HAND FEEDING A LITTER

Hand feeding a litter is one of the most anxiety producing moments in a rabbit breeders life. If the doe dies during kindling, and you have no doe available to foster the young to, then you must try to hand feed the litter.

These are some tips I have learned on my own, from other people, and from reading rabbit literature.

Most often if you have a doe and you suspect that the doe is not feeding the litter, try holding the doe on your lap(you will need as many helpers as you can get) and let the kits nurse, I always let them nurse until they lose interest, or aren't hungry anymore, this may be 10 minutes. *Check the kits belly, if it is round and full, then you can keep holding the doe in this manner until either the doe resumes taking care of the bunnies, or else the bunnies start eating pellets (3 weeks). If the bellies are flat, and the skin is wrinkled, then the kits are not getting any milk, and you will have to feed them a substitute formula.

SUBSTITUTE FORMULAS