MARCH LITTERS...

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

We just got back from the barn and she had herbabies! It's 11:21 and we were down there for like two hours! Wewatched her birth them and it was so cool! She has a total of 6 so farbut she still might have more! I'll keep u updated and post pictureslater when the camera works!

 

[TinysMom]

Congrats on the babies!

Peg

 

[jil101ca]

I only took one pic of Big Sis's babies, shegets alittle excited when I poke at the nest and very worried when itake the box out. The one whose head you can see seems to be the runt,his little belly is not full. I tried to get her to nurse him but shegot very excited/upset with me. He seems to stay on the bottom of thepile. I'm hoping that he will stay on top where I left him. He is adifferent colour than the others, they are either pink or black, thisone seems to be kind of a purble/blueish colour and he is alreadygetting fuzz. Is his colour a bad sign? He/she seems wiggly enough

 

[TinysMom]

First of all, the bottom of the pile is the mostcoveted pile for all the babies. It is the WARMEST place and thehealthier they are - it seems like the closer to the bottom theyget. So let that little one get to the bottom.

I didn't count how many babies you had - sorry. I would take him out ina couple of hours and put him in a box or basket and have mama try tonurse him alone if she will. Do you handle your does a lot? If so -that will make it easier for her to work with you.

I like to put treats in the box with her - like fruit loops or freshlettuce or a carrot or something...something that will distract her soshe'll stand there for a bit and be relaxed so her milk will let downand she'll nurse.

Peg

 

[jil101ca]

She had 10, first litter.

I'll try him in a litle box with treats for mom in a bit. She does gethandled but is a little skittish since she had her babies.

I didn't know that about the bottom of the pile, I justfigured that the ones down there might not be able to get up to feed ifthe ones on top were pushing them down. Thats why i love this site,it's an ongoing source of info.

what about his colouring? should that be a concern?

 

[TinysMom]

What color are mom and dad? He looks like a tort to me but I don't know what they are.

 

[jil101ca]

moms is white and light gray and dad is a broken black. Off to see what a tort looks like lol

 

[TinysMom]

I'm guessing you don't have a pedigree that tells you what she is.

Hmm...based on this guy I'm wondering if she is a broken blue tort ( the dilute of a broken black tort).

Here are some tort photos:

Two different torts (notice the color variation)





tort babies

 

[TinysMom]

Here is a link to a blue tort rabbit - try to picture it broken (with white mixed in)..

http://www.ephiny.net/images/bluetortbuck.jpg

 

[calgal981]

Some times, despite our best efforts, the runtswill fail to thrive and will die. I'm a softie so I generallygive it my best effort. I have had good success with takingthe doe and turning her over so her belly is up. (I sit to dothis and hold her securely in my lap, with her head in my arm pit/sidearea, and one hand gently securing her hind legs away from the kit, sheis lying upside down on my lap). I will let the kit nurse for5 minutes or so while protecting it with my free hand. I dothis once a day to allow the runt to catch up. It has workedwell for me, but they always seem to be a little behind therest. I have still lost one or two this way, but have savedothers. I ALWAYS treat the doe with something special after shehas*allowed* this.

I sometimes think we fail to give God/Mother Nature duecredit when we attempt to intervene with their divineplan. The old saying that only the fit survive wassurely made for the wild animal to ensure that only those capable ofsurviving the worst would be able to continue the species.I'm pretty sure it is also the best for the domesticatedanimal as well. I just have trouble watching aweakling wither away. :sickbunny:

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

:group:Ok i have the colors for our kits!:

2 white (maybe BEWs or REWs

1 black

1 grey

1 broken

1 fawn

That's six! All the babies are doing fantastic and they have eaten.There seems to be no tiny runts and they are all big and healthy! Me,my friend and sister already picked the ones that we get to name andhandle and care for. :sunshine:

 

[blackdutch]

Yay! I've had three litters (how many times didI mention I have an 8-10 hole rabbitry? (there's two wire cages I coulduse, but I don't use, so that makes it 8-10)..

The "21" litter (born March 3) is doing pretty good..but theylike to pee on me. The mother is insane,this isher2nd litter (1st litter all died). She grunts in thecornerANY time the door is opened, she attacks the hay I giveher, she attacks her water dish, she attacks the food.. she'sinsane.I swear she came towards my face when Iwaschecking onthe babies.. I was like.. "AHHH!"

Today an unexpected litter arrived. I didn't get any pictures, causehonestly, when I realised there were babies I started balling and feltterrible because 1) we didn't know she was pregnant and 2) two wereborn out of the nest and they were dead. (I don't do too well with thedead ones.. I've managed to get other people to deal with the disposalfor the ones that die..Next time -hopefully- I'll toughen up)

I've pin-pointed when she must have got bred to a few days after we gother when she got out of her cage. I wasn't there at the time, so Ithought only her got out of the cage.. but right now.. I knowotherwise. There was buck with her. The good thing is, it is the buckwe planned on crossing her with when she got older. The bad thing is..well, two-three died. But that could be seen as a good thing because wehave way too many babies right now! But some survived, so itsallgood. And this is the black x chocolate, the black buckbeing the one that produced so many chocolates in the other twolitters. So here are the quick-infos.

Feb 27 - "Hooky" (Black) x Cuddle Bunnys Patch K8 (Black).. 8 kits born, all alive. 7 blacks and one chocolate.

March 3 - "21" (Black) x Cuddle Bunnys Patch K8 (black).. ? kits born, 6 survived (2-3 died). 4 chocolates and two blacks.

March 13 - Creekside's Cocca/GD5 (Chocolate) x Cuddle Bunnys Patch K8(Black) ? kits born, ? survived (2-3 died) .. hopefully chocolates andblacks.

But wow.. the numbers my rabbits are producing are amazing. "Hooky" ison the smaller side, and she had 8, "21" is large, and she had around8, and Cocca is large as well, so I'm expected a pretty big number (atleast 5).

These are some old pics of the Feb 27 litter - they are much friendlierand the mom is fine with me messing with them, so I like them muchbetter!

Young Pic:

Chocolate in Feb 27 litter (a few days ago)

A few days ago (note: chocolate nose!)

Sorry they are so big!

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

Wow! they're cute. So you had 21 in one litter?Our babies are doing great. they are 2 days old today and have alreadystarted to get their fuzz! We can really tell their colors and theblack seems to be an otter possibly. They like to squirm and jump andall so we have to be carefull. We took pics today but i g2g in fiveminutes so i can't post them, sorry! I'll just let you know: 6 wereborn, NONE died! Wahoo!

 

[blackdutch]

BlueSkyAcresRabbitry wrote:

Wow! they're cute. So you had 21 in one litter? Our babiesare doing great. they are 2 days old today and have already started toget their fuzz! We can really tell their colors and the black seems tobe an otter possibly. They like to squirm and jump and all so we haveto be carefull. We took pics today but i g2g in five minutes so i can'tpost them, sorry! I'll just let you know: 6 were born, NONE died!Wahoo!

Haha, noo! :shock:21 is what I call one of the does becauseshe really doesn't have a name and that's her tatoo number. (I'm reallybad about naming them, but I have little nicknames for all of them.)She only had about 9.

Congrats on the new litter, can't wait to see pics!

 

[BlueCamasRabbitry]

Oh ok good. Thanks. Yeah i'll try to get somepics uploaded when im online for a long time. my computer is so slow toload pictures and things! The babies are now 5 days old! Their gettingSOO big! Today we cleaned out the nest box.

 

[JAK Rabbitry]

I had a litter of French Lop babies born thismorning. 3 REWs, 1 Steel, and 1 Opal. I'm so thrilled, its' my firstlitter with something other than chestnut in it. I'm expecting2 dutch litters tonight and another Frenchie litter and an EnglihsAngora litter within the next 2-3 days.

The End.

-JAK

PS - no pictures yet. Oh how shameful of me.

 

[TinysMom]

bumping for photos of new litters / updated photos of earlier March litters .....

 

[JAK Rabbitry]

Ok so my dutch had her litter today. 1 blue andtwo blacks, or it might be 2 blues and one black, I dunno, she wasextra protective of them today. I kept getting raked and bitten andgrowled at. And there's one dead one and she wouldn't let me remove itso I had to go back later int he day and hold a shoe over the hole toher box so she couldnt' get in and remoe the baby. Boy was she ticked.Madder than a bull, that one. But she's a pretty good mom. She's just anut job.

My English angora was suppose to have babies due today or tomarrow.I've been trying to breed her for months. I have 3 people on a waitinglist. She didn't take the first two times I bred her. And So I openedher box to check for babies and there were four, and they were allobviously stillborn. 3 were tort and one was....blueish I dunno, Ididn't look at htem for more than like, 3 seconds. I have never been socreeped out in my entire life. Their eyes were open and so were thiermouths and their little black lidless eyes were staring at me and oh emgee it was some kind of horror film. She didn't even make a nest. Andwith angoras they shed enough anyways you wouldn't think it'd be thathard. I don't know if the loose wool all over the place was ahalf-hearted attempt at a nest or if she was just like '' frickingwinter coat....''

Has anyone ever had horror film babies like this? What does it mean?This was her first litter. She's almost 7 months old, I thought itwould be alright to breed her by now. Something she ate?

 

[TinysMom]

I have asked Pam Nock to check this thread the next time she's on.

JAK, I've read about litters like this but I can't find my book rightnow. I want to say it is genetic (like Max Factor babies but I don'tthink this is Max Factor..although it could be??).

I hope Pam gets the message soon as she is a WEALTH of information and help.

Peg

 

[pamnock]

JAK Rabbitry wrote:

I didn't look at htem for more thanlike, 3 seconds. I have never been so creeped out in my entire life.Their eyes were open and so were thier mouths and their little blacklidless eyes were staring at me and oh em gee it was some kind ofhorror film.

There are many inherited conditions that can cause the eyes to be openat birth. "Max Factor" is the one we are most familiarwith. The carrier gene was introduced to the US from Europeby a single Netherland Dwarf carrier. Homozygous Max Factorbabies are born with their eyes open and with twisted limbs.Any breed that traces back to "Max", the Netherland Dwarf, may carrythis gene.

However, the gene the specifically came from Max is only one ofhundreds/thousands of inherited disorders that rabbits maycarry. It is possible that each of your rabbits carries arecessive gene for this deformity. In some cases, the causecan be environmental (from medications). In other cases, theexact cause is unknown. If you breed the rabbits together,they are not - or have not been on any medications -and ithappens again, the cause is most likely an inherited condition.

It is unlikely that the deformities were do to anything the doe ate(feed toxicity)unless you are seeing similar incidences inother breeds in your barn.



Pam