New litter, to many babies, no does to foster to

[Wee Wabbits]

Hey guys,

How do I maximize the milk production of my doe. She just had 13 babies!!!!
All of them are healthy but they can't get much milk just cause their are so many of them.

She had 10 and 9 in her last two litters and did a great job with them, not one died! But 13 I think is a bit much.

What supplements can I give the doe?

I am giving her oats. I am also sprinkling 3/4 a teaspoon of puppy milk replacer and 1/4 a teaspoon of nutritional yeast on her pellets, and I'm putting 1 teaspoon of black strap molasses in her 32 ounce water bottle everyday.

Is there anything else you would reccomend or is there anything I shouldn't give her that I currently am?

Help if you can.

I may end up supplementing the mother's nursing with bottle feeding.

-Steph

 

[TinysMom]

What breed of rabbit is your doe? Many of the larger breeds will have lots of babies like that.

Here is what I do with a large litter:

a. I give extra food (of course) - usually by the end of the first few days the doe is getting up to twice her normal amount of food (for a litter that big I might go a bit higher). I watch how much they're eating and how they're doing - if they don't eat it all, I cut back a bit.

b. Give her LOTS and LOTS of fresh water....maybe even attach a 2nd water bottle if she ever starts running out.

c. I'd give her some vegies if she's used to them (and even if she's not) - like maybe a couple of baby carrots a day and maybe a bit of romaine once she's used to the carrots. The reason is - these things have fluids in them too.

My does all get calf mana (supplement) with their food and I think that helps their milk production.

I have read of does that split the litter in half and fed one half of the litter at one time and the other half at another time. When we had some major problems here - I had one doe keep 24 babies alive for 3 days while I waited for other does to give birth and help with fostering.....every 8 hours I took her a different set of babies to nurse...so each set of 8 babies (3 sets) got fed once every 24 hours. Bless her heart - she did just fine keeping those 24 alive and her body just kept producing that milk.

Good luck - I wish I had better advice to give you - those are just things I would do. I'm not sure about supplementing the babies as that is usually when I lose them if I try to feed them (its just so hard). Maybe give mama a chance to try and take care of them for a day or so?

Peg

 

[Wee Wabbits]

Wow 24!

I usually face the same problem when I try to supplement the babies too, so that's why I"m not doing it yet.

Instead of looking like they have swallowed ping pongs they look like they have swallowed marbles, but at least they are getting some. I just know how quickly they can die at this stage if they miss a feeding or two.

She is a 6 pound rabbit if that helps.

Thanks so much for your advice.

 

[Wee Wabbits]

Also just wondering, what are the main ingredients in calf manna?

 

[Wee Wabbits]

Hey Tinysmom what type of rabbit is it in your avatar? Just curious.

 

[TinysMom]

Tiny is a flemish giant - rather on the small size for his breed - he's somewhere between 14 and 17 pounds...

I'm not sure what is in calf mana - or manna - not sure how its spelled...its a supplement that has more protein but I don't mind that for my nursing does.

You might want to see about having her feed the babies more often..maybe take her and the smallest babies out and put them in a basket or something with treats for her. I like to put carrots and and stuff in a corner of the basket with her facing the treats - I find that my does will munch away and relax and the milk will let down and the babies will often get an extra feeding that way....

Peg

 

[pamnock]

Calf-Manna:
Ingredients:
Soybean meal, corn, hominy feed, feeding oatmeal, dried whey, dehydrated alfalfa meal, linseed meal, brewer’s dried yeast, vegetable oil, fenugreek seed, anise oil, calcium carbonate, monocalcium phosphate, dicalcium phosphate, salt, sulfur, iron oxide, ferrous carbonate, ferrous sulfate, copper oxide, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, zinc oxide, sodium selenite, cobalt carbonate, calcium iodate, Vitamin A supplement, Vitamin D[suB]3[/suB]supplement, Vitamin E supplement, choline chloride, thiamine mononitrate, niacin supplement, riboflavin supplement, calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, Vitamin B[suB]12[/suB] supplement, folic acid, biotin.



A little Calf-Manna and some veggies such as carrots or applesto provide additional moisture can help to boost milk production. (Make diet changes grandually).



Pam

 

[TinysMom]

Just checking in to see how the babies are doing....

 

[Wee Wabbits]

Well, There all still alive and very active, hungry little ones. I feel bad cause the mom hasn't been able to keep their stomachs all fat. They are all getting milk but not rolly polly just slightly pudgy in the stomach. The mom is very funny, she gets really paranoid and tense for the last two weeks of pregnancy but the day after she has the babies she is all friendly and happy.

They babies are good, My biggest problem today is the cat got into some car grease when he ran onto the porch and got it all over him. Even with a bath, in which he hyperventilated and tried to tear me to bits, I wasn't able to get if all off....... Grrrr, always something going on with critters.