First time mom, bad mom?

[Bunnylady]

Why on earth would someone take the kits away from mom?

I can't speak for everyone, but I finally started removing litters when I felt like I couldn't stand to see one more dead litter! I have 5 breeds that I work with, and 4 of them mature under 5 lbs. They tend to have small litters, both numerically and in the size of the individual kits, so the collective mass of the litter isn't that great. Today is May 10, last night's low was 47 degrees (Fahrenheit). If I had any litters under one week of age, bitter experience has taught me that there is a high probability that I would have lost them to the cold. I have also had many, many promising youngsters get out of the nestbox on their own and die on the wire. Taking the litter into the house prevents both of these things from happening.

Until I joined this forum, I had never heard of the "Chu method." All I knew about Betty Chu was that she is an English Angora breeder with top quality animals. I had been removing litters as a matter of course for many years before learning that she does it, too. Frankly, I don't care who else may or may not do it, I just know it works for me.

For me, it was clear that the risks associated with leaving the litter with mom were as great or greater than those of removing them, so I took a chance. When I started pulling the litters, I learned that my does are much more accepting and adaptable than I had been led to believe. I don't have to take the boxes out at dawn and dusk, the does are quite flexible about time. My girls readily adopt other does' kits, should the need arise. Because my bunnies get so much handling, they are people friendly from the beginning, and make good pets or show rabbits.

There have been a few does in my rabbitry that did everything right at the beginning, that didn't know they had to nurse the babies. Had I not intervened, those litters would have starved. Once the doe was taught her job, she went on to be a productive and successful mother of several more litters, rather than being culled for not producing. In those cases, mother certainly didn't know best!

Some people just have to mess with Mother Nature.

We breed rabbits in unnatural sizes, with unnatural coats and outrageous colors. We confine them (natural ground dwellers) in wire cages several feet off the ground, feed them pelleted feeds from metal feeders, and teach them to drink water from a metal tube or valve. We keep them on continents that they aren't native to, and breed them in climates that they didn't evolve to deal with. We constantly expose them to contact with predators (us) and give them metal or wooden boxes to give birth in. What, exactly, is natural about any of that?

Different strokes for different folks. And BTW, EB, the only person complaining around here seems to be you.

taraann81, how are the kits doing? They must be getting pretty big by now!

 

[taraann81]

Hi bunnylady!

yes they are getting very large and adorable! One of these bunnies, when he's ready, will be donated to become a part of a therapy program for sick children. It is a new program and they are fighting for government funding but I think these kits will be perfect for it!

They all look like flemish and are quite a good size, only one kit shows any loppy features and she is just a big kit with airplane ears!

 

[The Egg Bandit]

Well, I hope it works out well for y'all. I was taught the KISS method of animal husbandry. But some folks like to work real hard at fighting nature. Bless their hearts.