Pulling fur 10 days early?

[PatS]

We have a doe, meat breed-mix, a little over 2 years old, that has always been a wonderful mom. She always starts nest building early; with her first litter she was only a week and a half pregnant when she started sporting her hay mustache. She is impeccably fastidious, so I always give her a nest box as soon as she starts to want to build.

Well, it is day 21, and she started collecting hay, so I put in the nestbox and hour ago. I went in to peek, and she already has pulled fur to line the box. She has never pulled fur until just before giving birth before, so I am a little concerned. She was bred May 1st, I'm positive.

Do your does sometime pull fur this early with a healthy pregnancy?

Thanks!

 

[Zass]

Does are weird.

I usually take fur pulling early as a sign of a false pregnancy, but I wait them out and make sure the nestbox is ready as usual, because rabbits have a way of switching things up and surprising me

 

[PatS]

She pulled about four times as much fur as I've ever seen a doe pull, then had about 7 babies, early yesterday morning. I don't have an explanation for the extravagant nest, 'cause we're having very warm weather. (Maybe the fur insulates the kits from the heat?) Also, she has them spread all over the whole floor of the nest box, instead of in a tight little indentation. Perhaps this is to keep them cooler? She's always been a good mother and has never lost a kit, even when she's had 11 or 12 kits, so I'll trust her instincts.

 

[Sagebrush]

It might be that she pulled all that fur to keep them all covered, since the kits themselves will move about the nest to get cool or warm depending on what the weather is like.

 

[ek.blair]

It might be that she pulled all that fur to keep them all covered, since the kits themselves will move about the nest to get cool or warm depending on what the weather is like.

Yea, it sounds like the kits are seperating from each other to cool down! They bunch up when it's colder to help keep each other warm, but it sounds like your litter doesn't need to.

 

[Miss M]

You can remove some of that fur (probably a lot of it, from the sound of it) and save it for some time when a doe might not pull enough.

She may keep pulling fur, and you can keep removing it.

I've actually got this going on with TWO does now, AFTER they've kindled. I have two sisters with litters sharing a cage (read elsewhere about my accidental litters :roll: ), and one of them keeps pulling fur -- from herself and from her sister! The sister is looking really rough right now...

I also have a mother and daughter, both with litters, sharing a cage and a nest box. The mother has pulled a whole bunch more fur twice in the last couple of days.

I just keep bagging extra fur.... :roll:

 

[Sagebrush]

I have a doe that I am afraid is going to make herself bald! The more fur I pull out of the nest the more fur she puts back in. How does one stop this from happening?

 

[Miss M]

I have a doe that I am afraid is going to make herself bald! The more fur I pull out of the nest the more fur she puts back in. How does one stop this from happening?

It might stop if you stop removing fur, but I'm not sure. It's hot here, so I just keep removing it and banking the fur, figuring she's not in any danger of chilling. :roll:

 

[Sagebrush]

The current temp right now is 87*F. It has been dropping down into the 60's at night though.

 

[Miss M]

Highs here are about the same, near 90*, but our lows are around 70* now.