New Zealand Doe Giving Birth

Just before bringing home the New Zealand doe that I bought from a neighbor, I dropped by Johnny's house as it was on my way home. Johnny is the original breeder in our village whom I bought my initial breeding stocks. I asked him if I could use his New Zealand breeding buck to be mated with my newly acquired New Zealand doe and he agreed. We made an agreement that once the doe gives birth, I will give him one young rabbit as payment for the use of his breeding stock. So we bred this rabbit on February 06,2012 and she gave birth to 8 healthy kits on March 09, 2012. Unfortunately, one of pups turned out to be a runt. It was so small and was not proportionate in size that we all pitied it. The runt did not live long and soon passed away after about a week and we had to bury it. So now we have only 7 all-white pups left among the litter. The pups do a lot of sleeping but once the doe jumps in the nest box to do her feeding, all you'd see are flying feet and squiggling bodies trying to get the plumpest teat for their mother's milk. So if you are a first-timer in raising rabbits and she gives birth, do not worry if you do not see the mother doe feeding her kits. She does the feeding mostly at night or in the afternoon and it only takes her about 10 minutes to feed them and then she gets out of the nest box again. Here are the pups in their nest box sleeping it away, they're 1 week old when this picture was taken. I hope you enjoy the pictures of these New Zealand kits.