Slip up momma ...help??

Duckfarmerpa1

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I went out to check on the animals a bit ago since I wasn’t out today, being under the weather. I looked in on the baby bunnies and the momma and saw that the momma was all bloody! I freaked! I thought she had hurt a baby. I checked her over and it looked like her privates were bleeding. I started a thread thinking she was having female problems and that she might die. The kits are around 4 weeks...not old enough to live on their own...and I can do feed them kitten formula... Anyways, something made me look in the hutch....I suppose I wanted to see if there was a hurt baby. There were 5 kits...brand new. One dead. I’m dumbfounded. A few weeks ago my old farmer friend told me that rabbits can actually have old sperm, in them in them and do this...have a second litter like this. Of course I blew him off. This is the same rabbit that got pregnant by accident by he4 bonded buddy who was only four months. She fiddled around with the hay for two weeks...but I didn’t realize what she was doing at first.... it was probably four-five when I put the post on here about her playing with the hay, and you all confirmed, that, yes, she could be pregnant...separate them. I suppose, at this moment it doesn’t really matter HOW it happened...although, I would love to figure it out at some point. Now, what the heavens do I do? I have these six, very active bunnies hopping everywhere...and four newborns. She pulled a TON of fur. There’s so much it was spilling out all over...but, still, those babies aren’t safe. Plus, would she reject the new ones? I’m not even sure she’s done, she’s still bloody..but, perhaps she’s cleaning herself up. Do I take the older ones out? A few at a time, as not to stress them? Man, this is a mess. She is a fertile Myrtle!
 

Duckfarmerpa1

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I went out to check on the animals a bit ago since I wasn’t out today, being under the weather. I looked in on the baby bunnies and the momma and saw that the momma was all bloody! I freaked! I thought she had hurt a baby. I checked her over and it looked like her privates were bleeding. I started a thread thinking she was having female problems and that she might die. The kits are around 4 weeks...not old enough to live on their own...and I can do feed them kitten formula... Anyways, something made me look in the hutch....I suppose I wanted to see if there was a hurt baby. There were 5 kits...brand new. One dead. I’m dumbfounded. A few weeks ago my old farmer friend told me that rabbits can actually have old sperm, in them in them and do this...have a second litter like this. Of course I blew him off. This is the same rabbit that got pregnant by accident by he4 bonded buddy who was only four months. She fiddled around with the hay for two weeks...but I didn’t realize what she was doing at first.... it was probably four-five when I put the post on here about her playing with the hay, and you all confirmed, that, yes, she could be pregnant...separate them. I suppose, at this moment it doesn’t really matter HOW it happened...although, I would love to figure it out at some point. Now, what the heavens do I do? I have these six, very active bunnies hopping everywhere...and four newborns. She pulled a TON of fur. There’s so much it was spilling out all over...but, still, those babies aren’t safe. Plus, would she reject the new ones? I’m not even sure she’s done, she’s still bloody..but, perhaps she’s cleaning herself up. Do I take the older ones out? A few at a time, as not to stress them? Man, this is a mess. She is a fertile Myrtle!
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B&B Happy goats

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I went out to check on the animals a bit ago since I wasn’t out today, being under the weather. I looked in on the baby bunnies and the momma and saw that the momma was all bloody! I freaked! I thought she had hurt a baby. I checked her over and it looked like her privates were bleeding. I started a thread thinking she was having female problems and that she might die. The kits are around 4 weeks...not old enough to live on their own...and I can do feed them kitten formula... Anyways, something made me look in the hutch....I suppose I wanted to see if there was a hurt baby. There were 5 kits...brand new. One dead. I’m dumbfounded. A few weeks ago my old farmer friend told me that rabbits can actually have old sperm, in them in them and do this...have a second litter like this. Of course I blew him off. This is the same rabbit that got pregnant by accident by he4 bonded buddy who was only four months. She fiddled around with the hay for two weeks...but I didn’t realize what she was doing at first.... it was probably four-five when I put the post on here about her playing with the hay, and you all confirmed, that, yes, she could be pregnant...separate them. I suppose, at this moment it doesn’t really matter HOW it happened...although, I would love to figure it out at some point. Now, what the heavens do I do? I have these six, very active bunnies hopping everywhere...and four newborns. She pulled a TON of fur. There’s so much it was spilling out all over...but, still, those babies aren’t safe. Plus, would she reject the new ones? I’m not even sure she’s done, she’s still bloody..but, perhaps she’s cleaning herself up. Do I take the older ones out? A few at a time, as not to stress them? Man, this is a mess. She is a fertile Myrtle!

She should be able to take care of them just fine....if you have a doe who has a younger group of kits you could move the new ones to her to foster, if not then leave them all together.
 
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Duckfarmerpa1

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She should be able to take care of them just fine....if you have a doe who has a younger groups of kits you could move the new ones to her to foster, if not then leave them all together.
Oh, yeah...I have two does that might kindle this week? They pulled fur and then nothing....that would be ideal!!
 

B&B Happy goats

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Oh, yeah...I have two does that might kindle this week? They pulled fur and then nothing....that would be ideal!!
If you have the space in the hutch, place one of your wood nesting boxes on its side so hopefully the older kits will hang out there instead of on top of the newer kit. Just don't leave two nest box's the same way so your doe gets confused. Hope the new momma dosen't get overwhelmed....or you either....
Hey, I thought you were resting from the flu 😷
 

Duckfarmerpa1

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If you have the space in the hutch, place one of your wood nesting boxes on its side so hopefully the older kits will hang out there instead of on top of the newer kit. Just don't leave two nest box's the same way so your doe gets confused. Hope the new momma dosen't get overwhelmed....or you either....
Hey, I thought you were resting from the flu 😷
Oh..that’s a great idea..that hutch is 4’ definitely room...resting, but needed to see everybody...good thing I did!! So who do I move...the new bunnies in all fur, or the old bunnies....who are extremely used to their big box??
 

frustratedearthmother

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Let me preface this with "I am not a bunny mama" but have raised a few some decades ago. If it were me I'd take the older ones out. I think the younger ones would have a better chance - but again - I'm not speaking from experience.

I did find this on the "oh so powerful all knowing" Google-master:


"Thanks to natural instincts and capabilities within the genetic DNA of the rabbit, rabbit kits are fully able to feed themselves by 28 days of life (4 weeks). This coincides with the doe’s ability to bear another litter 31 days after the prior litter’s birth.

In domestic rabbits, kits’ milk intake is at its maximum at around 3 weeks of age and it tapers off between 4 weeks and 7 weeks. We call this physiological weaning.

Physiological weaning takes place long before physical weaning does, most of the time.

We know that rabbits in the wild physically wean their litters at 4 weeks of age or slightly earlier. This is because they are already very pregnant with their next litter and they simply abandon the 4-week-old kits in order to go off and dig themselves a new burrow. In this case, physiological weaning and physical weaning are concurrent.

At 4 weeks of age, all baby rabbits are more or less physiologically weaned at 4 weeks old, including our domestic rabbits, meaning they are eating and drinking on their own, and getting most or all of their sustenance by feeding themselves."


Just seems to me that if the older ones are able to take care of themselves that the little ones would have a better chance. :idunno
 

promiseacres

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I would keep the two litters in separate boxes but wean the older litter within the next week or so. At 4 weeks they should be able to eat on their own mostly anyways.
@Bunnylady any advice?
 
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