What Rabbits Do You Have? Show Off Your Rabbits Here!

[kacklinkelly]

Thank you chickadee - very informative.

update - after sexing the babies yesterday it appears we have 6 girls and 2 boys. We shall see as they progress.

 

[RedRidge]

Question:  Our kits will be 4 weeks old on Tuesday.  The doe seems miserable in the cage with them.  When I go to the cage to feed, she pounces on the door, bites the wire and attempts to scramble past me.  She got past me one day with a kit hanging on.  The poor thing slammed into wire under the door and fell off.  I put a milk crate in the cage to give her a place to jump up to but within 2 days the babies were able to jump up there too.  I was shocked. I took her out of the cage today and put her back in her single cage for the day.  It was too rainy to let her roam the yard.  When I put her back in with the babies tonight, she jumped all over the place when they tried to feed.  I'm thinking of weaning them on Tuesday for good (4 weeks old) They are already eating hay, pellets and drinking out of water bottles on the side of the cage.  6 of the 8 kits are really plump & active.  2 are active but just not as plump as the others.  My plan is to take mom out for the day tomorrow and monday.  Put her back in at night time and then take her out for good on Tuesday.  Your feedback is appreciated.  This is my first attempt at weaning. 

The earliest I will wean is 6 weeks, and normally not until 8.
Remember, rabbits only nurse their kits once a day. Separating and then putting them back only adds stress imo. Mom can handle the babies just fine. If it were me I'd leave the porkers till 6 or 7 weeks and then begin removing 2 every few days starting with the largest. This dries mom up gradually and gives the smaller kits more time to catch up. But there are many opinions about weaning rabbits, that's just what has worked for me. I've never lost a kit weaning this way so...

 

[BantamLover21]

Question: Our kits will be 4 weeks old on Tuesday. The doe seems miserable in the cage with them. When I go to the cage to feed, she pounces on the door, bites the wire and attempts to scramble past me. She got past me one day with a kit hanging on. The poor thing slammed into wire under the door and fell off. I put a milk crate in the cage to give her a place to jump up to but within 2 days the babies were able to jump up there too. I was shocked. I took her out of the cage today and put her back in her single cage for the day. It was too rainy to let her roam the yard. When I put her back in with the babies tonight, she jumped all over the place when they tried to feed. I'm thinking of weaning them on Tuesday for good (4 weeks old) They are already eating hay, pellets and drinking out of water bottles on the side of the cage. 6 of the 8 kits are really plump & active. 2 are active but just not as plump as the others. My plan is to take mom out for the day tomorrow and monday. Put her back in at night time and then take her out for good on Tuesday. Your feedback is appreciated. This is my first attempt at weaning.

If the kits are eating plenty of pellets and hay and drinking water on their own, and the doe seems fed up with them, then I would wean them now. I've raised two litters of rabbits before (with another on the way), and both times weaned the kits at 4-5 weeks of age. By that age, mine at least (and it sounds like yours, too) are hardly drinking any milk and their mother is miserable. I didn't lose a single kit weaning like this, and the does had no problem with mastitis.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend removing the mother and putting her back again. The kits are past, or nearly past, the age where they need to drink milk. The doe should be virtually dried off. If you remove her, she may not recognize her babies and may get annoyed with them or even attack them. If I were you, I would remove the doe permanently. Check her nipples every day for the next few days after removing her just to make sure there isn't a ton of milk or signs of mastitis there, but the kits and her should be fine.

 

[kacklinkelly]

Thank you both for your feedback.

 

[ShadyGroveFarm1]

I have dug under lots of fur into a nest that I packed hay into myself, to find whole litters of frozen kits. Cold most definitely is an issue, perhaps it is relative to the conditions that they normally experience.

I have also lost adult rabbits to cold, mostly dwarf breeds. It can be a scramble to try to keep enough water available to them to keep them eating enough to keep themselves warm.

I read on Three Little Ladies Rabbitry and it said that it is possible to use a heat lamp with the bunnies. I guess it cant hurt to try, worst thing that can happen is it doesn't put out enough heat and the bunnies still freeze, and I'll make sure the wiring is good so there is no possibilities of fire.

 

[Watermelon123]

Hi Shadow! I actuly rescue rabbits and I have 32 all together! they are all super crazy. My fav. is a big 20 pound flemish giant named eye. she is super smart and loves pets. She also has only one eye. Thats how we came up with her name; I know super creative.

