I'm so torn! Help me decide!

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Katduck

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Yesterday I posted about Sophia's litter and how I planned to keep a buck from one of these kits that was 1 lb at 3 weeks. They are pure NZW.

Today I weighed the sole surviving kit from Delilah. 8 1/2 weeks and it weighs 4lbs 11oz.
It's wasn't the only kit in the womb, there were eight. Six were stillborn and one died of an injury. It didn't receive more milk because I fostered six kits to Delilah so she raised seven.

Now I'm torn. Which one should I keep? Delilah is Vienna Marked like the blue doe in our picture so this buck could carry a blue eyed gene. If I breed him back to Delilah I might get large BEW rabbits. This buck also has a bit of color on it's nose and ears. The NZW is all white. This one is 1/2 NZW, 1/4 Cal & 1/4 Beveren. Could the size be from hybrid vigor and I wouldn't get that if I used him as a herd buck? If I keep the NZW I would get hybrid vigor with all but one of the does in my rabbitry. Should I even care about hybrid vigor?

Both bucks would only be related to one doe in my rabbitry. Delilah is bred to the same buck that produced this buck and is due on 2/19. I don't have room to keep them both and they will be replacing a 3ry old 1/2 NZW 1/2 Cal buck I have.

My priority is large meaty rabbits.

What should I do??? :gossip: What would you do??
 
do you want colour in your box?

if you want meaty rabbits with colour...go for the colour.
otherwise 'i'd do the white.

myself...I like colour and unpredictability in my meat rabbits
 
I think the best route to take is purebreds where the size is more of a set in stone kind of deal. You will have more consistent sizes in your litters where as crosses you can get a whole assortment of sizes due to the mixed background and you can't guarantee that that rabbit will make 10lbs or be a 5lb fryer.
 
Well I would like color, but I have color in other rabbits and I'm really trying to pick a buck that will give me big, fast growing offspring. I'll get color when I cross him with some of my does. But the BEW would be cool.

I'm leaning towards sending the 8 1/2 week old to freezer camp when he hits 5 lbs. Then I will watch the growth of the 3 week old. If he does better (and he probably will), I will keep him. If he doesn't then I still have a litter of crosses from Delilah due on 2/19 and hopefully this time I won't have the stillborn problems that I had with her first litter. I can always pick another buck from there if they are as vigorous. I'm in no big rush to replace my Buck. He still works just fine. Just planning ahead and wanted to increase the size of my offspring.

Kat
 
Bew is an awful colour to send to freezer camp I find. Their eyes are waaaay to human for my taste.

If you want to increase the size I would invest in a BIG buck. A single buck can really make or break your herd :)
 
Yes hybrid vigor is important, though normally its only at its best in the first outcross, and decreases when you cross the crosses together. REW's would be easier to kack than BEW's in my humble opinion.
 
I often wonder when people say DOA or still born if they really KNOW that or presume that as the babies are quite dead by the time they are found?
I have some lovely JW does who have had litters that die so shortly after birth I would presume DOA except I was checking quite often as I was warned one doe had had problems before ...
 
that's interesting you'd say that and I'm sure you are right generally
but I have had recent experience with both and most folks couldn't tell the difference I'm quite sure ... both were quite full looking, still warm etc
 
Sorry, my computer died and just got the new one up and running. I not an expert, but I do think the 6 were still born. They did seem big. It was her first litter. I really don't remember now why I thought that, but that was my strong feeling at the time.

I have come to the decision to keep the purebred for the reason I put in my above post. Also, since the purebred came from a sire that's not mine, it would be harder to create another litter if I changed my mind later. Today they are 4 weeks old, so I will weigh them again later on today.

__________ Thu Feb 18, 2010 11:53 am __________

I weighed the NZWs again yesterday. At 4 weeks they were 7lbs 4oz for the 5 of them, so that makes them just shy of 1 1/2 lbs each. Looking good!

__________ Sat Feb 20, 2010 2:03 pm __________

Delilah delivered her 2nd litter yesterday, 9 kits with no still born / dead! These are the cross breeds so I will watch to see if they grow as fast as the one that survived from her first litter.
 
Congratulations on the new popples!

:wbounce:

An average of 1.5 pounds each on your 4-week-old NZWs sounds very good to me, especially as the main growth spurt seems to come between 6 and 10 weeks. :D
 
I butchered the cross-bred buck that survived from Delilah's first litter this weekend. He was 10 weeks old and weighed 6lbs 7oz. There was not a lot of fat inside either! I hope her second litter turns out as well.
 
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