[little blue]

 
We keep three related doe rabbits together in a large pen, with hutch stood inside.
The girls were "put to the buck" and because they decided to dig out a burrow under the hutch, and arent that happy being handled (I still have the scars from when Smokey was expecting & we didnt know!) we let them kind of get on with it.  just ensured they had extra food and nesting materials - hay, straw etc.
Smokey carried two litters & all but 5 died, or killed by her, so we didnt want to stress them out by interfering.

Anyway ... three little bundles of fluff emerged from underground a few days ago.
they had a run around, and nibbled grass, then returned underground or into the hutch throughout the day.
  the following day, my o/h found one of them shivering/shaking.  It was unresponsive, unable to swallow, and died by the evening. the second one died later that day, very suddenly it seemed.

this morning the last baby bunny we found dead in the plastic tunnel, it could be that it had been out all night.

Are we breeding weak rabbits?
Or breeding to killer mums?  Three from potentially three mums, one of who carried nearly 2 football teams worth of babies last year seems very low.

the stud is a dwarf, the mums "mongrels"  so its possible that "peanuts" (ie unviable dwarves) are produced... but I thought these died before reaching the fluffy stage.

any suggestions appreciated

[marie]

Don't take my word, but I did hear from someone that sometimes a female will have one lot of babies then even when they seem ok and are coming out, she will push them out of the nest and abandon them. This is called the practice litter and the doe will be ready to have another litter as soon as possible. I think that is what hapend to ours. Luckily we cought ours in time and were able to hand rear them. The mother killed 2 at 10 days old and we hand reared the other 3.

[little blue]

. This is called the practice litter and the doe will be ready to have another litter as soon as possible.

Do you mean she needs putting back to the buck?

I know Smokey rejected babies in the past - but they weren't even "fluffed" then....

[CameronS]

If it is only her first few litters then i would give her another couple of chances, very sad though it is.

i have found mothers tend to be better mums after about two litters. the first is usually horrific as you have described.

Good luck with your bunnies   

[little blue]

thanks Cameron

[Roxy]

Sorry about your little rabbits.  Such a shame if the mum does that with them. .I don't think I want to breed rabbits!!

Hope you have better luck next time, and doe is ok with the little ones.

[Hopewell]

We have managed to have two sisters both kindle together in a very large hutch and they reared them, but often does want their own space to have a litter. I'd try breeding them separately and if they still don't rear them then they aren't destined for motherhood. Some just aren't. If you really want something from them you can mate up a reliable doe at the same time and then foster onto her, but there is then always the risk of breeding the poor mothering into your breeding line. We had one rabbit that killed her babies soon after they were born. We persevered with her because she was an extremely rare breed at the time and we managed to get a litter away from her as soon as they were born. They were fostered and fortunately the offspring were better behaved when it came to their own motherly duties, but it was a big risk that they wouldn't have been.

[Plantoid]

Once mated separate the does into individual  hutches and provide a deep nest box  about 20 inches long , 12 inch wide with 12 high sides with a lid, make access by a six inch dia hole on one of the ends  that is 3 inches up off the hutch floor and line it with quality hay . I used to use 6 mm plywood to make my nest boxes & hinged ther lids .

 It could be that your footsteps caused the does to panic as their burrows will not have been very deep .
 
Does only feed the kits once or twice a day for a very short nervous period & have a tendency to get easily startled when feeding .
They are a prey animal and are static at this time so are pretty keyed up for scarpering at the slightest noise ,vibration or strange smell . )

Once startled they rush out or around the nest often with the babies still attached ,, they then fall off the teat .

If this is within the nest they usually crawl back into the heat of the  fur liningif they have not been damaged in the episode .  If they are in a rabbit burrow even only a few inches from the nest they sometimes make it back 
In a hutch away from the nest  they rarely seem to make it back.

One of the way commercial rabbit farmers  try and overcome this is tho use a fully covered nest box with an access hole as described .. the kits usually fall back into the nest as the doe knocks them off the teats when exiting the nest box.

 One thing we used to do was have a radio playing 24 /7 in the back ground and always whistle or sing as we approached the sheds and unlocked the doors .
 Frequently picking up the pop tune on the radio as we entered , we also used to walk along the rows of hutches and  feed a few strands of long straw/hay to each rabbit so they got to know us by sounds and smells.

 If you find baby rabbits out of the nest and they appear dead , don't initally give up , gently clean the baby off if dirty or wet and gently, cup it under your arm pit for a few minutes till it warms up , then look at it carefuly to see if it is moving if it moves reintroduce it into the fur of the nest... it often survives. If it is dead the motehr will either eat it to clean the nest or drag it out away from the nest.

The enclosed nest box also helps to keep the nest warm and stable in temp .
Spring time with the massive temperature fluctations is anothe killer the kits get something akin to a nasty cold and the runs & die from it.

Thinking about dead kits in another manner...  look up RHD , VHD and calcivirus in rabbits ( almost all the same thing ) it will kill youngsters as will fly strike from mozzies that are carrying Myxamatosis or the calci virus .

Make sure you burn any dead stock for the last thing you want is for flies to feast on the dead body and then come into the nest and infect the rest .
Always but always wash your hands well and disinfect them after handling dead stock and do it before going to the next animal . I used to use the hospital type antiscptic gels to clean up

Also check your rabbits for fleas .. they spread alsorts of diseases .. rabbit fleas are preventable and cureable.