 

[madforbuns]

Question:  Our kits will be 4 weeks old on Tuesday.  The doe seems miserable in the cage with them.  When I go to the cage to feed, she pounces on the door, bites the wire and attempts to scramble past me.  She got past me one day with a kit hanging on.  The poor thing slammed into wire under the door and fell off.  I put a milk crate in the cage to give her a place to jump up to but within 2 days the babies were able to jump up there too.  I was shocked. I took her out of the cage today and put her back in her single cage for the day.  It was too rainy to let her roam the yard.  When I put her back in with the babies tonight, she jumped all over the place when they tried to feed.  I'm thinking of weaning them on Tuesday for good (4 weeks old) They are already eating hay, pellets and drinking out of water bottles on the side of the cage.  6 of the 8 kits are really plump & active.  2 are active but just not as plump as the others.  My plan is to take mom out for the day tomorrow and monday.  Put her back in at night time and then take her out for good on Tuesday.  Your feedback is appreciated.  This is my first attempt at weaning. 

My first attempt too and my doe is also acting like this. At the moment they are in a cage in my dining room. I just leave the door of the cage open most of the day and they have enough room to get away from each other for a bit then all back in at night. Mum seems happy enough with this at the moment but I will be putting her back in her hutch outside once the weather warms a little.

My sister wants a rabbit now but my kids have adopted my little pair, was wondering when to re-breed? She will be taking 2 does or a buck and doe but neutering the buck.

My pair are a buck - Gwyn which is Welsh for white, and a doe Stacey. My kids are spiderman nuts and wanted to call them Gwen and Stacey after one of the female characters, however gwyn is most defiantly a boy!

The next ones are to be sold as pets. These will add to my breeding stock when they're old enough. Needto get my hands on some more rabbits then x

 

[kacklinkelly]

Madforbuns, I am smiling at the picture of your bunch playing in your dining room. We have the opposite issue where I live. Around May, we will be nearing triple digits here, so I brought mine into the house last summer to keep them cooler. My doe seems to have settled down the past couple of days. (she was almost doing a jig on the poor kits heads trying to get away from them) I've been watching her through the window and she seems more calm so I am leaving her in there for one more week. The kits are 4 weeks today. I don't plan to rebreed this doe for now. My other doe (her sister) is expecting in 2 weeks so we should have a nice size batch between the two for now. Sorry I can be much help with regard to the breeding back question.

 

[madforbuns]

Madforbuns, I am smiling at the picture of your bunch playing in your dining room.  We have the opposite issue where I live.  Around May, we will be nearing triple digits here, so I brought mine into the house last summer to keep them cooler.  My doe seems to have settled down the past couple of days. (she was almost doing a jig on the poor kits heads trying to get away from them)  I've been watching her through the window and she seems more calm so I am leaving her in there for one more week.  The kits are 4 weeks today.  I don't plan to rebreed this doe for now.  My other doe (her sister) is expecting in 2 weeks so we should have a nice size batch between the two for now. Sorry I can be much help with regard to the breeding back question. 

it's sooo cold here at the moment. And wet. I feel like apologising to my outdoors buns every time I go see them lol. With regards to breeding her again though I think I'm just going to wait it out and see when she's ready. She's done well for a first litter fair play to her so will be giving her plenty of time to recoup in case she has the full 7 next time or more! My sister can wait until Lily is ready x

 

[chiklee]

If the kits are eating plenty of pellets and hay and drinking water on their own, and the doe seems fed up with them, then I would wean them now. I've raised two litters of rabbits before (with another on the way), and both times weaned the kits at 4-5 weeks of age. By that age, mine at least (and it sounds like yours, too) are hardly drinking any milk and their mother is miserable. I didn't lose a single kit weaning like this, and the does had no problem with mastitis.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend removing the mother and putting her back again. The kits are past, or nearly past, the age where they need to drink milk. The doe should be virtually dried off. If you remove her, she may not recognize her babies and may get annoyed with them or even attack them. If I were you, I would remove the doe permanently. Check her nipples every day for the next few days after removing her just to make sure there isn't a ton of milk or signs of mastitis there, but the kits and her should be fine.

I had a doe ready to give up her kits I put dry powered milk in a bowl for them they were all happy the doe started to nurse and the kits got fat . Hey its worth a try . All my nursing does are all offered the powered milk some like it some don't.