2 Litters of different ages in same breeding box

by Angela
(Dayton OH)

I have a doe who gave birth to 5 healthy bunnies about 10 days ago and unbeknownst to us the other female in the hutch was pregnant too. She gave birth 2 days ago in the same breeding box with the 10 day old bunnies. The newborn bunnies have just wiggled in with the older babies.


How should I handle this. I am not sure if the female with the 10 day old bunnies will let the other mommy in to tend to her own litter. At 10 days old are the bunnies old enough to remove and put in their own space?

***** Karen Sez *****
Wow, this is an, um, intriguing development! I am not sure what to say, since each situation somewhat depends on the personalities of the individual rabbits.

Were these my rabbits, I'd be sorely tempted to separate the does and their litters into two separate cages, each with its own litterbox.

However, your rabbits have been living together for a while comfortably, right? If they already get along, I wonder if each of them will take their turn in the nestbox and feed all the kits? This has worked for some breeders. You would need to supervise the babies carefully to ensure they are all being fed adequately, the danger being that the older, bigger kits would be able to out-muscle the tiny younger kits, which would go hungry and become starve-outs.

Another option might be to separate the kits into separate boxes, and then rotate the boxes into and then out of the cage. Perhaps each doe will feed both litters. Offer each litter two chances for feeding per day.

It would be helpful to learn how it has been going for you and how you've managed the litters thus far?!

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