# New NZ Broken Babies Born today!



## Rabbit Sam (Jan 24, 2017)

Well, our broken doe delivered 15 kits today! 13 survivors/2 little fetuses.
SO EXCITING!!!

Attempting to attach pics of Dam and nest box.


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## Baymule (Jan 24, 2017)

Awww..... they are so cute!! Love baby rabbits! Your doe is really pretty. Congrats on the litter!


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## DutchBunny03 (Jan 25, 2017)

15 kits in one litter!!! Thats a lot of kits for one doe to raise. Can you foster any out to another doe? Congrats on a successful litter! Were the dead fetuses "peanuts"?


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## Bunnylady (Jan 26, 2017)

Congrats on the litter!

15 is a huge number. In all my years of rabbit breeding, I have only had one litter that big; a Harlequin doe that most likely had some NZ ancestry (she, too, had a couple of babies that didn't make it through the full gestation). Though it is possible for an experienced doe to raise that many babies, it's more likely that she will lose a few, especially if some are smaller and less vigorous.

Inexperienced people seem to think that any baby rabbit that is undersized is a "peanut," but it isn't possible for New Zealands to have "peanuts." "Peanuts" are what happens when a baby rabbit inherits a copy of the dwarfing gene from both of its parents, and since only the breeds developed from the Netherland Dwarf have the dwarfing gene, only the dwarf breeds give birth to peanuts. There are lots of other reasons why a baby rabbit would fail; in this case, it sounds like they became unattached a few days before their due date. Things can get pretty crowded inside the doe when she releases that many eggs. If some embryos implant close together, there may not be enough room for all of the placentas to grow to full size, and some just get out competed and quit. As you said, they are clearly fetuses, and not fully developed. Sometimes, particularly with large litters, some of the live babies will be considerably smaller than their siblings for the same reason, except that they hung on grimly until birth. Given a fighting chance, these kits may survive, though they often die within a few days of birth, but that didn't mean they were peanuts.


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## DutchBunny03 (Jan 27, 2017)

Thats why i put "peanuts" in quotes.


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## Rabbit Sam (Jan 27, 2017)

DutchBunny03 said:


> 15 kits in one litter!!! Thats a lot of kits for one doe to raise. Can you foster any out to another doe? Congrats on a successful litter! Were the dead fetuses "peanuts"?


IKR!  But no...unfortunately, she was bred already when brought her home...and we had no does of breeding age yet.  The dead were about 2 weeks gestation, by my estimate. We've had one more pass away. I believe it was the runt...smaller than my thumb!


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## Rabbit Sam (Jan 27, 2017)

Baymule said:


> Awww..... they are so cute!! Love baby rabbits! Your doe is really pretty. Congrats on the litter!


THANKS!!  THEY ARE CUTE!  I love them too.  It's hard to not see them all as pets. My hubby is gonna be on his own with the harvesting...just saying.


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## Rabbit Sam (Jan 27, 2017)

Bunnylady said:


> Congrats on the litter!
> 
> 15 is a huge number. In all my years of rabbit breeding, I have only had one litter that big; a Harlequin doe that most likely had some NZ ancestry (she, too, had a couple of babies that didn't make it through the full gestation). Though it is possible for an experienced doe to raise that many babies, it's more likely that she will lose a few, especially if some are smaller and less vigorous.
> 
> Inexperienced people seem to think that any baby rabbit that is undersized is a "peanut," but it isn't possible for New Zealands to have "peanuts." "Peanuts" are what happens when a baby rabbit inherits a copy of the dwarfing gene from both of its parents, and since only the breeds developed from the Netherland Dwarf have the dwarfing gene, only the dwarf breeds give birth to peanuts. There are lots of other reasons why a baby rabbit would fail; in this case, it sounds like they became unattached a few days before their due date. Things can get pretty crowded inside the doe when she releases that many eggs. If some embryos implant close together, there may not be enough room for all of the placentas to grow to full size, and some just get out competed and quit. As you said, they are clearly fetuses, and not fully developed. Sometimes, particularly with large litters, some of the live babies will be considerably smaller than their siblings for the same reason, except that they hung on grimly until birth. Given a fighting chance, these kits may survive, though they often die within a few days of birth, but that didn't mean they were peanuts.


Thanks for the info!  That's alot to learn, and I know WAY less than I need to learn!!  It's so interesting the way you explained it, I never knew!


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## Hens and Roos (Jan 28, 2017)

Congrats!


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## Rabbit Sam (Jan 29, 2017)

Hens and Roos said:


> Congrats!


Thanks!!!


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