Small breed stillborns.

Question
In the past 3 days I've had 3 stillborn litters.  The Holland Lop kit was stuck and was already cold when I saw it dead sticking out with its head and front legs still inside.  The N. Dwarf had one dead kit and the Hotot had 2 dead kits.  

What can I do to increase the size of the litters from one and two to several smaller kits that can be born live?

Answer
Hi Tom,

That's, unfortunately, par for the course with Hollands and Dwarfs, and if your Hotot is actually a Dwarf Hotot, them too. It happens in my Mini Lops 1/100th of the time that it does in my Holland Lops, and in all honesty, that has to do with the more "natural" size of the Mini Lop rabbit. The human wish for a small dwarf rabbit is at the core of the breeding problems that occur in the smaller breeders.

There is hope: was this each does first litter? If so, rebreed within the next month, and the next go around will be better. This time simply "widened" them out and they'll be good to go next time.

Otherwise, there are a bunch of theories:

1) Genetics: keep only the does that have large litters (keeping does that have more in their litters and weeding out the ones that had smaller litters. Of course, keep in mind that the buck's sperm count has a huge say in how may eggs are fertilized, it's not just the doe)

2) Breed only does with very wide hips just for breeding. (They don't have the stuck litters like the "show" does do.)

3) Breed only in the spring and summer. (Rabbits naturally have larger litters during that time of year)

4) Leave the doe in with the buck for several days. The thought is that she'll breed more often and have a bigger litter. (Honestly, the doe only drops eggs once, if she only drops 3-4 eggs, the more breeding isn't going to do anything...but I will go with the fact that there is more sperm, and thus more likely that all of the eggs will become fertilized)

5) Feed the doe less; causing the litter to be smaller. (I argue that the doe's body provides nutrition to the litter first no matter how much you feed, so you really just hurting the doe, but I know one breeder that swears this saved his herd, so I'm open to being wrong)

6) Increase the doe's exercise toward kindling. (I can agree to this one, it will essentially make her stronger allowing for an easier labor. There is some further research being done by actual scientists on this theory. In cats, dogs, horses and humans, they have found good findings, but have not released anything regarding rabbits yet)

7) Breed to bucks with smaller heads. (This is definitely a plus for the smaller does. Of course, if you're trying to show, this presents the problem that the standard calls for a very large head. The question posed to you then is how much do you want to chase the standard in exchange for your herd's health?)

8) Schedule c-sections. (This is one time ordeal. The scar tissue that builds up on the dwarf breeds precludes them from being bred again)

Good luck! If you try any of the above, do let me know how it goes! Between us, hopefully we can find the answer.