Rex doe with new kits question

Hi, this is my first time on here so hopefully I am doing this 'right'. Anyway, I have started small with meat rabbits a several months ago and my doe just gave birth to 6 kits. I realize that does normally only feed their kits 1 to 2 times a day and usually it is at night, etc. I normally let my rabbits out of their cages into a larger very secure fenced area with a lot of trees, grass, etc. They stay out in this area for several hours a day. Now I would not let her out with the buck right now but should I keep her in her cage all the time since her kits are in there (in the nest box)? Or should I let her out a few hours a day in the big pen to get her usual exercise. Thank you so much.

welcome Abigail!
I would keep them together, personally, at the beginning while they're tiny, just in case (? weird things, the babies somehow move around and get uncovered, some animal gets in her cage, it's especially cold, etc), but I'm curious to hear what others have to say.

If I move a doe away from her kits, and she doesn't have access to them, she will get "huffy". I like to keep them all together until I see the kits out of the nest box a lot.

Nowadays, I keep the breeders on wire so the doe and kits are always together until I separate the grow outs around 6 weeks old. I breed the doe back at 4 weeks and so she ends up with around 2 weeks to herself before kindling. They get a break from May-September because it gets very hot and humid.

Thank yall for the replies. Right now only 2 of her kits have lived. This is her first litter and she did not pull any fur or make any sort of nest in or out of the nest box. She had them on the cage floor. I saw them right away and made them a nest in the box. I checkes on them numerous times and made some adjustments. The doe is very comfortable with me, and I was worried she was not going to make a nest since it seemed that way. Anyhow, as early as possible this morning I went out, knowing it may not be a good scene with this being her first little and all. I have warmed the 2 that are left inside. When it gets daylight I will try to bring them back out and see if she will feed them I suppose. It seems like there's not much to lose intervening at this point. I raise ducks and chickens and have learned far more through bad experiences than not, unfortunately, so I understand how it goes. Not holding out too much hope for these but if she can figure out how to care for them, who knows.

Abigail M Johnson wrote:Thank yall for the replies. Right now only 2 of her kits have lived. This is her first litter and she did not pull any fur or make any sort of nest in or out of the nest box. She had them on the cage floor. I saw them right away and made them a nest in the box. I checkes on them numerous times and made some adjustments. The doe is very comfortable with me, and I was worried she was not going to make a nest since it seemed that way. Anyhow, as early as possible this morning I went out, knowing it may not be a good scene with this being her first little and all. I have warmed the 2 that are left inside. When it gets daylight I will try to bring them back out and see if she will feed them I suppose. It seems like there's not much to lose intervening at this point. I raise ducks and chickens and have learned far more through bad experiences than not, unfortunately, so I understand how it goes. Not holding out too much hope for these but if she can figure out how to care for them, who knows.

I fill the nest box about half full of hay and the doe shifts it around and pulls fur. I had 2 does pull fur a week early this year and put the box in sooner than I normally would.

Unfortunately, you may not have a good mamma. See the thread here of my experience with one. It appears to be passed on and cannot be corrected in my experience and others commenting in this thread.

https://permies.com/t/272650/Meat-rabbit-kindling

Yes, there is certainly the possibility of that. She never has pulled any fur. I was expecting the babies and had her a nest box with hay but she did not do anything with it at all, had babies out on the floor of cage. But she is first time. I suppose at least one more try would be warranted. I am keeping kits warm and I tried to get her to nurse them in the nest. She was thrashing around so I had to hold her in my lap, which she was very calm about. I put the kits to her to nurse and found them some nipples on her. It seems like they nursed, they are super young so I have no idea how much they eat less than a day old. Probably not a lot I'm guessing, maybe just colostrum. Just giving them a chance. I wiped them and put them back in the nest which I am keeping inside since the others all died outside in her cage. I fully realize they likely won't make it. Will try again this evening as they will be 24 hrs then. Maybe more milk will come in. Maybe some instincts will kick in at some point. I dunno.

Abigail M Johnson wrote:Yes, there is certainly the possibility of that. She never has pulled any fur. I was expecting the babies and had her a nest box with hay but she did not do anything with it at all, had babies out on the floor of cage. But she is first time. I suppose at least one more try would be warranted. I am keeping kits warm and I tried to get her to nurse them in the nest. She was thrashing around so I had to hold her in my lap, which she was very calm about. I put the kits to her to nurse and found them some nipples on her. It seems like they nursed, they are super young so I have no idea how much they eat less than a day old. Probably not a lot I'm guessing, maybe just colostrum. Just giving them a chance. I wiped them and put them back in the nest which I am keeping inside since the others all died outside in her cage. I fully realize they likely won't make it. Will try again this evening as they will be 24 hrs then. Maybe more milk will come in. Maybe some instincts will kick in at some point. I dunno.

I can relate to your sentiment and trying to do what you can.

In the thread I linked, I gave the doe 3 chances if memory serves. Some early replies were that they would cull after the first bad momma indications but I wanted to give it another try or two.

Since we have more animals now and we have a couple years experience with the rabbits, I would cull right away. But that is just because I went through the experience of trying some alternatives to culling.

Your current doe/kit situation may end up sadder than it already is but follow your instincts, do what your conscience is telling you that you ought to do and you'll get some great experience from this time if nothing else. Time + Experience = Wisdom.

Please keep us updated.

Yes, for sure. I don't expect the kits to make it without mom being way more involved. I have had many baby animals die despite everyone's best efforts. Ducks, chickens, goats..all kinda sad but you are right. Wisdom. I also kind of see why some people with larger operations don't really look in the nest that much, it is kind of make it or don't make it. A lot is left up to the doe and if she doesn't perform, she goes. And I see that makes sense. It is worse in a way to try to nurse babies that likely won't survive than to just let nature take its course. I tried to save a litter of kitten last year and it was disastrous. This is so reminiscent of that...ugh!

I will just post this follow up in case anyone comes along and needs to make a decision. Maybe this experience could be helpful to someone and not wasted. So, I decided to let the 2 kits go. They were not going to make it, not going to thrive. When I saw there was no chance the mother was going to start caring for them (and previous replies did come to mind and help me come to that conclusion so thank you) I started following through this train of thought. Ok what if I keep letting them nurse on the doe and they somehow survive (super unlikely-I wasn't even certain the doe was producing milk). What if they survived though, would I keep carrying this out for all the weeks until they could be weaned? That would be absurd to do for meat rabbits. Maybe if they were beloved pets. It's unwise to become attached to meat animals. Yes, give them a quality of life that you see as suitable but beyond that, what is the ultimate point? I also learned, as I alluded to before, that interfering with the care of the litter  beyond something very simple like putting them in the nest, is not something I am going to do again. I have my jobs and the doe has her jobs. I can't do her jobs or force her to do her jobs. It's not a good road to start down, and this was a great learning experience. I feel we have a fresh start. I will plan on early spring for the next litter, and if this doe does not perform, we will move on to a new doe to replace her. Thanks everyone for helping me as I'm new to the rabbits. I read a lot of the other threads, and the information is valuable. -Abigail