Two litters in 2 months what do I do?

by Aimee
(New Zealand)

Last month my rabbit gave birth to 6 babies, sadly one died. I have 5 very healthy baby rabbits now. It was a surprise as we didn't know she was pregnant. She was with our male rabbit just before she gave birth that day. I went to fill up their water bottle and when I came back he was humping her. I separated them and when I came back later on that night I found she had given birth. We counted them and there was six but one was dead.

Then a month later she gave birth again but this time to 7 babies. She hadn't been with the male since before she gave birth to the first litter of 6. Do we keep the 5 older ones with her as well as the new 7 babies? Or should we separate them? The five from her first litter are five weeks and five days old and her new, second litter are two days old. What should I do?

****Karen Sez****
Aimee, we always house our bucks and does separately, and so don't have experience with accidental breedings. But, since in the wild the does abandon their prior litter in order to prepare for the next litter, I'm fairly confident it would be best to separate out the older kits, and let the doe do her job with her new babies in peace.