Sad and Happy in one day...

[CCWelch]

Yesterday was a sad and happy day around this rabbitry...
Morning chores: I checked on one of my pregnant does, she usually goes 2 days late. Well this time she went a day early and all the babies froze(So we start the day -9)
then
Evening chores: One of my other does (also not due for a couple days) has her litter.

She had seven. Now both does are happy, I pulled the babies and brought them in because it is so cold and both does get to feed them The babies are very fat and happy!! And I do not have to deal with a depressed doe!

 

[majorv]

I'm sorry you lost a litter, but at least the doe has a few to raise now.

We always try (if we can) to breed two does at the same time. It worked out goodlast month because one had 7 and one had 2. We evened itup andwe got 7 well-fed kits. Earlier this week wewere expecting two more litters and it didnt go so well. While I was at work, my nice Polish doe (that I got atConvention)must've had complications during delivery. I found her dead after delivering two small kits. I'm pretty sure she had more waiting to come out when she died. :cry1: My daughter graciously offered to take them to a breeder friend an hour away whose JW had a litter the same day. We had no choice because the other doe we breddidn't take.

 

[Shayhara]

Sorry to hear about the litter lost. Congrats on the litter saved. Who's babies are they?
I have four due next week, I am hoping they make good nests and I can leave them out in the garage. I can just see my husbands face if he gets up for work one night to find four large covered cat litter pans on the counters in the kitchen. Not to mention trying to keep the dogs and cats away from them. Hmmm I wonder what the temp is in the basement? I could handle basement bunnies for a couple months perhaps I should just move them down there now?

Winter breeding is more worrisome then summer breeding. :?

 

[CCWelch]

Pinky is the one who lost her litter, Sunny kept hers. Actually I usually don't have problems with winter breeding and the does are good. Pinky just decided to build her nest too deep and got it to the floor of the nestbox where the cold literally sucked the life out of the little ones.

Sunny will only feed in the morning and Pinky is a twice a day feeder so I put the babies with Sunny, then with Pinky and in the evening I put them with Pinky again. They are gonna be little pigs. When they get big enough to stay outside I will give Pinky some to keep and give Sunny some to keep.

 

[CCWelch]

For those who don't know, Pinky is a New Zealand and Sunny is a New Zealand/Californian cross.

 

[majorv]

I'm curious, do any of the kits from both litters look the same? How do you keep the right kits with the right moms later? We've tried marking ears with a permanent marker but it wears off. With the litter we had to foster two of over to the other doe, we just gave her2bluesbecause her two wereblack.

 

[CCWelch]

Pinky's entire litter died so the litter I am fostering with is all Sunny's
If I foster otherwise, I always try to go across breeds. I will usually breed a New Zealand and a Satin the same day or my Mini Lop and an English Spot and I only foster if I can tell them apart. in this case it doesn't matter, they are all crossbred babies.

 

[Nancy McClelland]

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