Emergency Delivery in the Rabbitry

It was a lazy Tuesday afternoon while I was using the computer when my hubby came rushing in the house and informed me that one of the does is eating her fur! He said that he tried to take the fur off the doe's mouth but she continued to pull hairs from her body. The first thing that came to my mind was "Oh my God! She must be ready to give birth". So we both rushed to the rabbitry and sure enough, the doe was pulling hairs from her body! The tuft of fur that my hubby pulled out of her mouth was on the floor so I picked it up and put in back inside the cage. Then I checked the breeding schedule that was hanging inside the rabbitry and she was due to deliver that day at that moment and to my surprise, it's not just her but two other does as well! The nest boxes were supposed to have been put inside their cages two days before their expected due date but we forgot all about it!

So it was like having an emergency delivery in the hospital, only this time it's for the does. We had to rush and cut up some newspapers into 1/2-inch wide strips to be used as dry litter for the nest box. As soon as we finished putting about 3-inches thick of shredded newspapers in the box, we put it inside the cage and the doe jumped right in and scratched through the litter like crazy as if she's trying to make a hole in the nest.  This is because she is trying to re-arrange the nest the way she wants it done so we just let her do her own thing. Whenever she jumps out of the box, some of the shredded newspapers would come out with her and she would patiently pick them up with her lips and put them back in the nest box again. Then she would pull out some more furs from her body and mixes it up with the shredded newspapers. When she is satisfied with her work, then she takes a rest knowing that her kits would be comfortable in the warmth of the nest box once they arrive.

Once we were done with one nest box, we started doing the same thing with the other two remaining nest boxes. It's really good timing because the second doe just started pulling hairs from her body too! The third doe was still calm and just laying on her belly. So that gave us enough time to finish the second nest box and then we did the third box. The next morning, the first and second expectant does gave birth but the other one gave birth one day behind. So everything is fine now, the does are doing fine and are eating well. I will take a peek into their nest boxes tomorrow to do some counting. I would have done it today but I didn't want to stress out the does so that could wait until tomorrow.