat, they fight their way to one often enough to get a full belly often enough

 

[owlsfriend]

My runt baby got very skilled at digging her way to the bottom of the pile to stay warm....now that skill is helping her get to the feeders...she's a feisty one.

 

[Truckinguy]

I have a runt in the colony with this latest litter and it's doing fine. It's about half the size of the others and opened it's eyes about a day behind the others but it's furry and wiggly and seems to be doing fine. It's survived with the others outside in the winter weather were having. I checked the litter twice a day, morning and evening, pulling all of them out to check and momma didn't seem too put out by it.

Congratulations on your popples! New litters are always cool!

 

[dayna]

Here they are a week later!

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Aww! Look at those sleek little furry bodies! They have a very nice sheen to them.

 

[carebear]

Beautiful!

 

[Wyldrose]

Beautiful babies! I love how shiney they are

 

[AnnClaire]

Looks like they are all doing fine! They are at that sleek, shiney stage that I feel they look most like what they will as an adult