Kit seems to stop growing at 3/4 weeks??

I have this one doe that generally has healthy, happy litters. In the past two litters, there has been 1 broken black and 1 tort live.
At 3-4 weeks (in both litters) the tort stops growing at 3-4 weeks. Just don't get any bigger. The broken blacks are fine, keep growing normally. The torts don't get any visible signs of illness. Kinda hard to describe, but their eyes seem to sink in, and they sit balled up. Don't appear to be in pain and when I pick them up, they are happy. They love to lick people, more then a 'normal' kit. They also are very 'typy'.

Never had this before, the first time it happened I just thought it a fluke, but twice from the same sire/dam? I have bred these two rabbits before and never had any problems like this. :? They aren't even related!

I haven't changed anything - feed, water - nothing! Besides these two cases, I haven't had it in the 8-9 years I've had rabbits

So what's up?

Hey Cedar Point,

I am assuming that for a good chunk of that 8+ years you were working with Holland Lops. (BTW your website is pretty cool, you have a nice organization up there). And I am guessing you've probably ruled out possibilities like the broken blacks are false dwarfs? And that it's these particular two rabbits that aren't growing compared to any other rabbit you've raised?

When you say they aren't related, do you mean in the sense that they aren't brother and sister? or specifically there aren't any common ancestors between them (e.g., they aren't cousins or uncle/niece)?

Am I correct in my interpretation of the situation: You've breed this pair only twice. In each litter there were only 2 rabbits, and they were a broken black and a tort. So we are talking about 4 rabbits in total?

Could it possibly be a coincidence? If I had a guess. That particular combination of rabbits might just produce some runty rabbits. And if you consistently bred these two you'll often get a rabbit that just won't get that big. The fact it happened twice in a broken black / tort combo is just a further coincidence.

It's not the most satisfying answer, but you could have just beaten the odds. Too bad it happened with rabbits and not a lottery ticket. I'm actually curious what would happen with a third breeding.

Yes, I've had Hollands from the start. And thank you!

In the first litter, I think the broken black might have been, sold her as a pet at 2 months so no further conformation on that. This litter I'm not sure yet.
It's only the torts that are not growing normally. The broken blacks grow normally.
They are completely unrelated. The buck is from a rabbitry 4 hours east of me

I have bred them 4 times in total, equaling 9 kits. The firs time the kits all grow great, actually kept a doe out of that litter. Second time she lost them to cold. And now these two litters.

I'm going to breed them again and see what happens. I got rid of a doe from that first litter that was just stunning, now I'm trying to get another one, lol. I keep kicking myself for getting rid of her!

Thanks for the extra info. It will be interesting to see what happens next time. Hopefully you'll get a good doe soon.