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As promised! Dose anybody know if she should be feeding them right now?
PREGNANT BUNNY
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As promised! Dose anybody know if she should be feeding them right now?
Bunnylady
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Congrats on the kits, and a belated welcome to BYH
Sorry about the dead ones, but that's rabbits, unfortunately. The rest in the nest and pulled fur is great!
I would get any blood or missed placentas out of the nest. Rabbit does often nurse their litters right after having them, but typically only visit their kits to feed them for a few minutes a couple of times per day (usually around dawn and dusk).
Sorry about the dead ones, but that's rabbits, unfortunately. The rest in the nest and pulled fur is great!
I would get any blood or missed placentas out of the nest. Rabbit does often nurse their litters right after having them, but typically only visit their kits to feed them for a few minutes a couple of times per day (usually around dawn and dusk).
Hens and Roos
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So i left the house at 5, and didnt get home till 2. I havnt seen her do much, but thats normal?Congrats on the kits, and a belated welcome to BYH
Sorry about the dead ones, but that's rabbits, unfortunately. The rest in the nest and pulled fur is great!
I would get any blood or missed placentas out of the nest. Rabbit does often nurse their litters right after having them, but typically only visit their kits to feed them for a few minutes a couple of times per day (usually around dawn and dusk).
Pastor Dave
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Sorry this is so late to answer your questions. The doe will clean everything up if given the chance. Most of the time she will not get in with them to feed the first time until night time. Having 9 kits the first time is awesome. The infant mortality rate for bunnies is 25-40% That is why they have so many. Instinct will kick in and the doe will prove to be a great mom.
Oh, and I agree on the blessed part. Depending on what your plan is to use them for, I like to tithe out of my litter. Equivalent to the firstborn. I do this when I butcher mine to thank God for the litter. You could do it when you sell them as pets. I just do the price of one of them. It reminds me of biblical times giving the firstborn back to God.
Oh, and I agree on the blessed part. Depending on what your plan is to use them for, I like to tithe out of my litter. Equivalent to the firstborn. I do this when I butcher mine to thank God for the litter. You could do it when you sell them as pets. I just do the price of one of them. It reminds me of biblical times giving the firstborn back to God.
Congrats! I can just see you beaming through your text 
Sorry you lost the two but they were lost for a reason I'm sure... So now the fun begins as you watch them grow!
Sorry you lost the two but they were lost for a reason I'm sure... So now the fun begins as you watch them grow!
SA Farm
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Aw, great news
It can take some (especially first time) moms up to 24 hours to first feed the kits/get her milk in.
She should feed them twice a day - sometimes more often depending on the doe and usually around dawn and dusk. You can check to be sure she is feeding them by looking at their bellies first thing in the morning or after dark at night - if they have rounded bellies, they're fed, if they're skinny with lots of wrinkles, they haven't been fed.
They look healthy in your pictures
It can take some (especially first time) moms up to 24 hours to first feed the kits/get her milk in.
She should feed them twice a day - sometimes more often depending on the doe and usually around dawn and dusk. You can check to be sure she is feeding them by looking at their bellies first thing in the morning or after dark at night - if they have rounded bellies, they're fed, if they're skinny with lots of wrinkles, they haven't been fed.
They look healthy in your pictures
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Hey guys
I just got home and one bunny is not breathing![:\](/styles/default/xenforo/smilies/side.png "side :\")
and a different bunny she has removed from the litter, but it is still alive. Should i put her in with the others? the bunny has poop smeared on his bottom, and the nostrils are dirty. Is this normal? the bunny who is not breathing is still in the nest, is it possible that she grabbed the wrong baby? If the baby is sick should i just leave it or try to help it? She is flinching a lot to.
Please respond quickly on what is should do!!!
I just got home and one bunny is not breathing
and a different bunny she has removed from the litter, but it is still alive. Should i put her in with the others? the bunny has poop smeared on his bottom, and the nostrils are dirty. Is this normal? the bunny who is not breathing is still in the nest, is it possible that she grabbed the wrong baby? If the baby is sick should i just leave it or try to help it? She is flinching a lot to. Please respond quickly on what is should do!!!
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This is the baby that is sick. or at least i think. It is 39 degrees, outside. There is a heat lamp in the house. So he is under the lamp, I just had to bury the bunny But i prepared for it, She/he was the runt, so it is no surprise she didnt make it.
Please let me know what to do with the sick one.
Also do you guys think it will get to warm with the heat lamp?
But i prepared for it, She/he was the runt, so it is no surprise she didnt make it. Please let me know what to do with the sick one.
Also do you guys think it will get to warm with the heat lamp?
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Pastor Dave
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I have come to find that the Doe will move the ones she knows will not make it away from the nest area that the healthy ones are in. I have also known the Doe to "dispose" of the dead young herself. It is the same way she cleans up the placenta and afterbirth. It is fascinating to think abt how they seem to know which will and will not make it. The ones my does have pushed away have not made it when I try to warm them up. If a kit falls out of the nest box that has been nursing and was still attached to the doe, they can survive if you find them in time. The doe is not like a cat that will move them around by the scruff.
If you have to make the difficult choice of assisting a young one to die that is not going to make it, is deformed, or in some way non-viable, the easiest way I have found is to place them in a towel or wash cloth and put it in the freezer. It will go to sleep and then pass away quietly as its system shuts down.
You can't save them all. I had a recent doe that had 10 kits her first time, after two were dead the first few hours, and two more died when they came out of the nest box and slipped through the 1" x 2" cage wall and froze on the floor, she reared the remaining 6 and they are weaned and growing out in a fryer pen. Some of the loss was my fault. I fixed the mesh at the bottom of the cage to be just 1/2" x 1". She probably would have reared 8, but who can ever know. You will get used to all this as you keep going. This all sounds tough, but there are some more along the way you will experience. I recently had to cull one of my does. There is a lot of good things that come out of this too, or we wouldn't do it.
Just hang in there.
If you have to make the difficult choice of assisting a young one to die that is not going to make it, is deformed, or in some way non-viable, the easiest way I have found is to place them in a towel or wash cloth and put it in the freezer. It will go to sleep and then pass away quietly as its system shuts down.
You can't save them all. I had a recent doe that had 10 kits her first time, after two were dead the first few hours, and two more died when they came out of the nest box and slipped through the 1" x 2" cage wall and froze on the floor, she reared the remaining 6 and they are weaned and growing out in a fryer pen. Some of the loss was my fault. I fixed the mesh at the bottom of the cage to be just 1/2" x 1". She probably would have reared 8, but who can ever know. You will get used to all this as you keep going. This all sounds tough, but there are some more along the way you will experience. I recently had to cull one of my does. There is a lot of good things that come out of this too, or we wouldn't do it.
Just hang in there.
