Nesting

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One of my dies is on her second litter and is building her nest outside of the nest box. Whenever i move it into her nest box she pulls it out and rebuilds in the wire. Thoughts? I have some of the plastic cage liners and wonder if I should let her do it over there and put a bunch of the plastic mats down for some protection? Advise please
 
One of my dies is on her second litter and is building her nest outside of the nest box. Whenever i move it into her nest box she pulls it out and rebuilds in the wire. Thoughts? I have some of the plastic cage liners and wonder if I should let her do it over there and put a bunch of the plastic mats down for some protection? Advise please
I'm having suddenly increasing issues with this type of behavior. The two approaches that have been successful for me is to either fill the cage with nest boxes so she has no option but to use one of them, or to bring the doe inside in a medium-sized dog kennel filled with hay on the night she's due (again, leaving her no choice and keeping the babies from scattering. Once she's had the babies, I move them to a box with the bedding they've been born in and replace her and the box back into her cage.

If you have baby saver wire around the bottom of the cage, putting plastic mats down might help, but the kits may still end up crawling all over the wire and being scattered if the doe doesn't make a really snug nest. However, if you can catch the babies in the out-of-the-box nest just after they're born, you should be able to transfer them into the nest box with their nesting material. Once they're born, the doe doesn't seem to mind where she has to go to feed them.

I am honestly mystified at what's going on. The only time I've ever had this problem before is when mice were getting into the nest boxes while they were in storage, and the does did not like the mouse smell at all (can't say I blame them!). Of course I solved that problem, but this spring, it's old does, new does, does of different breeds, old nest boxes, new nest boxes, metal nest boxes with wood floors, wood boxes, wood boxes with wire mesh floors... but a majority of my bred does are rejecting the nest boxes. I am just about pulling my hair out dealing with it!
 
I'm having suddenly increasing issues with this type of behavior. The two approaches that have been successful for me is to either fill the cage with nest boxes so she has no option but to use one of them, or to bring the doe inside in a medium-sized dog kennel filled with hay on the night she's due (again, leaving her no choice and keeping the babies from scattering. Once she's had the babies, I move them to a box with the bedding they've been born in and replace her and the box back into her cage.

If you have baby saver wire around the bottom of the cage, putting plastic mats down might help, but the kits may still end up crawling all over the wire and being scattered if the doe doesn't make a really snug nest. However, if you can catch the babies in the out-of-the-box nest just after they're born, you should be able to transfer them into the nest box with their nesting material. Once they're born, the doe doesn't seem to mind where she has to go to feed them.

I am honestly mystified at what's going on. The only time I've ever had this problem before is when mice were getting into the nest boxes while they were in storage, and the does did not like the mouse smell at all (can't say I blame them!). Of course I solved that problem, but this spring, it's old does, new does, does of different breeds, old nest boxes, new nest boxes, metal nest boxes with wood floors, wood boxes, wood boxes with wire mesh floors... but a majority of my bred does are rejecting the nest boxes. I am just about pulling my hair out dealing with it!
It’s perplexing yes. I tend to use the same nest box with the same doe tho this is just my second time successfully breeding. If moving the box to where she is building her nest doesn’t work I will borrow my dogs crate and try that. Thx!!
 
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