Jersey wooly girl just had 11 babies! Help!

[Farming Frenzy]

Hey guys
I bred my jersey wooly doe on the 1st of december and everything has gone fine. Both parents are great quality and the male has produced lots of great offspring from the breeder I got my trio from. ( I got 2 does but did not want to breed he other one yet) . Please do NOT tell me anything about how there are soooo many baby rabbits out there and how i have made a totally bad and horrible decision by breeding my rabbits. I ALREADY have homes for half of them and have LOTS of room to keep the ones that do not find homes (if they dont). I only ever plan to have a few litters, no more than 2 next year, if I find more people to buy the babies first.
Anyways, this morning I went to check if my doe had built a nest since it was the 29th day since she had been in with the buck. I was pleased to find she'd made a huge nest, but soon found a whole clump of babies in there :/ I'm super happy though, even if it's earlier than I thought. i contacted the breeder and she said it was awesome I'm really happy. I checked them to see if they had been fed (they had) but only counted them properly this afternoon. There are 11!!!!! Isn't that huge for a dwarf breed?
just wandering what you guys think about it, if its bad, if there are too many and if some of them will die (I know the peanuts eventually will but as a first time breeder I don't exactly know how to recognize peanuts). thanks for the help!

 

[Bunnylady]

For a Jersey Wooly, 11 is beyond huge, it's outrageous! When you say these animals are great quality, does that mean that they do well in shows? Has this particular doe ever been shown? The reason I ask, is because showable animals of the dwarf breeds all have the lethal gene that causes the 'peanuts,' but there are lots of other members of the breed that miss out on that gene. They wind up being a bit on the largish side; the does usually have larger litters. I have had litters as large as 7-8 from these 'brood does,' but never as many as 11. Frankly, I can't imagine a 3 1/2 lb. rabbit having 11 babies, though delivering a bit early is typical with large litters.

If your doe is a "false dwarf" or "brood doe," she won't have any peanuts, because she can't give the babies a gene that she doesn't have. If this is the case, all of the babies are potentially viable, though I would expect to lose some, anyway. A doe is only "plumbed" for a maximum of 10; some teats usually deliver more milk than others simply because of more mammary tissue. If this doe raises 8 out of this litter, she will have done very well. First-time mothers often don't have a whole lot of milk for some reason, has this doe been bred before?

 

[Farming Frenzy]

bunnylady
- when i say qreat quality i meant that they haven't got any defaults as in deformaties or health issues. No they haven't been shown before/ they are not show rabbtis as we do not have rabbit shoes around my area/country (i think ). Its day 7 and the babies are doing super well! They are HUGE and so fat, ecept one . He is sooo skinny compared to the others, but active so I dont think he is a peanut. I have been turning the female over and feeding him that way, away from the others for a few minutes but I am thinking of another solution.
I think I will leave him with the others and the mum, but, as a little boost everyday, give him a bit of supplement formula mix or milk of some sort once a day. I have researched and I think the best/closest to rabbit milk is kitten replacement. My dad's in town right now looking for some.

i'll let you guys know the progrss, but any help on replacement/supplement milk formulas or brands for baby rabbits would be useful. Thanks!

 

[Farming Frenzy]

oh and no this is her first litter she's under a year old. But good breeding age. the father has been bred before though and his babies are gorgeous

 

[Bunnylady]

I don't know if this link will be helpful to you, but here it is, anyway.

At the very least, it has the standard for your breed, so you can have an idea of what you are aiming for with your breeding:

http://rabbitcouncil.co.nz/

 

[Farming Frenzy]

thanks that was quite interesting, i'll try compare the babies when they are older - here are a few photos of them now:

 

[Farming Frenzy]

1st one is of Superman, the rest are of Garlic. We lost one baby yesterday, i think he was opening his eyes and tried to get out of the nest box, got cold, I found him and tried to warm him up but he died about half an hour later The rest are alright though.