During this cold weather (and yes, I know it’s all relative, I live in the South. It’s cold for the South!), I have been bunking up rabbits two to a cage so that they all have someone to snuggle to keep warm. Generally I pair mamas and babies, or youngsters two or three to a cage, but I found myself with a spare male/female New Zealand White combo and decided to put them in together. They’ve been living companionably for at least three months now, and I figured it was too cold for them to breed (fertility really tanks when the weather is cold) so I wasn’t that worried about babies.
However. When I went out to the barn this Sunday, I noticed that there was white fur sticking out of the front of the cage and immediately assumed the worst; I’d smelled a skunk while I was milking that morning and feared that the fur was due to the skunk attempting to break into the cage. I’d had an incident with a possum trying to pull a rabbit through the bars of a cage, piece by piece, a little while back, but I’d caught him in the act and it hadn’t ended well for the possum.
I went to investigate and found what was clearly a nest! I’m very excited to have my first litter of meat rabbits!
Contrary to what you may have heard, it is important to take a look in the nest and, providing the mother is comfortable with you, you shouldn’t have any problems. Pet the mother briefly to make your hands smell of her, so that you are not introducing strange smells to the nest. By taking a look in the nest at the babies, you can identify whether any babies have died during or after birth, and remove them from the nest to keep it clean and sanitary. You should also remove any babies that are deformed, and cull.
Upon further inspection, I found nine little kits! That’s a good number for a first time mother – they are sometimes known to kill their first litter, or starve them to death.
I made sure that Momma had enough food, added some alfalfa to her ration, and stuffed the other side of the hutch with more hay. I’d managed to get a delicious mix of fescue and orchard hay from the feed store earlier in the week, and this is like bunny-crack.
I also started planning where I’m going to put my pasture pens for these babies when they are ready to go out. By the time they are big enough, probably around five weeks, the weather here should have picked up enough to allow them to go out, during the day at the very least.
My plan is to weigh the rabbits each week to monitor their growth, and to do the same with a litter I hope to follow soon: a NZW x Chinchilla mix. That way I can figure out which kits grow fastest, and which type produces the best meat to bone ratio.
I have a soft spot for the chinchilla and chinchilla mixes, and they certainly have truly gorgeous pelts, so if they prove to be the superior meat rabbit too, I shall be a happy girl!
My farm website is finally up and running again after quite a hiatus: you can find me at www.poppycreekfarm.com.