Had a new mom kindle this morning, and she exploded the nestbox with loads of hair, along with 11 kits! She was the first doe bred to our new buck, and it was his first breeding, so they both did great! Holy popples! Woo Hoo!!! 
Our first large litter!!
- Thread starter fuzzy9
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Big congratulations, Geri!
It's so nice when a new momma bunny gets everything right!
:mbounce: :mbounce:
It's so nice when a new momma bunny gets everything right!
:mbounce: :mbounce:
Thanks Maggie! Appreciate that!
Realistically speaking, let's say she ends up being a great mom, can she really raise that many on her own, and have them all survive? Especially a brand new mom? I wish I had someone I could put 2 or 3 with to foster, but I don't right now. My other two litters are out of the nestbox already, and the next doe due isn't until around the 13th.
Realistically speaking, let's say she ends up being a great mom, can she really raise that many on her own, and have them all survive? Especially a brand new mom? I wish I had someone I could put 2 or 3 with to foster, but I don't right now. My other two litters are out of the nestbox already, and the next doe due isn't until around the 13th.
Eleven is a large litter but she will likely handle it. I'd give her some kitchen oatmeal as a supplement to help her with milk production and give her all of her regular feed that she wants. The kits move around and switch teats as they feed, so usually they all get fed. If there are one or two that are weaker and cannot compete you may lose them, but generally speaking the doe's milk capacity adjusts to meet the demand.
I've never taken extraordinary measures to help the weak ones survive. Once or twice I've seen kits so tiny compared to their siblings that I did not see how they could compete. But they did.
I've never taken extraordinary measures to help the weak ones survive. Once or twice I've seen kits so tiny compared to their siblings that I did not see how they could compete. But they did.
Realistically speaking, I probably wouldn't go to extremes to keep the weak ones alive either. I did check them this morning, and mom pulled even more fur for them, so they are nice and toasty. They are all alive, but it didn't seem like she'd fed them yet this morning, but it was pretty early, and I had checked before we left for the morning. I'm going out now to check them again. She does seem pretty attentive, which is good so far.
Sometimes it takes a little time for a doe's milk to come in. It would be very unusual for a doe to put them in a good nest with lots of fur and then not feed them. Hoping I'll hear they have full tummies!
if you think she has pulled excess fur, consider saving some of the freshly pulled clean fur in a container or coffee can. It almost always comes in handy when changing the nestbox at day 8 or 9, or when a doe hasn't pulled enough fur. I use a lot of saved fur.
Congratulations eh!
Congratulations eh!
