Techniques for Fostering Rabbit Kits

1 How to Foster Rabbit Kits Successfully

1. Why Foster Kits

A doe has only eight teats, so the number of kits she nurses should match. If a doe has few kits but plenty of milk, let her nurse the young of a doe with too many, no milk, dead, or mastitic — that is fostering. Large rabbitries also regroup same-age litters by size and strength for efficient, high-output nursing.

Fostering is tricky because rabbits have a keen sense of smell and a doe identifies her own kits by scent. If she smells a kit isn’t hers, she may refuse to nurse or even bite it to death — common. So use the right technique to avoid tragedy.

The aim is to mask the fostered kit’s scent so the nurse doe can’t tell it apart from her own, letting the foster or combine succeed.

2. Fostering Techniques

Good fostering meets these rules: move kits within a week of birth; keep the two litters within 3 days of age; and use a healthy doe with ample milk. The main methods are three:

1. Blend the Scents

Before fostering, let the kit pick up the smell of the nurse doe’s nest box fur and bedding to cover its own scent, mixing the two. Procedure: lift the doe out, place the kit in the center of the nest out of her sight, cover it with fur and bedding, and return her after 2–3 hours — fostering usually succeeds.

2. Change the Kit’s Scent

Lift the doe out, out of sight dab a little of her milk or urine onto the fostered kit, place it in the nest, cover with fur and bedding, and return her after 2–3 hours.

3. Confuse the Doe’s Smell

Lift the doe out and dab paraffin oil or iodine on her nose to dull her scent sense, then place the fostered kit in her nest, cover with fur and bedding, and return her after 2–3 hours.

After returning the doe, watch her reaction. If she rejects or bites the kit, remove it at once and repeat the method. If fostered kits are kept for breeding, record them so their bloodlines stay clear.

The above covers the key techniques for fostering rabbit kits and should help you.