MamaSheepdog":11644qjq said:
Sometimes their milk doesn't really come in for about 24 hours or more. If she doesn't feed them tonight, she may be one of those does that nurses only once a day.
It amazes me that those little tiny things can survive on only one feeding a day. Guess nature just does crazy things some times.
Sometimes doe's nesting instincts kick in a little late. Can you find another container to keep the kits in so she can have the nestbox back? That way she can add to the nest, pull more fur, etc. Whatever you do, don't leave the kits in the box while she does this! She may dig and harm the kits. She is working on instinct (albeit a bit late) and wont think "Hmm, I'd best be careful, because I already have babies in here."
I probably could find another container but I'm hesitant to get them out of the nest if it's going to be too cold for them. I'll just be careful and pull them out after she is done feeding.
Really? We are practically neighbors, lol!
There is a show in Hanford tomorrow. Shows are a great place to pick up any equipment you may need, or more breeding stock. Plus it is fun to see all of the different breeds, and watching the judging will help you to better evaluate your stock and decide who to keep and who to cull.
I saw that in another thread. I just pulled a 12 hour night at work, and got up with less than 6 hours of sleep to take care of these rabbits before I head off to work. Tonight's looking to be a 13-14 hour night. I really don't think I'll have the energy to deal with going to a show. Is this a regular sort of thing in the area? Or pretty rare?
-- Sun Mar 23, 2014 11:51 am --
Ok, what size should a good nesting box actually be? My other doe (didn't think she was pregnant, guess I really need to learn to tell better earlier in the pregancy) seems to have some little babies wriggling around her belly, so I'm finally putting together the bigger cages for them. She's going to have a bigger cage, and a proper nesting box, and we'll see if this one goes a little bit more smoothly. I just don't know what size to make the nesting boxes, big enough to hold enough hay and small enough that she can get in comfortably enough....
-- Sun Mar 23, 2014 5:50 pm --
Worst rabbit owner in the world here. I finally got around to building the cage for the second doe today, let her run around and explore it for a bit, and since I decided I didn't feel like building a nesting box, I went down to Tractor Supply and bought one. I got home, stuffed it with hay, stuck it in her cage, and had kits 30 minutes later.
If she's been holding it back for lack of a suitable nesting area, could that have hurt some of the kits? I haven't checked on them yet, I saw some wriggling around in there, so I certainly didn't have them all still born or anything. Hopefully they'll all be ok. At least now she has a suitable nest, a large enough cage to have room to stay away from the kits, so we'll see how this litter goes. <br /><br /> -- Tue Mar 25, 2014 4:10 pm -- <br /><br /> Ok, one last question (I hope, for awhile....).
At what age do the rabbits need access to their own water? The first set of kits is big enough now that I would feel perfectly comfortable leaving them in with the doe, but I don't want to leave them in the nesting box in there, because of the issue of the size of the cage. I only managed to build one cage this weekend (experimenting with how I wanted to build it as I went) and that one is holding the doe who kindled second. The plan was to build a second cage this weekend for the first doe and give her her kits back, but I'm hoping that these little guys aren't going to need their own food and water sooner than that.
Anyway, an update for those following this little saga. All three surviving kits from the first litter are still surviving. The second little was seven kits as well, and they are now about two days old and all of them are still alive. I haven't seen the doe in the box since she kindled, but I'm assuming that she's been feeding them because I swear those thins have doubled in size already and look to be well fed. The first doe has gotten used to having the kits brought to her for feedings, the first time or two she was going crazy at the cage when she saw the nest box but now she's been nice and backs away from the side of the cage where I put in the box when I bring it out. The kits have a good bit of fur now and have pushed the fur away from the nest, (guess they were getting too warm) and that exposed the bottom, which showed it needed cleaned out, so I replaced the nest bedding with clean hay. 10 babies isn't so bad, I guess.
It was well ventilated and had a lid and latch to keep the cats out. 
