CAUSES OF LOSSES IN YOUNG LITTERS

Disease accounts for only a small percentage of the mortality that occurs that firs week following kindling, and most losses during this time are due to improper equipment of feeding and management methods. Same cases may be due to the doe failing to produce milk, and you can diagnose these by feeling the doe’s udder to determine whether or not she is producing any milk. If she is not nursing the litter, the milk glands will be undeveloped and the young will be shriveled and wrinkled; if she is nursing them, the udder will be well developed and when the teats are stripped there will be evidence of milk. The well nourished young will be plump; milk may be detected through the abdominal wall depending on how recently they have nursed. If the doe has not produced any milk, it may be because the ration she received during the gestation period was inadequate in quantity or quality.
Does having a first litter often do not use the nest box, for a variety of reason, and have their litter on the wire. Does should not be culled at this point, but if a doe drops the second litter on the wire, she should be culled. A high incidence of this problem occurs with the first litter does. The use of drop net boxes helps to reduce the problem.
At parturition you will obtain better results by making it possible for the doe to be secluded and undisturbed. Many losses of new litters are caused by the presence of strangers in the rabbitry when the doe is due to kindle, by the presence of stranger cats, dogs, or the natural enemies of the rabbit such as opossums, rats, snakes, etc. these predators sometimes cause trouble in the city as well as in the country, and the even if they cannot gain access to the cage they may be so close that the doe can detect their presence and instead of going into the nest box to kindle on the cage floor. If she has already kindled when she discovers the presence of predators, in attempt to protect her litter she my jump into the nest box and because she is frightened will stamp with her hind feet and crush her young. The predators seek more food when nursing their own young and consequently cause more trouble in the rabbitry in the spring. Evidently they can locate the cage where a doe is kindling or where the litter has just been delivered by the scent of blood. The losses are more likely to occur a night, and the presence of the intruders may not be detected by the caretaker. The rabbits, however, generally give warning by stamping their back feet, and if this warning is heard an immediate inspection of the rabbitry should be made.