The First Week of a Litter
Video: Rabbit kits in the nest box. This video is of the litter from Beans and Radish at 6 days old. Video taken 10/19/2025.
Radish is our herd buck and Beans is one of our does. Beans kindled nine kits this week. What happens in those first seven days decides whether a litter survives or not. People often imagine rabbits as easy breeders, but the first week is fragile and exact. Every hour matters.
When a doe kindles, the kits arrive blind, hairless, and completely dependent on heat. They cannot regulate temperature or move enough to find warmth. Their bodies are the color of skin, and their size is smaller than a human thumb. A good nest box makes the difference between life and loss. It is packed with dry hay or straw and lined with the doe’s pulled fur. That fur is insulation. It traps body heat from the cluster and keeps the interior near blood temperature even when the air is cold. Without it, the litter will chill and die within hours.
During the first twenty-four hours, nothing seems to happen. The doe leaves the nest alone. She nurses once, sometimes twice in a day, and it takes only a few minutes. People often think she has abandoned them. In truth, her absence is what keeps them alive. Rabbits are prey animals, and scent draws predators. By staying away, she protects the nest.
By the third day, fine hair begins to appear. The skin starts to darken as pigment forms, and the bellies round after each feeding. This is when it becomes clear which kits are strong. Any that remain flat, cold, or separate from the cluster are failing. Intervention rarely changes the outcome.
Day four through five brings more visible fur. The body fills out, and color patterns begin to show. The nest should stay warm and dry to the touch. A damp or cool nest means trouble, usually from a leak, poor insulation, or the doe’s inattention. A strong doe will rebuild the nest if needed. A weak one will not.
By day six, the kits are fully covered in fur and beginning to fill out. They still cannot see or hear, but their bodies hold heat more effectively. Movement increases as they twitch and push against one another during feeding. The sound inside the box shifts from silence to faint rustling. By day seven, the litter has survived the most dangerous stretch. At this stage they can survive short exposure outside the nest without cooling too quickly.
The first week is not the cute part of raising rabbits. It is the test of management, breeding, and instinct. A litter that makes it through this stage usually makes it to weaning. What happens after begins the next phase of work, growth, feeding, and culling, but survival starts here, in the dark, silent box that no one sees.
Rabbits are cute. Baby rabbits (kits) especially. So are chicks, lambs, and calves. It’s normal to see that and feel something. Liking animals is not the problem. Forgetting what they are is. These are livestock. Their lives have purpose, and that purpose includes us. Treating them ethically means keeping them warm, fed, clean, and calm. It means handling them with care, not sentiment. They are raised with intention and respect, not treated as a decoration or a toy. Cute is fine. It just can’t replace responsibility.