Ugh! Feel like we failed our doe. Now what?

[sfgwife]

Have a mini rex that had a litter four days ago. We colony raise but her first two litters we moved to a nesting box inside the pen because WE were nervous nellies as first time “grandpartent”. Third litter she had in the box herself. This time she decided to make herself a hollow underground. So we let her have at it because she has been a great maman and we felt she would be ok since our other mini had just raised a litter under their dogloo in horrible cold and everyone was fine. Yesterday it rained... mostly piddled all day then was heavier last night. When we went to feed everyone and put to bed we put hay down around her den because it was gettin soggy. We did check and her den seemed to be mostly dry at the entrance behind her hay/dirt barrier and we put it back like she had it and saw her go inside to check/feed before we left as well. This mornin i go out to start our day and maman had her nest uncovered uh oh. . This is the failure part... and we feel like jerks for not movin the kits into a box last night. Seven beautiful lil kits drowned. I keep thinkin if we had moved them all would be well. But we cannnot change that now no matter how crappy we feel about it.

So. We have a new zealand with kits that are two days older than these were and everyone is doin great. Do we try givin the mini a few kits to raise? Or just let her be? I worry because the mini surely had real milk by now and all of a sudden no kits to nurse. Will mastitis be a possibility/problem? Or will she do ok leavin her alone to dry up lile this? I alos fret over puttinn two kits with her that arent hers not knowin how she might react and would she accept them or kill them this late in the game. :/

 

[Pastor Dave]

Not sure, but I think I would rebreed her. If I have a doe that has false labor or loses a litter, I rebreed. Not familiar with colony style of raising, but the behavior and hormones should still be the same.

 

[sfgwife]

Not sure, but I think I would rebreed her. If I have a doe that has false labor or loses a litter, I rebreed. Not familiar with colony style of raising, but the behavior and hormones should still be the same.

Thanks for your input!

So since she most likely is in milk i shouldnt worry too much about mastitis if we rebreed her now? Will rebreeding her help her milk to dry quicker so giving it less a chance to be a problem for her possibly than if we waited a few weeks? We usually give the does threeish weeks after weanin a litter to rebreed. Because we don’t want the wear and tear of back to back breedings. But we haven’t had this particular situation before so don’t know what would be best. :/. The reason we were thinking of waitin a few weeks at least is that we try to breed in pairs.. so that if one mom has too many babies we can foster out a kit or two if need be or if there is another problem where another mother might be needed... our lady that we pair with this one just had kits so she is a no go for us... we do have a cali doe that could be bred but then that leaves us a doe not paired again or rather waitin longer on the not paired doe. Gah!

Our colony raising... does are kept separate from the bucks so we can control breeding. They live on the ground not in cages per se...they have large fenced in areas (2 mini rex ladies in one pen and one nz and one cali ladies in the next one over, bucks(2) each have a separate pen and grow out bachelors one as well, the lady grow outs stay in with whichever lady breed they are).. they are free to dig inside the boundaries of their pens and when they dig at the edges of the pens we fill those in so they don’t get lose. . They have tubes and holes to explore, big boxes off the ground for nesting in if they want, under the houses is closed on three sides for more shelter.

 

[Childwanderer]

Can't offer advice from practical rabbitry, but it sounds like you made an unfortunate call, not a jerk one. Don't beat yourself up! I'm a real newbie when it comes to livestock, but it seems to me that the level of assistance needed by domesticated critters is mysterious, especially where mothering is concerned. Consider it a learning experience and accept that you did your best with the wisdom you had then.

 

[sfgwife]

Thanks hon. Yes we know that is what we did but it still stinks. We lived and learned the hard way. Now to move on amd try figure out the best way to go with the mess. :/

 

[babsbag]

I know next to zero about rabbits but I let me LGD have her pups under our barn one year and it ended badly. I knew she was close, but she was a few days early. Sometimes we just choose the wrong path by no fault of our own. I hope no problems with your doe and some cute kits again soon.

 

[Pastor Dave]

I breed in pairs too, and have waited to team my doe back to where they should be.

I will tag @Bunnylady because she discusses this often. I am mot sure on handling the coming in to milk issue. I have battled Mastitis with a doe once, and won. She continued being a breeder for me, but it was while she had a young litter, so totally different circumstanes.

 

[AClark]

I had this happen over the fall, the hole filled up and I was only able to retrieve 2 of them, I lost the rest. For my does that lose litters, I just let them dry off, I haven't had any issues with this so far. I rebred the does that lost litters to the cold without issue, one has 6 11-12 day old kits right now. I'm no expert, just my experience.

 

[Bunnylady]

If you're in rabbits for long, you'll see a lot of dead babies. You'll kick yourself over some that you probably could have prevented, but they will happen.

I've never seen a doe with mastitis. I know it can happen, but I've never had to deal with it.

If your NZ doe has a really big litter, you might give a few to the MR if you think you are going to lose them otherwise. The so-called ideal litter for a meat breed is about 6; that is considered the best compromise as far as growth is concerned. I try to avoid situations of only one or two babies; they have a hard time keeping themselves warm enough and tend to grow too fast.

Apparently, does produce a certain amount of milk each day. Studies have shown that rabbit litters tend to gain the same amount of weight as a whole, regardless of how many kits are in the litter; kits from small litters grow faster than those in numerically larger litters, but the total weight gain is about the same. When you only have a couple of kits in the litter, they tend to be super fat and grow really fast, which can lead to bone and digestive issues.

Better luck next time!

 

[Jennifer Hinkle]

When I was raising my rabbits steadily where I would constantly have meat to put in the freezer, I would breed my does back when their babies were 4wks old that way they had a few weeks after I removed them before she had her next litter. I never had a problem with wearing out the does. And never had a problem with mastitis. Currently I am not breeding rabbits, but will get back into it once Spring hits more and I get more rabbits.