Knacker
Well-known member
So we purchased a new NZW doe on January 10th. She was a bit smaller than what we wanted but the breeder was close to home and she could breed sooner than any of our "up-and-coming" does (we had to cull a doe due to aggressiveness). Any how, the fella we purchased this doe from said he had tried to breed her and her sisters earlier but they didn't take. He figured it was probably because they were still too young and I am not too sure exactly when he attempted the breeding. He had also said that he miss-sexed a buck and removed him immediately from the does (there were 3 does together including ours in the hutch).
1 week after we brought her home she donned a hay-stache. I was a bit perplexed since she didn't do this any of the previous nights I had put hay in her hutch. Just to be safe I put a nest box in. 2 days later I removed it because she was just laying in it. I figured the hay-stache was due to a false pregnancy from a doe mounting her to establish dominance or maybe she was just trying to make a bed. I can't remember what happened next that prompted me to call the breeder, but a few days after the initial hay-stache I had to verify the last time our doe was exposed to a buck. He assured me that our doe would have already kindled based on the last time a buck was present. I tried to do a light palpation after the phone call, but I am not experienced enough to get results.
This brings me to yesterday morning, which is 3 weeks from the time of purchase. My wife was the first into the rabbitry and came back into the house to tell me that our new doe had pulled fur. I grabbed the fur off of the wire and placed it into a zip-loc bag. She is not a big rabbit and she doesn't look prego's. We did our research on false pregnancies and both my wife and I were determined ( based on the phone call with the breeder) that this was the case.
Last night when I topped up her hay basket she immediately had her face stuffed. I was like "Screw this crap. I'm putting in a nest box!".
Well I'm glad I put the nest box in last night because we found 4 healthy kits among a load of pulled fur. What is actually great about this, is the fact we have another doe who will kindle tomorrow or Sunday morning. And since we had to cull her first litter of 9 due to low milk production we may be able to foster some kits if necessary.
So when all signs show pregnancy and you can not be certain of exposure put in a nest box just to be safe.
I also do not want to call the breeder a liar just yet since 1 of the other 2 "does" our girl was sharing a cage with might have been a buck. Also his setup had cages separated only by chicken wire. There is a good chance one of the rabbits in the adjoining cage was a buck and they bred thru the wire.
p.s., I would have posted a picture of the kits but the Photobucket site seems to be down.
1 week after we brought her home she donned a hay-stache. I was a bit perplexed since she didn't do this any of the previous nights I had put hay in her hutch. Just to be safe I put a nest box in. 2 days later I removed it because she was just laying in it. I figured the hay-stache was due to a false pregnancy from a doe mounting her to establish dominance or maybe she was just trying to make a bed. I can't remember what happened next that prompted me to call the breeder, but a few days after the initial hay-stache I had to verify the last time our doe was exposed to a buck. He assured me that our doe would have already kindled based on the last time a buck was present. I tried to do a light palpation after the phone call, but I am not experienced enough to get results.
This brings me to yesterday morning, which is 3 weeks from the time of purchase. My wife was the first into the rabbitry and came back into the house to tell me that our new doe had pulled fur. I grabbed the fur off of the wire and placed it into a zip-loc bag. She is not a big rabbit and she doesn't look prego's. We did our research on false pregnancies and both my wife and I were determined ( based on the phone call with the breeder) that this was the case.
Last night when I topped up her hay basket she immediately had her face stuffed. I was like "Screw this crap. I'm putting in a nest box!".
Well I'm glad I put the nest box in last night because we found 4 healthy kits among a load of pulled fur. What is actually great about this, is the fact we have another doe who will kindle tomorrow or Sunday morning. And since we had to cull her first litter of 9 due to low milk production we may be able to foster some kits if necessary.
So when all signs show pregnancy and you can not be certain of exposure put in a nest box just to be safe.
I also do not want to call the breeder a liar just yet since 1 of the other 2 "does" our girl was sharing a cage with might have been a buck. Also his setup had cages separated only by chicken wire. There is a good chance one of the rabbits in the adjoining cage was a buck and they bred thru the wire.
p.s., I would have posted a picture of the kits but the Photobucket site seems to be down.
