stopped labor, with more kits inside...

[ladysown]

They are actually all from different breeding stock. When I got some of them they were very bony and under fed and I switched them to 18% feed and they started looking better and doing better. However they also started carrying more kits since they were healthier. I was giving them calf manna and oats as a treat right up until delivery thinking it would get them healthy for nursing. Unfortunately I think it made the kits to big and healthy. So now if they are bony from nursing previous litters I give them calf manna for the first 2 weeks max and then only their pellets and hay for the last 2 weeks. I have New Zealand’s, lops, Flemish, continental, Rex, and Flemish/ giant chinchilla mixes that I’ve bred. the one I had a big issue with had 15 kits and had went off food for several days except for her salad and hay. I think she was just to full of babies. I’ve read that they drop their calcium (if they go off food) and it makes their uterus weak. My second doe that died was a mystery. She’s never had an issue ever with delivery. She was bred to a buck that she’s had no previous problems with before. my third girl. Was a first time mom and never nested but had blood on her bottom like she was laboring. She seemed calm though so I let her be. She was dead in the morning. Then my other girl that went a week and a half over was a young girl that was a first time mom. She’s nested and then never delivered. However she never went off food, she kept eating and drinking. About a week and a half later she delivered 1 and ate it, and 12 hours later she delivered 1 more, then the 3rd 12 hrs after. We decided to help her because I figured she was only going to deliver as long as she could take care of it herself.

I would hope that if you have thin does that you aren't breeding them right back but are giving them time to recover again. But if your does are having trouble kindling I would be looking at their structure and who you are breeding them to. A much bigger buck should not be bred with a much smaller female. Though a small buck can be paired with a large female. a narrow rabbit will have trouble kindling. Large litters usually result in smaller kits. So to have a doe have trouble birthing out a large litter suggests to me a structural issue.

 

[Rosey1]

I would hope that if you have thin does that you aren't breeding them right back but are giving them time to recover again. But if your does are having trouble kindling I would be looking at their structure and who you are breeding them to. A much bigger buck should not be bred with a much smaller female. Though a small buck can be paired with a large female. a narrow rabbit will have trouble kindling. Large litters usually result in smaller kits. So to have a doe have trouble birthing out a large litter suggests to me a structural issue.

No I’m not breeding back thin does. I have this one doe who makes extra creamy milk and gets very bony with nursing . So she needs extra support during nursing or she looks like a skeleton. The ones that had problems were bred to a buck that they previously never had a problem with. They were same size and structure as them. The doe with the stuck kit feels like a small kit. She had some large and some small. She wouldn’t push out any of them though.

 

[Rosey1]

Rabbits have a fairly unusual calcium system (compared to other mammals). They excrete excess calcium via their urine, which is why it's sometimes chalky. Calcium deficiency during birthing is pretty rare.

Yeah I know they pee out the extra, but I heard they can drop it quick when they go off feed. Just like they can get GI stasis quick if they are off feed to long. All I know is the tums seem to help most of them. A lot of breeders use it. That’s how I found out about it.