# Whopper of a litter!! Updated w/Pics in reply #10



## brentr (Mar 23, 2012)

My NZ doe, Pepper, kindled on Tuesday.  She has a big loose box for a nest box.  I could see in and I counted 8 babies piled together in the center of the box but not very well covered up.  Further investigation into the pile of hair in the corner revealed SEVEN more kits!  15 total!!

Pepper is my NZ x Giant Chin doe.  The sire of this litter is Californian.  So these kits are 1/2 Cali, 1/4 NZ, 1/4 Giant Chin.

This is the biggest litter I've ever had.  And bless her heart, she is mothering all of them.  She's split them into two nests, and all of them are getting fed and tended to (as much as rabbits tend to kits, anyway).  I suspect a few won't make it, but as of now she is 15/15, with no visible laggards or weaklings from not getting fed.  They're all starting to get that sheen from hair growing in.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  I'd be grateful for any karma thrown my way on behalf of this litter!


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## pridegoethb4thefall (Mar 23, 2012)

WOW!  Thats ALOT of bun buns!! I sure hope all the babies make it and grow up big and healthy!!  

And  to the mama of all mama's, sheesh, I cant imagine having to give birth 15 times in a row!! (even if they are tiny, its still work!)


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## hemet dennis (Mar 24, 2012)

If you're close to me I'll buy a couple does from that litter.


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Mar 24, 2012)

Yeah seriously. I would love does from that litter.


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## brentr (Mar 24, 2012)

SuburbanFarmChic & hemet dennis, I'm flattered you would be interested in some of my rabbits.  I'm in Northern Virginia (Marshall, zip 20115).  Its a bit far from Dennis in California, but depending where in WV you are, SuburbanFarmChic, we might be close enough for it to work out.  Let me know if you're inclined to drive that distance, and we can keep in touch via PM as the bunnies get older.


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## brentr (Mar 26, 2012)

brentr said:
			
		

> My NZ doe, Pepper, kindled on Tuesday.  She has a big loose box for a nest box.  I could see in and I counted 8 babies piled together in the center of the box but not very well covered up.  Further investigation into the pile of hair in the corner revealed SEVEN more kits!  15 total!!
> 
> Pepper is my NZ x Giant Chin doe.  The sire of this litter is Californian.  So these kits are 1/2 Cali, 1/4 NZ, 1/4 Giant Chin.
> 
> ...


Alas, reality has set in.  Lost two babies, one out of each nest.    Amazing how fast they can go downhill.  Lost them on day 5 (Sunday).  I'm a little concerned about 2 others.  When I inspected the whole litter today, on Monday, they were clearly smaller than their siblings.  They were also the only two in one nest - all other 11 were in the "main nest" which makes me wonder if they've been rejected.  I put them back in with everyone, so I guess we'll see.  Would be sad to lose them, but overall I can't complain about how the litter is growing!


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Mar 29, 2012)

Sweet!!  I know RIGHT where you are. My husband works in Gainesville and takes 50 to 17 to 66.  Goes past your exit twice a day    We can totally work something out for rabbit retrieval. I have an extremely chill NZ buck and am currently breeding for temperament and size. We're getting litters that average about 8/9 kits weaned. Happy to trade does or bucks or whatever or just buy stock.



And they tank so fast. They are fine in the morning and gone that evening.  We had a litter of 10 that was doing really well and then I tried leaving them alone and checking only every 2-3 days. Started to smell something fully and blegh, found a dead kit at the bottom of the nest. I guess the others had smothered it.  Kinda gross.


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## galoreherd (Mar 31, 2012)

when you bred the mother to the buck did you leave her in over night or did you have her mated on 2 seperate occasions in the one day?


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## brentr (Apr 1, 2012)

galoreherd said:
			
		

> when you bred the mother to the buck did you leave her in over night or did you have her mated on 2 seperate occasions in the one day?


I bred her on two separate occasions in one day.  I usually put the does in with the buck for 30 mins or 4-5 successful matings, whichever comes first.  I try to space my breedings about 8 hours apart.


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## brentr (Apr 1, 2012)

I thought I'd update with a couple pics:

Here is the proud mother, Pepper.  She is a milking machine.  I'm really pleased with how mild-mannered she is and how good of a mother she is.  I'm no photographer, sorry for cutting off the head and tail:






A couple photos of the litter.  13 healthy kits.  Most have their eyes open.  Will be 2 wks old on April 3.  Six dark, 7 white.  A couple of the white ones have that "Californian gray" over their whole coat - makes them look like they've been dunked in dirty dishwater.


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## galoreherd (Apr 1, 2012)

what weight is she herself? the female kits will be in high demand.


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Apr 1, 2012)

Those look great! If any of the white ones are girls I know someone that may want one. They only breed whites.  I don't care about color so I'm happy to take anything.


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## secuono (Apr 1, 2012)

The nest looks awfully small!


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## brentr (Apr 1, 2012)

secuono said:
			
		

> The nest looks awfully small!


I wondered if someone would pick up on that!   That is just a nest box I use to put the kits in when I check them.  I pull them all out so I can make sure everyone is present and accounted for.  The actual nest box has plenty of space.


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## brentr (Apr 1, 2012)

SuburbanFarmChic said:
			
		

> Those look great! If any of the white ones are girls I know someone that may want one. They only breed whites.  I don't care about color so I'm happy to take anything.


These wouldn't be pure (or true) whites, though.  Between the Cali and Giant Chin in the family tree, they could throw any color, I think.  Although I confess to being TOTALLY ignorant about color genes in rabbits.


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## brentr (Apr 1, 2012)

galoreherd said:
			
		

> what weight is she herself? the female kits will be in high demand.


She is 12-13 lbs (at least).  I haven't weighed her for a bit.  I do know she keeps her condition well, even nursing a large litter.  She eats like a horse, but it all goes into milk for the litter.  No unwanted weight gain at all.


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## SuburbanFarmChic (Apr 1, 2012)

brentr said:
			
		

> SuburbanFarmChic said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Yeah he knows.  He's just getting started and wants to get white and only keep white.  Everybody else goes in the freezer.  I think he wants to breed the color out while selecting for other traits.


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## Bunnylady (Apr 2, 2012)

If you are breeding REW to REW, you can only get REW because it is the most recessive gene in the C series. Conveniently, Chinchilla and Himi (the cause of the Cali markings) also occur in the C series. Unless you breed to something else (say, for example, a black) the only colors you can get are Chin, Himi, and REW.

If the doe is part NZ and part Giant Chin (and no other breeds in the mix) then she has one Chin gene and one REW gene. If the buck is purebred Cali, then he _should_ have 2 Himi genes. 
If he is only part Cali, he could have one Himi gene and one REW gene.  

Himi is a weird color. The expression of it is temperature dependent. Areas that are cool on the rabbit (nose, ears, tail, etc) get colored fur, the warmer areas get colorless (white) fur. If a kit with the Himi gene gets chilled, the body fur may show a ring of color where the hair was growing in at the time when the kit's skin was cool. That's probably what is going on with the dingy kits. Himi kits often seem all white, it is only as they grow a bit that you see the darker points showing up. If any of these kits get to fryer size and still don't show any color at all, you can be reasonably sure that they have 2 REW genes, meaning that they got one from their father as well.


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## RPC (Apr 2, 2012)

Wow that is really awesome I can not believe she has raised 13 kits


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