Need advice for orphaned 4 week olds

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Lil Acorn Acres Farm

Lil Acorn Acres Farm

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Found the mom dead tonight. The kits will be 4 weeks old Thursday.
Can another doe foster them at this age or will she reject them?
What do I need to do to give them a chance?
Don't know why their mom passed. She gets producers pride pellets, a pinch of oatmeal, a pinch of boss daily. Alfalfa and Timothy hay. She shared with the kits.
 
At four weeks old, the kits are old enough to be weaned. Give them oatmeal (large flake/old fashioned is best) in addition to whatever you have been feeding them.

I suggest you don't feed the pellets in case they were contaminated. Return them to the feed story and they will likely give you a replacement or refund.

If the kits are reluctant to eat the dry oatmeal, it can be softened with warm water or goat's milk. A tiny amount of brown sugar will make it more appealing. Be sure not to overdo it! If you are feeding moistened oatmeal, you will need to take the dish away after 12 hours or so to prevent mold or bacteria from forming.

I once had to wean an orphaned kit at 21 days. It did just fine. I brought it into the house so I could keep a closer eye on it.

One further reminder -- make sure the kits have plenty of fresh water and that they are drinking it. They need to take enough to replace the fluid of the milk they are not getting.
 
It was late when I posted last night and I missed mentioning a couple of points. Please give your young rabbits hay to prevent gut issues. Grass hay is best if they are also getting pellets. (An alfalfa/grass mix works if you are feeding a pelletless diet.)

I suggest finding a new brand of pellets since the one you were feeding may have issues. Unless you are set up to feed a natural diet, the rabbits will need a good quality pellet as well. When you get the new pellets, add them slowly to the orphaned bunnies' diet. If the transition from nursing to solid food is too abrupt, it can result in weaning enteritis. Feeding hay alongside the pellets helps to prevent this.
 
Thank you. I'm not convinced the pellets were to blame. Otherwise there would be more dead rabbits.
I'm thinking it might have been the heat. It turned hot really quick yesterday. 90° I had the misters on and the fan going. But I didn't do frozen water bottles. I thought we were done with this heat.
The bunnies like the oatmeal in raw goat milk. Timothy hay and alfalfa hay. They are drinking water. (I think. They all look alike.) So day 1 is going smooth.
 
My babies are munching on mom's food at about two weeks and are little eating machines by 4 weeks. Not that I recommend it but I've moved some 4 week olds to a grow out cage before, leaving smaller kits with mom for another couple weeks. They all did fine and ended up dressing out around the same weight.
 
Lil Acorn Acres Farm said:
Found the mom dead tonight. The kits will be 4 weeks old Thursday.
Can another doe foster them at this age or will she reject them?
What do I need to do to give them a chance?
Don't know why their mom passed. She gets producers pride pellets, a pinch of oatmeal, a pinch of boss daily. Alfalfa and Timothy hay. She shared with the kits.
Click to expand...
Must have been the heat
 

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