# so sick of dead baby rabbits!



## hillbillybaby (Jul 19, 2012)

I know that it is completley normal to loose rabbits when they are first born, and stillbirths and peanuts are inevitable but my last doe who i had to get rid of lost all the babies from all 4 litters she had with between 13 and 9 in each. my other doe whos last litter was 10 of which 8 survived just had a litter of 6 all dead not sure if they were all still borns or died early on , nevertheless dead by morning. I feel like this shouldn't be so hard! I really like the idea, and enjoy the mamas as pets and my family loves the meat but I can't deal with this much death, let alone its not worth the feed. any suggestions? or encouragement  my moral is rather low. ...


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## a7736100 (Jun 4, 2009)

Because I hate killing meat rabbits, dead babies are not so bad for me. I have no problem butchering them after they are dead but it's really hard on me to pick out one to kill. If it was not for some dead babies I would have rabbits up to and above my ass.


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## hillbillybaby (Jul 19, 2012)

they are dying when they are newborns not edible size of course


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## jolly rabbit (Apr 30, 2012)

sorry your having such a hard time, is mama not feeding them? its rough we just had our first 3 litters. started with 28 we are down to 18 in a week 1/2 and the last 2 we had to kill ourselves (leg deformed and infection from moms claws across the back) if mom isnt feeding try doing it yourself and keep the nest box out of her cage. i hold one of our does and my wife feeds 2 at a time! works well. hope it gets better for you.


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## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

If you went and bought a bunch of young unproven does then it's going to be frustrating. There's a reason senior proven does are worth a bit more and there are far fewer for sale. I was told to just write off the first litter from every doe and we've actually done pretty well not losing them. I've still put down 3 entire litters myself because I didn't want to hand feed from day 1 and lost countless others. Then you'll have a few does that never do get it right which you have to weed out when you are starting up a new herd. Eventually though you get a nice group of experienced does who can predictably pop out roughly the same number of offspring without fail and raise them to weaning. Then you have to perfect your weaning techniques since there are various problems that can arise there as well.


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## goatlady (May 31, 2002)

Could well be the high heat we have been having also. The doe not staying hydrated or getting overheated.


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## hillbillybaby (Jul 19, 2012)

she really isn't drinking much so the heat may be it. I dont know. I really thought this doe was a good one since her first litter was so healthy. I am in the market for a new mama, so maybe i will look for one that is a proven breeder, don't even know where i would find one ...do you think that the moms could have been inbred? our first one died with respiratory like problems along with her third litter that died around the same time they were around three weeks old,they all died once they reached a certain size. all her other litters(2) died within the first week.


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## akane (Jul 19, 2011)

Rabbits are regularly inbred with no issues. It's quite common to breed half siblings or offspring to parent. Most of the good lines of any breed have some inbreeding or as most prefer to call it, linebreeding. It's how you concentrate good traits and breeding random unrelated lines together can be just as frustrating because the result is random. Even 2 individuals that seem good can produce poorly when bred together. Breeders like the predictability of using partially related rabbits who have shown good traits. However done wrong you end up concentrating the bad traits and it's possible you just got some badly bred rabbits. You have to breed for health in order to avoid respiratory illnesses. You should not breed from rabbits who have suffered a respiratory illness because they will pass on that weakness. That's concentrating a bad trait. If you want your rabbits to breed well in the heat you breed the ones that survive and raise litters and remove the ones that don't. If you just give up and only breed when the weather is nice you will continue to get rabbits who can't breed in the heat. That's how it works whether you are linebreeding or outcrossing. You want to make sure the breeder you buy from has bred rabbits for the traits you need or you will have more failures.


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## hillbillybaby (Jul 19, 2012)

so i can breed one of my healthy does with the buck that fathered it?


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## jolly rabbit (Apr 30, 2012)

simple answer is yes, like akane said. if they are both "strong rabbits" you should not have any problems. but both strong and weak traits get amplified. then you end up with kids that look like prince charles lol!!! but seriously it is a very common practice the only people that look down upon it are people that dont raise or know very much about rabbits.


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## SFM in KY (May 11, 2002)

hillbillybaby said:


> so i can breed one of my healthy does with the buck that fathered it?


Yes, should be no problem if he has routinely produced healthy offspring and the young doe's mother has as well. You only start seeing problems if either of the parents have problems.

I have a buck that has been a consistent producer and I'm still using him on daughters and grand-daughters as well ... I'm getting litters of 6 and 8 (pretty average for Rex) with all of them surviving.

I will say with the extreme temperatures this year, I did lose several, the first time I've lost either adult rabbits or kits from heat.


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## arnie (Apr 26, 2012)

a7736100 said:


> Because I hate killing meat rabbits, dead babies are not so bad for me. I have no problem butchering them after they are dead but it's really hard on me to pick out one to kill. If it was not for some dead babies I would have rabbits up to and above my ass.


If you are loseing baby rabbits at butchering size "somthings wrong" .do you have wire floors in your cages ? If you have cocitice (bad spelling?) This causes the kits to die at about weaning age there bellies swell up and they die off and seem other wise healthy thee is medicin aviaable that you add to the water for a few days to elimitate this .it comes from dirt and manure build up in the liveing quarters ;that's why i'v asked if you have wire floors this eliminates places where this bacteria grows and once you get rid of it by medcateing it will stay gone. It just seem so much better to butcher and consume nice healthy meat than something that has expired for some unknown reason 
If anyone has a better method or idea let me knowas I'm ready to learn


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## jkmlad (Jun 18, 2009)

If you are losing your kits before 3-4 weeks, suspect a problem with mom and milk. Take careful stock of her nutritional needs. If the babies are being born dead, or right after birth, again; question mom's nutrition. Does she suddenly and drastically cut back on how much she is eating/ drinking? If so, read up on how to avoid this problem, and coerce her into eating almost anything... just to keep up her strength. I have used parsley, celery, and water with light corn syrup to help to maintain her blood sugar. Also, if you note that she (or any other rabbit for that matter) is leaving some of her feed in her feeder/ bowl, dump it every 24 hours in this heat and humidity. She may be rejecting the feed b/c of mold spores you can't see, but that can be fatal to her. If you are losing kits between 4-12 weeks, I would suspect enteritis. You can cut down on the incidence of enteritis by feeding a good quality grass or timothy hay (not alfalfa) Put it into some sort of a hay feeder to keep it from getting soiled/ ruined.


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## Old Swampgirl (Sep 28, 2008)

Sounds like disease, probably of the female reproductive parts, which coupled with the heat could be terrible. Clean all cages, disenfect well. Examine all private parts, both on male & female rabbits. Once a week, give apple cider vinegar, well diluted in their drinking water. And if possible, obtain some sulfa medicine & give in their water for 2-3 weeks. Read about diseases in the ARA book(s). Most vets will write you a script for sulfasalazine tablets which is cheap. Just crush pills & add to drinking water. Also make sure no varmints have been around your cages, expecially at kindling time. If does do not get better, get rid of them & get some new ones. Be certain to examing all new rabbits perenial areas very carefully before purchasing.


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