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.

On Losing A Doe

Two days before our breeder does are due to give birth, we put in about 2-3 inches thick of shredded newspapers inside their nest box and scatter the rest of the shredded newspapers on the floor. As soon as the nest box is inside the cage, the doe will jump right in and would make a scratching motion as if she is digging for gold and everything would come flying out of the box. Then she would lie down to take a rest and get back with her mission of digging once again. Soon after, all the shredded newspapers strewn all over the floor would be gathered by using her lips and she would bring these back inside the nest box. Huh? Doesn't make sense but that's how it is and that's how it's always been with them. They arrange their nest according to their own design. So their next job is to pull some furs from their dewlap and put these in with the shredded newspapers inside their nest box. Then once they are content with their work, then they do what they do best, give birth to their litters. 

We usually breed our does by twos or by threes or sometimes even by four does at a time. The advantage of this system is that the does with a fewer litter could foster the kits of the other does with a bigger litter. So anyway, we were expecting these two does to give birth that night. The next morning, my sister-in-law Emy was wondering why one of the expectant does did not come out of her nest box whereas the other doe was already out and about. So Emy looked inside the box and found this Chinchilla doe stretched to her full length inside the nest box and was already dead. The doe was doing fine just last night when we fed her and we were expecting her to give birth that night.We do not know what caused her death and this is our first time to lose a doe in giving birth. There was no injury on any part of her body so we just assumed that she may have had a difficult time in giving birth last night. So we were all saddened by this loss. She was a very good breeder and we wanted to honor her life so we buried her in the flower beds in the garden.