# rabbit pulling out fur



## terriemac

This is my first time breeding rabbits. I bred my doe 22 days ago and she is already pulling out her fur. Should I put the nest box in now?


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## flemish lops

Some rabbits make their nest early but I like getting the box in when she starts pulling fur. I had a rabbit have her kits early before so I like to play it safe.


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## therealsilkiechick

they kindle from 28 to 32 days normally. if she is pulling hair i would put it in also.


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## manybirds

some does pull fur even when there not prego some pull fur 1 week into it. wait till 28 days to put the NB in, if you put it in too soon she'll just use it as a litterbox or soil whatever hay/fur she puts in there before the kits are born


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## CYGChickies

manybirds said:
			
		

> some does pull fur even when there not prego some pull fur 1 week into it. wait till 28 days to put the NB in, if you put it in too soon she'll just use it as a litterbox or soil whatever hay/fur she puts in there before the kits are born


Seconded, do this.

Most of our does don't pull fur until minutes maybe hours before, and some not until after. It's usually a sign in our Rabbitry of babies coming now but I've heard of does who start almost right away pulling fur. Ive had two does kindle early--DHotot and Lionhead--and only one or two kindle very late. They are pretty punctual compared to larger livestock.

CYG


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## Bunnylady

Until you know your doe's pattern, it's hard to say what's going on. Most of my does have waited until just before or just after kindling to pull fur, but I have had a few that started pulling earlier. I had one Jersey Wooly that would start fur pulling about a week before she was due; by the time the kits came, she was nearly bald! 

Unfortunately, fur pulling this early can be a sign of the ending of a false pregnancy, which is why I said what I did about knowing your doe's pattern. If your doe continues to play with hay and/or pull fur, she is probably pregnant. If she does nothing more in the way of nest making, that was most likely a false pregnancy (I would give her a nest box, just in case, though). My rabbits have almost always had babies at 30 -32 days gestation, if they go to 34-35, the babies have almost always been huge and didn't survive the birthing process. Only the rare doe has had babies at 28 days, and those were litters of 10 or more. IME, kits that were born before 28 days' gestation don't survive.


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## mama24

I have a doe that pulled fur 7 days before she kindled. She had 10 babies on her due date in the nest box in a huge fur nest.


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