Well, after much anticipation, our female rabbit gave birth last night some time to four babies. She had been nest building for over a week but she kept trampling the nest after it was built and then she'd rebuild it. She refused to use to the nest box even when we put it in the place she had been building her nest so we just removed it entirely. So we went to check this morning and sure enough there were four babies but they were scattered all over the cage and the nest was trampled. One of the babies looked like it was smashed by her stepping on it. The other three weren't smashed at all but they were all over by themselves and she hadn't fed them or kept them warm. It looked like she had cleaned them up and eaten the placentas properly though. And they were all nicely formed, pretty good sized babies.
Since she was a first time mom and we don't really know how old she is, we are guessing that she was just too young to know what to do appropriately. Anyone ever have this happen? Will she get better with the next litter or do we need to take precautions and just move her inside where we can keep watch before she gives birth again?
Barred rocks, red sex link, silver wyandotte, white leghorns, mottled cochin banty, silkie, blue swedish and khaki campbell ducks, meat rabbits, white holland turkeys, turtles, cats, and as much garden space as one can cram into a small urban yard half given over to the chickens
Barred rocks, red sex link, silver wyandotte, white leghorns, mottled cochin banty, silkie, blue swedish and khaki campbell ducks, meat rabbits, white holland turkeys, turtles, cats, and as much garden space as one can cram into a small urban yard half given over to the chickens
I had one Jersey Wooly doe that took 5 or 6 tries before she had live babies in the box - each time she got more things right, so I let her keep trying. Most get it right on the second or third try - if they have live babies that you can get into the box one way or the other, the doe usually gets it right from there on out.
