When your rabbit gives birth is an exciting time! The Rascally Rabbit has a few tips that can help you have a successful breeding outcome.
Meet our 6 day old holland lop kits
Mid February and we are successfully having litters of healthy kits! It takes some extra TLC, but you can do this!
Three days before kindling I brought Maybeline and Meadow inside and gave them their nesting boxes. I put them in an area of the house that is a bit quieter and cooler.
You can read more details here about tips to prepare for winter time breeding.
Give Your Kindling Doe Privacy!
If you happen to notice your doe is in the process of giving birth, please give her privacy. I know you will be so excited and curious about everything that is happening and how many kits she is having that it will be difficult, but really the best thing you can do now is leave her be and wait it out.
The birthing process usually only takes about 15 minutes, but I prefer to leave my does alone for 30 minutes to 1 hour to give them time to inspect their kits and go about the grooming and nurturing process. If you notice any kits that were not born in the nesting box, you need to immediately place them in it with the rest. They will help to warm each other. If they become too cold they will need to be warmed up immediately.
When you determine it’s time to check in on things and you notice your doe has a kit that has not fully been delivered yet, you may need to call your vet for assistance. Kits that are too large for your doe to pass have been known to become stuck and require veterinary help. This is why it is always recommended that you breed your doe with a buck that is smaller or the same size as her, never bigger then her.
Once you have determined your doe seems to be doing ok it’s time to check out this new litter and make sure there are no dead bunnies or extremely wet bedding next to them. If there is, just simply remove it from the nest box and dispose of it. Be sure to cover the babies back up with fur so they stay warm. Keeping them warm is the most important thing at this time. If there is any wet placenta or bedding of any sort next to the kits they may become to cold and this can kill them.
How Often Do Baby Bunnies Eat?
Your doe may not feed her babies right away. Be patient and let her go about her business with grooming herself, eating, and drinking, or maybe just resting! After all, giving birth to a squirming litter of kits is hard work and she needs her rest.
Usually the doe will feed her babies 1-2 times per day. You most likely will not see your doe nursing her kits because this usually takes place late at night and early morning. Don’t be shocked if you happen to come upon your doe while she is feeding and she immediately hops out of the nesting box leaving her squirming babies behind. The doe is only trying to distract you from the nest to protect her babies.
The first time you see the kits they will most likely appear skinny and wrinkly, but by the 24 hour mark I like to see the kits with nice round tummies and a little less wrinkly. The wrinkly skin should gradually diminish over the next few days as they begin depositing a layer of body fat.
If after 24-48 hours all the babies still seem very wrinkly and you have not noticed any roundness in their tummies at all, you may try gently placing the doe in her nest box over her babies and calmly pet her so she stays in place allowing the kits to nurse. Be very careful, and if she begins to struggle or panic, remove her so she does not injure her babies. If your doe is not use to being handled at all, this may not work as she may get too excitable and injure her babies.
You may want to invest in a small digital scale to track body weight from day to day if you believe the kits are not being fed. However due to them being so small, the gain will be in very small increments.
After 48 hours, as a last resort you can purchase milk replacer and small animal bottles to help supplement until the mother starts nursing her babies. This can be a very difficult and possibly dangerous task. If the kit aspirates (gets liquid into their lungs) they will most likely die. Since they are so tiny, it would only take one droplet of milk going down the wrong way to kill them. So this really should be reserved for last resort efforts to save a kit. I have had very good luck holding the doe in place for her babies to nurse.
It won’t take long for your doe to settle into a routine of feeding and caring for her babies. You will be shocked at how fast the kits grow and change in the first week of life. However, don’t beat yourself up if this first litter doesn’t survive, sometimes first time does do not care for her kits properly or flat out rejects them. There is only so much that human intervention can take care of.
The beginning stages of your rabbitry will be exciting and a learning experience. You can count on having a few upsets in the process.
I hope this has helped shed some light on what to expect the first couple of days after your rabbit gives birth.
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