OK ... I have waited to post this until I was absolutely sure about what happened. Up until recently I've had my does in a colony and my 2 bucks in pens inside the colony where everyone could see and sniff each other, but the bucks were separate.
Shortly after I bred 2 of my does I converted to pens. As you know from my other thread, Doe "A" had 8 babies a little over a week ago. We lost one in the first 24 hours but she's been an exemplar mom and the others are growing like weeds.
Doe "B" did not kindle.
5 days ago Doe "A" does something really strange. She starts building another nest. I'm thinking she's just gonna move her kits because I am checking on them once a day but she's not really acting stressed so I'm a bit confused as to what is going on. She never does move the original kits she had earlier.
3 days ago I found a newborn baby kit outside the pens in the hay under the cages. Thinking Doe "B" had begun to kindle I looked in her pen. No sign of a nest, no hair pulling, nothing. When I placed the kit in her pen she completely ignored it. I decided to take a chance that Doe "A" would care for it as if I left it with Doe "B" it was sure to die, so I placed the kit in Doe "A"'s pen, just outside the empty nest she'd made. Doe "A"'s kits were 8 days old.
Lo and behold, Doe "A" sniffed the kit and then immediately took the kit to the nest and covered it up.
I came back inside and did some looking around on the internet and found that there are cases of does carrying two litters at the same time (one in each uterine horn) but that usually: they miscarry the less viable kits during the birth of the ones they carried to term first; or they refuse to care for the kits that are born second; or the older kits trample the younger kits to death.
I was still not positive that this kit actually came from Doe "A" so I didn't post anything here.
Wwwwwwwwwweeeeellllllllllllll................
Fast forward to last night. Doe "B" starts hair pulling and nest building. This morning Doe "B" has 7 brand spanking new kits.
After a little conversation with GC this morning I find that he went out to take care of the critters one morning when I felt bad and a buck was out in with the does. Our best recollection is that this was just about a week or so after I bred my does the first time. I can cut him a little slack for not telling me because he knows NOTHING about rabbits and didn't know that 2 or 3 seconds is all a buck needs ...
So ... anyway ... It IS possible for a doe to carry two litters to term. How Doe "A" gave birth to her first litter and didn't throw this one and only kit is a mystery to me. Anybody have any ideas??
And as far as I can tell, if she is a good momma, it is possible that she will raise all the babies from both litters to weaning age ... I'll keep you posted on how that goes. Doe "A" still has both of her litters in two separate nests but the babies in the first litter are starting to hop out (and their eyes should be open in a day or so) so things are gonna get a little more difficult for her.
If Doe "B" wasn't a first-timer also I'd try to move that baby over to her litter but I don't want to rock the boat.
What an interesting couple of weeks it has been so far ... Wild, huh??
Shortly after I bred 2 of my does I converted to pens. As you know from my other thread, Doe "A" had 8 babies a little over a week ago. We lost one in the first 24 hours but she's been an exemplar mom and the others are growing like weeds.
Doe "B" did not kindle.
5 days ago Doe "A" does something really strange. She starts building another nest. I'm thinking she's just gonna move her kits because I am checking on them once a day but she's not really acting stressed so I'm a bit confused as to what is going on. She never does move the original kits she had earlier.
3 days ago I found a newborn baby kit outside the pens in the hay under the cages. Thinking Doe "B" had begun to kindle I looked in her pen. No sign of a nest, no hair pulling, nothing. When I placed the kit in her pen she completely ignored it. I decided to take a chance that Doe "A" would care for it as if I left it with Doe "B" it was sure to die, so I placed the kit in Doe "A"'s pen, just outside the empty nest she'd made. Doe "A"'s kits were 8 days old.
Lo and behold, Doe "A" sniffed the kit and then immediately took the kit to the nest and covered it up.
I came back inside and did some looking around on the internet and found that there are cases of does carrying two litters at the same time (one in each uterine horn) but that usually: they miscarry the less viable kits during the birth of the ones they carried to term first; or they refuse to care for the kits that are born second; or the older kits trample the younger kits to death.
I was still not positive that this kit actually came from Doe "A" so I didn't post anything here.
Wwwwwwwwwweeeeellllllllllllll................
Fast forward to last night. Doe "B" starts hair pulling and nest building. This morning Doe "B" has 7 brand spanking new kits.
After a little conversation with GC this morning I find that he went out to take care of the critters one morning when I felt bad and a buck was out in with the does. Our best recollection is that this was just about a week or so after I bred my does the first time. I can cut him a little slack for not telling me because he knows NOTHING about rabbits and didn't know that 2 or 3 seconds is all a buck needs ...
So ... anyway ... It IS possible for a doe to carry two litters to term. How Doe "A" gave birth to her first litter and didn't throw this one and only kit is a mystery to me. Anybody have any ideas??
And as far as I can tell, if she is a good momma, it is possible that she will raise all the babies from both litters to weaning age ... I'll keep you posted on how that goes. Doe "A" still has both of her litters in two separate nests but the babies in the first litter are starting to hop out (and their eyes should be open in a day or so) so things are gonna get a little more difficult for her.
If Doe "B" wasn't a first-timer also I'd try to move that baby over to her litter but I don't want to rock the boat.
What an interesting couple of weeks it has been so far ... Wild, huh??
Honestly, I'd heard of such a thing from my dad talking to rabbit breeders when I was a kid but I'd never heard of any litters actually surviving. The vast majority of the second fertilization were "thrown" when the first litter was born. The few litters that survived to see a second labor and birth the does rejected.
Possibly ...
