I\'ve just had a decent look in my bunny\'s nest and at first we thought there was 3, then 6, now we\'ve counted 9 kits!
Will she need anything special to cope with high number of kits - she is a dwarf lop and I read that her average litter size is 4-5!
Thanks
Woah! Quite a good-sized litter for her breed type. (I\'ll bet she is a bit over-sized - those does do tend to have larger litters that their more diminuitive counterparts.)
I like to give my does a high protein calf pellet. (Brand names I can think of are: Animax, Calf Manna, Calf Maker, etc.) A teaspoon once per day should work well. Some of these brands come in a 25 lb. bag as the smallest size available. If you only have the one doe, perhaps you can find someone in the area who can share with you. Sometimes feedstores will offer certain feed in bulk, where you could buy just a pound or two.
Barring the availability of a calf pellet in your area, you could add a bit of wheat germ. The main idea here is that the protein needs a boost as well as the TDN (Total Digestible Nutrients - 70% as opposed to 55% for a maintenance diet). The fiber, for a lactating doe should be kept to no more than 12% (as opposed to 14-16% for diets geared towards growth and maintenance). You want the doe to take in more concentrates at this time as fiber takes up valuable real estate in the gut and doesn\'t do much for milk production.
Good luck.
Charlcie Gill
Zodiac Rabbitry
Astoria, OR
http://www.zodiacsatins.com
Thanks - She isn\'t very big for her breed but daddy was a flemish giant so I should have expected a big litter but I thought her body size would goven how many babies were born! doh, spot the amateur.
Anyway this is a one and only litter for this pair so thank you for the info I shall visit my local farm shop/stockist for suitable food.