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If you don't handle the does on a regular basis wait until the kits are around 7 to 10 days old to handle them. If you plan on keeping any as breeders just make sure to handle them 2 or 3 times a week and pet them every day when you fill their feeder and waterer. They'll become comfortable with you very quickly. Mine even stand up on their hind legs and wait on me when they see me come outside. They like being petted and held.
I've never had any trouble handling the kits from day one. The does are used to being handled and don't mind me handling the kits. If you wait until the kits are old enough to leave the nest box on their own, i.e. 4 weeks, they will squeal and thrash around like maniacs. I had one break its back thrashing around like that when I first started raising meat rabbits. I handle all of my adult rabbits a few times a week. I didn't do that in the beginning but after being scratched by panicked rabbits more times than I could count I started handling them a lot more.
I also don't have any trouble with cannibalizing of litters except by some new mothers with their first litter. New Zealand Whites are worse about cannibalizing their first litters than some other breeds. I have standard rex rabbits and Black New Zealands also and none of them have ever killed any kits. About half of my New Zealand White does ate their first litter. The other half did just fine.
If you don't handle the does on a regular basis wait until the kits are around 7 to 10 days old to handle them. If you plan on keeping any as breeders just make sure to handle them 2 or 3 times a week and pet them every day when you fill their feeder and waterer. They'll become comfortable with you very quickly. Mine even stand up on their hind legs and wait on me when they see me come outside. They like being petted and held.
I've never had any trouble handling the kits from day one. The does are used to being handled and don't mind me handling the kits. If you wait until the kits are old enough to leave the nest box on their own, i.e. 4 weeks, they will squeal and thrash around like maniacs. I had one break its back thrashing around like that when I first started raising meat rabbits. I handle all of my adult rabbits a few times a week. I didn't do that in the beginning but after being scratched by panicked rabbits more times than I could count I started handling them a lot more.
I also don't have any trouble with cannibalizing of litters except by some new mothers with their first litter. New Zealand Whites are worse about cannibalizing their first litters than some other breeds. I have standard rex rabbits and Black New Zealands also and none of them have ever killed any kits. About half of my New Zealand White does ate their first litter. The other half did just fine.
