Sunday, August 13, 2006
Plenty Of Milk For All
Do you remember the shell game? You put something under one of three shells and then move them around, trying to remember which one has the object? Well, that's practically what I've been doing with kits these late few days. And it's a good think that I have kept good notes. Otherwise, I might have failed to keep my eyes on the prize.
So what the heck am I talking about? Making sure all of my kits get enough milk. I have a couple dozen kits in the barn right now. These will be my oldest juniors for the PA Convention so I want to make sure as many as possible make it and are robust. I'm micro-managing their feeding right now.
The first thing that really helped was that one of my does who had a dead litter on her first try insisted on feeding an empty nest box. So, I gave her Jo-Jo's litter for one feeding. Jo-Jo has raised babies, but has a slow start with her milk, so that worked out fine.
The next day, she went back in to feed her empty nest just about the time I found two different kits on the wire. Now the weather in August around here is very hot, but we've had some slightly cooler days - cool enough to be a problem for a nearly naked newborn. The newborns were chilled but still moving; the timing was perfect. A belly full of warm milk and a foster mother who stays in the nest box for a half hour was just the ticket for them.
On the third day, I had just one kit that was smaller than the rest of its litter. So I gave her that one.
Now Duckie, this doe I've been telling you about, is extremely flexible and hard to fluster. Once, when I was having trouble slipping the kit in beside her, I picked up her tail, lifted the back half of her body, put the kit underneath her, and put her back down again. She didn't even flinch! Talk about concentrating on the task at hand. I don't think any of my other does would have tolerated that.
Yesterday, I noticed that Markie is outdoing herself with her litter. She had five kits, but I found a dead one - with a belly full of milk. It may have been injured. But as fat as the remaining four are, it may have just exploded! Just kidding.
On the other hand, Jo-Jo's babies are okay, but not robust like I like, so I switched their litters for the day. It will be good for both litters. Those fat babies of Markie's do not need to be that fat. They look like toads. And Jo-Jo's could use a little insurance fat.
I also noticed yesterday that three of Gina's kits were indeed peanuts. I thought they were, but it's extremely easy to tell now. The last one was hanging on, but I expect it to be dead today, leaving Gina with only one. The weather is acceptable for one right now, but I hate to keep a doe out of production for one surviving kit.
So, when I go to the barn today to give Markie back her kits, I'll be adding Gina's to that group. And, instead of giving Jo-Jo's back to her, Duckie will get a permanent litter to foster - she's earned it. This will free up Jo-Jo to produce babies for Nationals. Since Nationals is so early next year, I will begin breeding for it next Sunday. Can you believe it?
Okay, back to milk. Andrew was teasing me yesterday about how tentative I used to be about fostering kits. I was so afraid that the dam would injure the kits. I used to be Vicks on their noses and hover. Now my biggest concern is keeping track of who is where.
To mark kits, I still use a permanent marker in the ear. I've tried other methods, but I like this one best. Last go round in May, I tattooed dots. The dots got huge in one kit and disappeared in the other (luckily, the balance of the litter was pets, so it didn't matter). My favorite color to use is green. As long as one itty bitty dot of green remains, I can tell which kit is marked. I tried black, but after awhile, you can't tell whether the black is part of the fur, skin, or the mark you made.
I've also used hot pink and, in a pinch, dark blue.
I do remark the ears daily for the first several days. By then, I think the color is well down in the pores - or the dam is tired of licking it off. I'm not sure which! But it tends to stay after that with just weekly updates. Once the kit is a few weeks old, I just mark the right ear so that there's not residue in the tattoo ear by the time I start showing the kit as a junior.
So if you are attending the PA Convention next February and see my oldest junior kits, you can remember all of the hullabaloo over feeding them as babies and see whether it was worth all of the extra effort.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry - “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design
¶ 9:28 AM
So what the heck am I talking about? Making sure all of my kits get enough milk. I have a couple dozen kits in the barn right now. These will be my oldest juniors for the PA Convention so I want to make sure as many as possible make it and are robust. I'm micro-managing their feeding right now.
The first thing that really helped was that one of my does who had a dead litter on her first try insisted on feeding an empty nest box. So, I gave her Jo-Jo's litter for one feeding. Jo-Jo has raised babies, but has a slow start with her milk, so that worked out fine.
The next day, she went back in to feed her empty nest just about the time I found two different kits on the wire. Now the weather in August around here is very hot, but we've had some slightly cooler days - cool enough to be a problem for a nearly naked newborn. The newborns were chilled but still moving; the timing was perfect. A belly full of warm milk and a foster mother who stays in the nest box for a half hour was just the ticket for them.
On the third day, I had just one kit that was smaller than the rest of its litter. So I gave her that one.
Now Duckie, this doe I've been telling you about, is extremely flexible and hard to fluster. Once, when I was having trouble slipping the kit in beside her, I picked up her tail, lifted the back half of her body, put the kit underneath her, and put her back down again. She didn't even flinch! Talk about concentrating on the task at hand. I don't think any of my other does would have tolerated that.
Yesterday, I noticed that Markie is outdoing herself with her litter. She had five kits, but I found a dead one - with a belly full of milk. It may have been injured. But as fat as the remaining four are, it may have just exploded! Just kidding.
On the other hand, Jo-Jo's babies are okay, but not robust like I like, so I switched their litters for the day. It will be good for both litters. Those fat babies of Markie's do not need to be that fat. They look like toads. And Jo-Jo's could use a little insurance fat.
I also noticed yesterday that three of Gina's kits were indeed peanuts. I thought they were, but it's extremely easy to tell now. The last one was hanging on, but I expect it to be dead today, leaving Gina with only one. The weather is acceptable for one right now, but I hate to keep a doe out of production for one surviving kit.
So, when I go to the barn today to give Markie back her kits, I'll be adding Gina's to that group. And, instead of giving Jo-Jo's back to her, Duckie will get a permanent litter to foster - she's earned it. This will free up Jo-Jo to produce babies for Nationals. Since Nationals is so early next year, I will begin breeding for it next Sunday. Can you believe it?
Okay, back to milk. Andrew was teasing me yesterday about how tentative I used to be about fostering kits. I was so afraid that the dam would injure the kits. I used to be Vicks on their noses and hover. Now my biggest concern is keeping track of who is where.
To mark kits, I still use a permanent marker in the ear. I've tried other methods, but I like this one best. Last go round in May, I tattooed dots. The dots got huge in one kit and disappeared in the other (luckily, the balance of the litter was pets, so it didn't matter). My favorite color to use is green. As long as one itty bitty dot of green remains, I can tell which kit is marked. I tried black, but after awhile, you can't tell whether the black is part of the fur, skin, or the mark you made.
I've also used hot pink and, in a pinch, dark blue.
I do remark the ears daily for the first several days. By then, I think the color is well down in the pores - or the dam is tired of licking it off. I'm not sure which! But it tends to stay after that with just weekly updates. Once the kit is a few weeks old, I just mark the right ear so that there's not residue in the tattoo ear by the time I start showing the kit as a junior.
So if you are attending the PA Convention next February and see my oldest junior kits, you can remember all of the hullabaloo over feeding them as babies and see whether it was worth all of the extra effort.
Laurie Stroupe
The Nature Trail Rabbitry - “Home Of Grand Champions”
Precious Pet Rabbits
Affordable Web Site Design
¶ 9:28 AM
