Female rabbit pulling her fur out

[kionahauth]

Hello all!

My doe is pulling her fur out. We mated her with our buck a week ago. Could she be "nesting" this early?

A little background....
We jumped into the world of meat rabbits about a month ago. We started with two 6 week olds but decided we needed 2 older ones as well.
We bought a 9 month old doe 2 weeks ago and then went back for the buck. They have had 1 litter previously. When i went back for the buck.

Maybe she has been pregnant this whole time we have had her?

 

[Beekissed]

Hello all!

My doe is pulling her fur out. We mated her with our buck a week ago. Could she be "nesting" this early?

A little background....
We jumped into the world of meat rabbits about a month ago. We started with two 6 week olds but decided we needed 2 older ones as well.
We bought a 9 month old doe 2 weeks ago and then went back for the buck. They have had 1 litter previously. When i went back for the buck.

Maybe she has been pregnant this whole time we have had her?

Could be. I'd get a box in there so she can continue to pull fur and make a nest...wouldn't want them born on the wire.

 

[kionahauth]

Could be. I'd get a box in there so she can continue to pull fur and make a nest...wouldn't want them born on the wire.

Yes! Doing this first thing in the am. I dont have anything tonight but can make something in the morning!

 

[Miss mouse]

You may want to even give her a cardboard box or anything. Mine typically pull fur right before the babies come unless it's a false pregnancy. For example when I went to do a Tuesday night feeding my rabbit was pulling fur and the next morning there were kits. I guess my point is it could be faster than you'd expect.

 

[promiseacres]

My NZ does start prepping very early.... last year day 11..had a litter of 7 on day 31..this year less than a week bred and pulling hair. Her daughter already has a hay nest made in the corner of her cage. I think its day 13 for them.
Unless she was bred or exposed by the previous owner I would assume she's doing the same. But a false pregnancy is possible. In mine too...

 

[kionahauth]

You may want to even give her a cardboard box or anything. Mine typically pull fur right before the babies come unless it's a false pregnancy. For example when I went to do a Tuesday night feeding my rabbit was pulling fur and the next morning there were kits. I guess my point is it could be faster than you'd expect.

I did give her a cardboard box last night. Built a nesting box today. She is still pulling fur but no babies yet.

 

[Nao57]

OK, but how do you tell pulling fur from... surprise* you go check on them and there's been a scuffle involving 2 rabbits where one of them lost fur?

Is it only a volume difference to tell them apart?

 

[Niele da Kine]

When a doe pulls wool to build a nest, it's rather a lot of wool. At least, for angoras, maybe other rabbits don't pull as much. In a scuffle, there's just one or maybe several but just a few bits of fur/wool pulled out. When a doe is building a nest, there's a lot and she usually puts it all in one spot. You can't mistake the two, they're totally different types of wool pulling.