Maybe leave them with mom a week longer. The weather has been odd all over and they might need more time before being weaned.

 

Have you had your well water tested?

 

Only time we ever had diarrhea with our rabbits was when a water bowl got contaminated. Always use ceramic and make sure it is very clean, or one of those hanging water containers and make sure it stays clean.

Also how are you filling the water bowls? If using a hose that has been sitting in hot sun in particular, chemicals from the hose can leech into the water. Always run the hose for a good while before filling the water bowls.

 

Have a vet do a necropsy of one of the dead rabbits, it sounds like coccidia to me.

Coccidiosis is a disease of rabbits caused by a class of single-celled organism known as protozoa. Coccidiosis is caused by the Eimeria species of protozoa. Of the nine species of coccidiosis affecting rabbits, one affects the liver, and the other eight affect the intestines. Poultry and other animals are also susceptible to coccidiosis but are affected by different species. Older rabbits are more likely to be resistant and it is young rabbits that are most likely to be badly affected.

Of the eight species of coccidiosis affecting the rabbit's intestines, E. coeciola (found in the ileum and caecum), E. irresidua and E. perforans (both found in the small intestine) only cause slight growth retardation. E. magna, which affects the ileum and the caecum, causes retarded growth and diarrhoea. E. media, (found in the jejunum), may cause slight diarrhoea or constipation. Rabbits affected by coccidiosis caused by the Eimeria species E. flavescens (found in the caecum and colon) and E. intestinalis (found in the caecum and ileum), will show symptoms of weakness, weight loss, loss of appetite and bad diarrhoea. Both of these can be fatal, as can the rarer form of Eimeria, E. piriformis. Treatment is with sulfaquinoxaline.

Coccidiosis is spread through a rabbit eating the eggs (Oocysts) of the parasite which have been excreted by an infected rabbit. The oocysts can remain active for more than a year and thrive in warm, humid conditions. Common sources of infection are grass or green foods contaminated by infected wild rabbits.

Adult rabbits are often passive carriers of coccidiosis without showing any symptoms themselves. It can happen that a baby rabbit that is brought into a home where an apparently healthy adult rabbit is already in residence, develops diarrhoea, and the blame is laid on the place the baby rabbit came from or change in diet, when in fact it has picked up the disease from a symptom free carrier

from:
http://www.rabbit-information.co.uk/coccidiosis.php

 

I would suggest testing the well water too, though I would think it would have made the adults sick as well.

I would try to keep them with the mom longer -- 8 or 9 weeks at least. Early weaning may not be the problem, but longer access to mother's milk may help until you find the real cause. I would say parasites, but they would have to be getting them from the grow pen. Any chance you could put them somewhere else to see if it makes a difference?

 

Only time we ever had diarrhea with our rabbits was when a water bowl got contaminated. Always use ceramic and make sure it is very clean, or one of those hanging water containers and make sure it stays clean.

 

your adult rabbits are "symptom free" carriers who are infecting the babies. Treat them with sulfaquinoxaline. Very simple.

 

What is the reason for removing the babies from the mother? I would think that allowing the mother to feed them instead of hand feeding them alternatives would help. I am not judging just trying to understand why this is a practise. Breast milk helps reduce or eliminate diarrhea in human infants I would assume the same to be true with other mammals.

 

biggest reason that "begginers luck' runs out is because the cages need sanitized. I use a wire brush to knock out the solids and fire (propane torch or a campfire). just enough to heat up the germs. seems to help.

 

I would leave them with the mother longer, plus I would not feed any fresh greens but instead, use alot of hay in the nest. As the kits grow, they will nibble at the nest itself and will go onto greens easier, at 12wks.