HELP my kit died

[Cole Visentin]

I’ve had rabbits for over 10 years now and I’ve only been breeding them the last 4 years but this time it was different, I had my female rabbit in the same cage as her daughter which is 1 year old and when the mother rabbit gave birth after 28 days her kit was really big about 4 inches but she didn’t clean it or anything she just left it is this because of her daughter and could she have had more or have more. When I was checking on her during her pregnancy she didn’t feel like she was pregnant so I just assumed she wasn’t until yesterday when she gave birth so I’m really confused does anyone know what has happened?

 

[majorv]

Chances are the lone kit was born dead. We had a couple of does who had one oversized kit born dead, but the doe still cleaned it. It’s possible the daughter being there had something to do with it not being cleaned. If you breed her again I would recommend you take the 1 year old out when the kindling gets close.

 

[Preitler]

I keep my four breeding does in mother-daughter pairs, in pretty big hutches that can be easily divided if necessary, they can always get out of each others sight. They also get garden time several hours per day.

There never wasn't any problem with the second doe (for 4 years now), those were mostly kind of stumped about the actions of the kindling doe and just kept out of the way. I don't seperate longer than 1-2 days, and even then they have garden time together, because I want to avoid to shake their hierachy, establishing that again can mean some stress.
Once the kits are mobile the 2nd does are great stepmothers, I even suspect one started lactating.

In your case, I would say a giant, single kit is quite a problem anyhow, no matter the circumstances. It can be a freak occurance - like the 17 dead kits one of my does delivered last year (but did fine with 12 this year), or there could be something wrong with her reproductive organs. There's only way to find out, but if there's something wrong there are chances you might lose her the next time.

 

[majorv]

It would help to know the breed since newborn sizes can vary. The few does we had who had a large dead kit went on to have successful litters, so you never know.