Three day old kits

[Tuesday]

I am a first time bunny breeder and have Holland Lops. Our doe kindled 5 kits on Friday, so I was very excited. The mom seems to be doing well and taking good care of them. I checked their bellies last night and all seemed full. However, this morning is the second morning in a row I have found a kit dead and outside of the pile of others. I have been checking on them more today and noticed the mother separate one from the others and groom him. She then hopped out and he was left out of the huddle of the others. I quickly put him back together with his siblings to stay warm, but I'm thinking this maybe what happened to the other two. Any thought on what I can/should do to prevent this from happening again?

Thank you for help!

 

[Tuesday]

And then there were two..A third one dead yesterday. I'm not at all sure what happened to him. At this point (8 days) they're starting to get furry etc so I thought we were in the clear. He was still in the nest up against a wall of the box lying with the others. I'm thinking maybe something was just wrong with him or maybe the mother stepped on him or something. My 4-Her is getting a little discouraged. Is this unusually to lose so many? I'm hoping it's due to the doe being a first time mom and us first time rabbit breeders. If anone has any advice on something we might be doing wrong I invite your comments. I 'd like to learn from this and not repeat my mistakes again. On an up note, the two remaining are super cute!

 

[Hens and Roos]

Welcome to rabbits . Given that the doe a 1st timer, sometimes this happens and is hard to know just why. The 2 remaining kits are their belly plump(like rounded out)? Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

 

[Tuesday]

Thank you. They look like they have really good plump little bellies, and are growing well. I've never heard them make noises like they're hunger. Mom seems to be caring for them well. Everytime I add any hay to her cage she's adding to their nest, I've seen her checking on them and grooming them. So I don't know what happened to #3. Just hoping the last two make it, they are so cute. Here's a pic of them. You can't see the blue kit too well. Anyone no what color the broken one will in the 1st pic? It's color is lighter than blue. The second pic is the one that died yesterday, the pic was taken 2 days ago. It looked just like it's momma who is in the third pic. My buck is in the 4th and my other doe in the last one. The does are sisters.

 

[mysunwolf]

I've found that if one jumps out of the nest, or has latched onto mom's teats and let's go too late so is swept out of the nest, that mom will attempt to groom them and keep them warm but otherwise will not know how to get them back into the nest, so the hairless little critters will die of cold. This happens to me pretty frequently with my nest boxes that have low sides (kits jumping out) and in cold weather (kits forgetting to un-latch from mom's teats). Even with a thin layer of fur on them, they chill easily.

It is fairly normal to have a bit of loss, especially in cold weather months and with first time moms. Personally I would not worry too much about losing 3/5 unless every litter is like this one or if you lose more. We routinely have a kit or two fall out of the nest, but the most we have ever lost has been 3 kits from a litter and that was a very cold January. Usually once the kits begin to open their eyes at two weeks old, they can find their own ways back to the nest box.

I don't know a whole lot about colors, but they are all beautiful bunnies

 

[Tuesday]

Thank you mysunwolf and hens and roos for you responses. That's helpful. Hopefully we end up with the two and her next litter has less loss. Should they not be handled for several days? We didn't handled until day three and then if picked up it was once a day at max and very briefly. Or is it better to wait until they have more fur to remove them from the nest? Thanks!

 

[Hens and Roos]

Thank you mysunwolf and hens and roos for you responses. That's helpful. Hopefully we end up with the two and her next litter has less loss. Should they not be handled for several days? We didn't handled until day three and then if picked up it was once a day at max and very briefly. Or is it better to wait until they have more fur to remove them from the nest? Thanks!

It depends on the doe- some are very protective and you cant get near the kits for awhile and other does have no problem with you touching within a short time frame of the kits being born. You will learn over time with the doe.