Moving Pregnant Does.

[waynesgarden]

I moved a doe from her 30x30 cage three days before kindling. I'm getting all the does into 30x36 cages and this was the last one in the smaller size. When I went to put the nest box in, I found that the smaller cages also have slightly smaller doors, so the nests I've been making for the larger cages wouldn't fit through.

Tracey Doe (first time mom) didn't seem to mind the move, sniffed around a bit, checked out the food and water locations and got right into nest building.

Wayne

 

[Lil Chickie Mama]

MATERNITY CAGE: When does aren't bred, they can room together. But a doe who is expecting needs separate quarters in a pen that provides her with a nesting box and plenty of room for the growing litter: 7 to 8 square feet, minimum...

Okay I don't know how accurate this is, I just read it last night and keep in mind that I don't have rabbits yet. I read an article (can't find it now) online last night that said 1 sq ft per pound of rabbit which seems ridiculously large to me, but what do I know.

Edited to hide my stupidity...oops.

 

[waynesgarden]

Nope, a 30" x 30" cage is 6.25 square feet. (2.5 feet times 2.5 feet. Or, 30 times 30 divided by 144.)

I wouldn't go any smaller than 36" x 30" for the larger meat breed does. Once I put a 15"x22" nest box in that space, there isn't a whole lot of extra room for the mom and her kits, especially once they start hopping out of the nest to devil Mom during the day.

Even though I'll take the nest box out sooner, the mom is going to have to live with her litter climbing all over her for at least 5 weeks before weaning time. She'll be glad to have that little extra space. And as I said earlier, the door on the smaller cage is also smaller than the 36" wide and I really don't want to make the nest boxes smaller than they already are, especially for the NZs. (They're big.)

Wayne