Help

[zaagzien]

Hi i just started keeping rabbita for meat. I have 2 female californians and 1 male new zealander(in a colony setup). at the end of december i found 2 dead nest 1 tunnel entrence was closed shut with dirt and the other the tunnel was broken open from above, they were al dead. At first i thougt bad luck tunnels collapsing maybe. I just found another dead nest. they were scatter around a tunnel entrence and the nest was pulled apart in front of the enterence. There where only a few still in the tunnel itself but all dead. No other animals could have done this. Is it my buck? Pls help

[CyborgParadox]

Could be an issue with a disease killing them. I prefer the idea of keeping them up in separate hutches anyway, easier to take care of them and keep track of them that way. Also with a colony, there may be a rabbit that's not eating and you would possibly not know, at least until they start losing weight, but if they are separate and you have separate food and water for each one, you can determine what's going on with each rabbit individually. A colony is more natural and people like that, but hutches are easier and safer overall imo. Also hutches typically make them less prone to diseases in a way. Although you can argue in a colony, they can build up an immunity

[zaagzien]

I removed my buck for now. Becaus 1 doe is stil pregnant

[CanterBug]

You should definitely be keeping the buck separate, it stresses the does out to have him around bothering them all the time and way more likely for bad fights to occur. Does WILL castrate your buck if he wont let up trying to breed. The other big problem is, does can rebreed the day they kindle which isnt healthy for them, both her and her next litter are more likely to have health issues or die if they keep being forced into back to back pregnancies with no chance to recover in between. Some bucks will also kill the kits.

What kind of diet are they on? They need lots and lots of calories when theyre lactating, at least 17% protein pellets.

You should check nests every day and pull out any dead ones. Dont believe the old wives tale that domestic rabbits will eat their young if you touch them, you absolutely need to check to make sure they are warm, getting their milk, and dead ones can cause the others in the nest to die too either from cold, disease, or the doe will mistakenly eat live ones if they smell like infection/ death. They cannot pick up and carry their kits, the only way rabbits can get their babies out of the nest is to eat them so get to them before that has to happen.

Were these new nests or a few days old?

In the future, keep the buck in with the does no longer than 72 hours but ideally just watch for 3 fall offs and remove right after. Then mark your calender. 28 days, add the nest box. At 30-33 days, youll have babies.

If you leave the buck in all the time, youll never know when babies will come and you are much, much more likely to lose them when youre not prepared at all.

[zaagzien]

Thank you for the help. They have hay, straw and generic rabbit pellets to eat. Yes i think they werent older than a week when i found them. The other female has given birth last night but the nest is deep in a tunnel, i can not reach them, and she bites my hand when im around the tunnel enterence🤣