Possible Kindling Emergency

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Thank you so much for your responses!
Red is doing very well! She was getting restless stuck in that tiny cage in my room with me watching her all the time, so I moved her back outside late last night. Bugsy was happy to have her home! Moved the kits into their outside nest box with mom this morning.

Red had a total of 7 kits over about 24 hours. 2 were born dead, 2 more died in the couple days after. The surviving three are doing quite well, eating, and even growing I think! It was a really rough birth, and I'm not really sure what caused all the trouble. Eventually Red DID makeup her nest and pull fur, I think she was in too much pain to bother with it at first, and then too stressed out by all the attention from us to do until she was back to normal.

Do any of you know if this could be a sign of her reaching the end of her productive age? Or was it likely just a fluke crummy pregnancy?
We had some SERIOUS heat here this week that I'm wondering might have affected Red and this pregnancy?
Friday (after bringing Red in with her kindling danger) my BIL decided to turn off the misting system to the buns (I was never given a real reason why, he's 16 and his mother adequately chewed him out so I'll just leave it be, not my place to do or say anything further). When I returned home that day one of my ladies had died, and her friend (living right next to her) was suffering severely - panting, drooling, head tilt, nose bleed. I thought for sure if she didn't die she would suffer severe brain damage. She was brought immediately inside, it took a little over 5 hours to get her responsive, but she is back to normal as of this afternoon. Both Lulu and Misty were due to have their very first litters yesterday. We opened Lulu up to see if any of the kits survived (right when we found her friday) but all 9 were dead. Misty passed a completely dead litter late last night, but she did a wonderful job building her nest, birthing (and in the nest box to boot), cleaning her kits, and trying to nurse them, despite the trauma from the previous day. She was doing well yesterday and seemed a little flustered to have lost her litter, but was back to normal this afternoon. She doesn't seem to be suffering from any lasting affects of the heat which is really wonderful news!

This was one seriously rough week, but it's been really nice to have RO here for me! You may not have all the answers but everyone is so kind and helpful, it's such a comfort to have, especially in times like these.
 
Does trying to have kits in the heat is very stressful, and then trying to move them at the last minute just adds to the stress. It's possible that this pregnancy is a sign that she's reaching the end of her breeding years, but it could also have been due to stress. I would breed her again later, when the weather is cooler or else bring her inside a week before she's due, and see how it goes.
 
I know heat is hard on rabbits, good to know it could be the heat that caused pregnancy issues. With Red I usually let her take care of her own breeding schedule since she lives a colony-like set up and can easily get away from Bugsy if she doesn't want to mate. She's actually been pretty good at, she usually has a new litter 1-2 weeks after the last was weaned and left. She didn't breed at all in the heat last summer, but I may have to separate them this time around.
Thanks for the reply! Good to know I'm on the right track =)
 
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