New kits are not covered in pulled fur?

[Grayfeathers]

I live in Idaho, and it is just below freezing at night now. I raise meat rabbits outdoors in a greenhouse with two layers of tarp as a roof. It keeps it warm but not WARM, you know? At least the water bottles are not freezing at all when it is down to 28 or 30*... My nest box is a 1/2" thick plywood box with a hardwire cloth floor. They have fine chopped straw on top of layers of warm dry leaves.
Well, I ended up with a lovely big pregnant New Zealand momma this time of year! I would not have bred in this weather, but she and a male were running loose, wrecking my grandmas garden and I volunteered to come trap them. Free rabbits! She had her litter Tuesday. There are 11 of them, no runts as far as I can tell. I made sure there were no stillborns either. They are warm and as fat as little corn dogs! She kept fur on them yesterday and there was fur over them this morning, but when I checked a while ago, they were all popping around like popcorn, and had gotten on top of the fur instead of being in it. Every time I try to take some of the fur and put it on top they grunt and squabble and pull it all underneath again! I'm glad to see them so energetic but I need to leave them alone. Feral mom is quite tolerant of me but I am nervous every time I have to check and touch them. What have I gotten myself into and what can I do about this? I really want to avoid having to add additional heat out there if i can. The greenhouse hasn't really got electricity running out to it. Thank you for any advice, hope you all had a great thanksgiving!

 

[Hens and Roos]

Welcome , congrats on the new additions! Is it possible that they are warm and then go back under when they cool down

@samssimonsays @Bunnylady @Pearce Pastures

 

[secuono]

They cover themselves.
Leave them alone, the more you touch, the more they waste energy thinking you are mom come back to feed them.

 

[promiseacres]

They sound healthy and agree they will snuggle in when cold.

 

[Latestarter]

Greetings and welcome to BYH! Congrats on your new little bundles of joy I don't know much about rabbits, but as I see it, if they're happy, and fat (getting fed) then what's the issue? If it ain't broke don't try to fix it Sounds like your feral momma buns has it all taken care of. What are your plans for all those new arrivals? Meat? sales? show? If you have some pics, we'd all appreciate if you'd share a few. Not much better than pictures of new baby animals. Anyway, glad you joined up and hope you'll stay around. We have quite a few rabbiteers here. Browse around and make yourself at home!

 

[animalmom]

I'll go along with the other posters and say leave them alone as the kits will burrow back into the fur and hay when cold. If you are really worried you can take the nest box into your house and bring it out to the doe twice a day... always an option. The patient doe seems to know what she is doing: fed kits and active kits.

Welcome to BYH. I can't fault any animal owner's concern regarding the welfare of their livestock. Feel free to bring up any questions/concerns/comments you have. We're a friendly group and like to see others succeed... that and pictures. We love pictures. Please and thank you.

 

[DutchBunny03]

If the kits are lively enough to be hopping around, chances are they are not going to freeze, as long as it doesnt get as that much colder.If it does get too cold, just bring the kits and dam inside for a few days. Kits grow VERY fast, and soon, they will have a warm coat of their own fur.

 

[Morgan M Baker]

Welcome! I'm newer here also! All these people are always so helpful! Anyways, from my experience, my baby buns do this all the time and it used to worry me sick. Even my doe would nudge fur back over them when they wouldnt stop squirming all of it off of them, and began to get chilly. But they will burrow back down, dont worry. They are probably too warm. I know when I plug my heat mats in at night when it is below freezing, i usually slide an extra heat mat under half of the nest box if its really freezing cold, but somehow mom knows best and when i come in to check on them in the morning she will have the nest box slid off of the heat mat because they got too warm at some point! Or she just wanted 2 heat mats for herself haha

 

[lcertuche]

My son found a rabbit den with kits and I told him to leave them alone but he kept going and messing with them and mom abandoned them. They all end up dying. Of course I really hate having wild rabbits everywhere eating my garden but I was sad about the babies.