Hay stash?

Gary

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I got a new doe today. I was told she's had a few successful litters before. She is moving hay from area to another. Is she just making a comfortable place to rest in her new home? Do rabbits do that for any other reason than building a nest?
 

Gary

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She probably was at the place I bought her from. I bred her with my buck today, then let her in her own area in the coop. She's not pulling fur. I noticed her moving hay and I made her a nesting box but she's not using it. I thought maybe she was just padding up a place to rest.
 

Gary

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So she wouldn't do that for any other reason than nesting? Just wondering becuase I don't want to get excited for no reason
 

Baymule

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She could be nesting or she could be making it "hers". Either way, better to be prepared and pleasantly surprised or just have a lovely wad of hay decorating the place, than to be unprepared and her lose a litter on the wire. Keep us updated on her!
 

Gary

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Thanks. Could I move the babies into the box if she has them on the wire? Farm hand today told me not to mess with them or the mom may reject them. I hear different things from different people
 

Baymule

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I raised show rabbits many years ago, had a barn of a couple hundred. I handled the kits from birth, Especially if one or more was out on the wire. I warmed them up and returned them back to the nest. I fostered kits on different mommas. I never had a doe reject a kit because I handed her baby. Not one time.

That said, respect the doe. If she is nervous, growling or striking at you, it's rather obvious that she does not like you messing with her babies, so don't-unless you have to.
 

AmberLops

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Sounds like she is nesting! I do have one doe that does that when she wants to breed though...just keep a box in there and wait and see.
And it's perfectly fine to handle the babies. I handle mine the day they're born and every day after that :)
The old myth of mom rejecting babies is not true unless the doe is particularly over-protective or a bit crazy...ha ha!
 

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