Aggressive Mom

[Sabine]

For the last week or so i have noticed my doe Polly being very aggressive with her 3 little girls. She grunts at them and chases them around the hutch and has also taken to nipping their butts
I have seen that behaviour once before when the litter was almost six weeks old but these babies are only 4.5 weeks and I don't feel comfortable separating them just yet. Things went really bad yesterday when i could not bring them out as it was raining and I found even tiny bite wounds. I left them out into the big run today and things improved but i am not sure how much longer she will last with the babies in the hutch.
if she keeps bullying her babies I am tempted to separate them soon but I am wondering if I should still make her nurse them. I am not even sure if she still does. They est and drink happily by themselves but i am not sure how much they still rely on their mum's milk. Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[LindyS]

Whoa that's not good. Might have to put a hiding place in the hutch for the babies like an igloo or something like that for them to hide. I hope she o's still feeding them. Some moms get annoyed by youngens because they always want to eat.

 

[GorbyJobRabbits]

at 4.5 they are old enough to be alone. I had to remove my harlie kits at just over 3 weeks. Mom took up some sniffles and I removed them. They were eating food, and since then they still havent left the food bowel and they're all happy and healthy.

Not all rabbit mothers, just as human mothers, want to take care of their kids the full time they need to. This is why it annoys me when non breeders call some breeders bad because they don't leave kits in for 8 weeks. You can't always do that. I'd remove them before she kills them.

 

[lelanatty]

if she is biting them she probably is not nursing them anymore, or at least that's what I would think. If the kits are large and healthy then it should be just fine to take them out and let them live on their own. In my experience kits are typically weaned and ready to be without mom by about 5 weeks but leaving them in until 8 weeks is just for good measure. that kind of aggressiveness would be a sign to me that the mom is being territorial towards the kits, as if they don't belong there anymore.

 

[iluvdutchrabbbits90]

I would take them away from her. I have a doe who is a awsome mother, but as soon as her kits are between 5-6 weeks she starts holding them down growling and humps them(she even killed a tiny little buck doing it) So i always take her babies off her at 5 weeks.

 

[Rosierabbits]

For the last week or so i have noticed my doe Polly being very aggressive with her 3 little girls. She grunts at them and chases them around the hutch and has also taken to nipping their butts
I have seen that behaviour once before when the litter was almost six weeks old but these babies are only 4.5 weeks and I don't feel comfortable separating them just yet. Things went really bad yesterday when i could not bring them out as it was raining and I found even tiny bite wounds. I left them out into the big run today and things improved but i am not sure how much longer she will last with the babies in the hutch.
if she keeps bullying her babies I am tempted to separate them soon but I am wondering if I should still make her nurse them. I am not even sure if she still does. They est and drink happily by themselves but i am not sure how much they still rely on their mum's milk. Any advice would be appreciated.

I have a similar problem it is my first time breeding and my 3 babys are being chased every so often by mom, we think they are almost 4 weeks and wondering what to do

 

[Preitler]

Oh, revived methusalem thread

Does your doe have a place to go away and out of sight, like an elevated shelf of decent size or a a part of the run seperated by a wooden board, where the kits can't? Sometimes the kits can stress a doe out by trying to nurse, that can be different from litter to litter.

 

[Rosierabbits]

I have a similar problem it is my first time breeding and my 3 babys are being chased every so often by mom, we think they are almost 4 weeks and wondering what to do

No sry almost 5

 

[Preitler]

A week more or less doesn't matter much, when they start hitting puberty it'll get interesting again. They would be old enough to be weaned and seperated, not ideal, but can be done in a pinch. I would try modifying their setup first though.

 

[Happy Hollands]

Please do not wean babies that young (as this can stunt growth and definitely increases stress), unless she starts becoming seriously aggressive. She should have a place to be alone and away from the babies if she gets frustrated with them bugging her (like a shelf to jump up on) and vice versa for the babies to get away for her (like a small hidey house). It is a possibility that she wants to breed, and is trying to mount / hump the babies, not hurt or attack them and you are interpreting her body language incorrectly