Orphaned kits advise needed

[Pinksapphire]

I adopted a female rabbit five weeks ago and unexpectedly three weeks ago she gave birth to five kits.
This evening i went out to put them to bed and found the doe dead, she seemed in ok health apart from some sores around her nose that I thought were starting to heal.
I now have five three week old kits without a mother and am not sure what i should be feeding them and how is best to care for them.
Should I be bottle feeding them? if so what milk is best? how often and how much.
Are adult food pellets ok? they had been eating some of there mothers food but should I know change this?
They are getting meadow hay should I get better hay for them?
Any advise greatly appreciated.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

@AmberLops @ Baymule @Bunnylady @GypsyG

 

[Hens and Roos]

sorry to hear that you lost the doe. When we raised kits, they would eat the same food that the doe ate. If it was me, I would not change the food they are currently eating. Not sure about the bottle feeding them. Hopefully the others will have suggestions for you too.

 

[AmberLops]

I'm sorry that you lost the mama
I would not worry about bottle-feeding them. At 3 weeks they should already be eating some pellets...you can give them rolled oats too, the babies love them and it'll help keep weight on them.
You should add some kind of vitamin/probiotic to their water.
I started all of my rabbits on Rooster Booster (sold at tractor supply) and I've seen a huge difference in their health!
I add 3/4 teaspoon per gallon of water. The probiotics will help with the weaning process and the vitamins and electrolytes will give them an extra boost.
Good luck and please let us know how they're doing

 

[AmberLops]

Oh, and welcome to BYH
Lots of wonderful people on here who are always happy to help!

 

[messybun]

These guys should already have a water source, put a little electrolyte mix in there for them. We have successfully reared rabbits of all types from goat milk. I prefer powdered milk because once mixed it only lasts a few days.
I’ve found most rabbits don’t take to a bottle very well. It’s also better to have control on how much you squeeze into their mouth or not. You can find syringes and nipples from henryshealthypet.com or just use a plain ol’ Syringe if you have to. So, you kind of have to put it in their mouth and almost force it on them. They will drink very slowly at first, nothing like from mom, but they’ll eat. Watch out for aspiration, that’s where milk gets in the nose and travels to the lungs, causing pneumonia. If you get milk in the nose immediately use a tissue to dry it off. At their age you might be able to get away with putting a dish of milk in the cage, but keep it fresh and check that no one is losing weight. Good luck.

 

[GypsyG]

Sorry I missed this! At three weeks I would not give them milk replacer. I have never had good luck with goat milk either. I'd just give them whatever you were feeding the mother, plus maybe an alfalfa cube for them to nibble on for added calcium. Oats are good too, but add them slowly and don't over do it. @AmberLops is right, probiotics are very important, because until her passing, they were receiving those from their mother.

How are they doing now?