8 gorgeous babies and a lost litter...

[Beesandbuns]

:stork:Well I finally got a litter out of my doe Honeycomb. She's taking mother hood very well, maintaining condition, feeding them, keeping them warm, and all while wanting me to snuggle her :love: . Too bad it makes it more difficult to get in and see the babies, she hops in the box and begins rubbing my hands looking for snuggles.

Unfortunatly we had some bad news as well. Midnight, our holland lop kindled the day before, and lost her whole litter. Two babies were still born and were very large, the other two were small and became sperated in the nest box during a 45 degree night. :in tears::sosad Midnight had kindled before in a barn that was always 50 degrees, and I'm wondering if that was part of why she lost the other two kits, as her nest had a lot of hair on the outside but the kits were in the center on the wood.

 

[ladysown]

for all you know... all four of the babies were born dead and just happened to be separated in the box. Unless you saw milk in their bellies. Two babies are hard to keep together and maintain body warmth...just takes one to pop the wrong way and by the time they find each other again they are chilled. 45 degrees shouldn't kill a litter that stays together.

 

[majorv]

It's possible the small ones were dead too, unless you know they were born alive. Some of our does will birth live one's in the box and the dead ones outside the box.

 

[Beesandbuns]

They were alive the day before, moving and everything. So we're pretty sure they became seperated and the night killed them. I also realized I miss counted my lilac litter, seven healthy babies not eight (they are moving around a bunch, so I can see how I made a mistake in my counting.) Their mom is still doing well and begging for attention when ever we pass her cage. My sister's Rhinelander also gave birth last night to three babies, but the only showable one is about 3/4 size of the other two. We've got her on calf mana and alfalfa and timothy hay to try and encourage more milk production so the smaller one can survive. It's moving around and snuggling with its' sport and charlie siblings so hopefully we can get it through the first week with no issue.