Guess their age! Please?

[pullonyourboots]

Okay... in the past week and a half my fiance's grandmother who was like a mother passed away so between services and getting ready for the holiday we have been slammed! Everyday we go outside to feed the animals 3-4 times a day depending on freezing temps. Well we really didnt think the mating took for our female new zealand and since she doesnt go to the bathroom in her nesting box... we never check it. Well tonight my husband was filling their water and the female was out of the box and he noticed straw in the box moving! 11 BABIES!!! Covered in fur and all alive! We dont know when it happened though as this is our first litter. We thought we saw a couple eyes almost open so maybe close to a week? What do you think? If we dont know exactly... when should we ween them? I dont want to do it too soon.

 

[Bunnylady]

Eyes open at 10-12 days, weaning should never take place before 4 weeks. I'd say those kits look about a week old, give or take a couple of days. Your doe is an excellent mom if she's raised 11 to this point; congratulations!

Large litters tend to get more serious with food sooner; you'll probably find that these kits start eating solid food shortly after their eyes open. Still, weaning is a very stressful step. In a litter of this size, the individual kits grow quite a bit slower than the kits in litters of just a few, so these kits will be "small for their age" during the first few weeks anyway.

 

[Hens and Roos]

sorry to hear about your grandmother

as for the rabbit babies, the doe will let you know when its time. She will encourage the babies to start eating her food(pellets & hay) and teach them how to drink water. We have a litter that will be 4 weeks old on Dec 25th and they are just starting to come out of the nest box and nibble her food/hay, haven't seen them using the water bottle yet. In fact the doe will lay down right next to the food dish so the babies can sit on her and nibble to pellets. You want to make sure that they are eating and drinking fully on their own- we usually go out 6-7 weeks before moving the babies to a bigger area by themselves.