Good news is this first time doe showed she had the ability to deliver 11 kits as one litter (considering that 2 older does I got had litters of three, there is probably going to be room to farm out extra kits in the future if timed properly). Bad news is that she kindled them on the wire during a cold wind night, I didn't check on them yesterday morning, and they all died. This doe's sister (bred at the same time) was sitting in her nestbox this morning and didn't want to move to let me peek, so I'm in wait and see mode there.
My doe did same thing, She had a nice box all bedded and she pulled hair and had them on the wire. Next day my other doe pulled hair and put hers in the box Thank Goodness.
I had the same thing happen to me. I think this was my doe's first litter. Had a nice warm nest box in the cage for her. She kindled 9 kits - - all 9 born on the freezing cold wire and froze to death. :waa:
I intentially breed my does early [4 months] as they are usually crappy mothers the first time around. Take those pinky rabbits that froze, wash them off, package them individually in sandwhich bags and then put the sandwich bags in a heavier freezer bag. Keep them in the freezer. Go to your local pet store that sells reptiles and market those pinkies as snake food. Find buyers, also people with cats or toy dogs that raw feed will buy pinkie rabbits. Make every bit of your rabbitry profitible. I usually have a waiting list on pinkies.
As an update, that does sister kindled one early on the wire, but dropped the rest a day later in the nestbox and even pulled a little fur. Problem was she managed to remove the paper liner under the box and throw out almost all of the hay I'd provided, so the kits were dead on the wire under a scant covering of hay and fur. I have been bagging and freezing the pinks, though I've discovered I'm going to have to change my habits since my lab snatched most of the second batch from where I'd laid them on the AC compressor before I could run him off. And one of the older does has since had a litter of six, while the other (overweight when I got her and not dropping any weight on the smallest reasonable portion) apparently missed the last breeding attempt and at least one of my bucks is having trouble breeding her, will try the other one in a week since I'm still trying to lear to palpate but am having no luck so far. I am going to hold back a doe from her last litter in case I decide culling her is the best option.
Before going to bed I found our 1st time nzw doe had 6 in the nest box but had failed to pull hair and make a nest. They were stone cold and lifeless. I brought them in and submerged them to the neck in warm water like someone had said and I'll be danged if they all did'nt come around. Three of them were very small and 2 days later they died but the other three are doing great, Stoney
WOw I hadnt heard of that before... I usually take a blow dryer and heat the critters up with it. Had a chick once that was sooo lifeless looking, My friends grabs it up and starts blowing warm air on it, it seemed to perk up so we grabbed the blow dryer and thats worked great for me ever since...
