When to start weighing

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CheleBelle75

CheleBelle75

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 27, 2023
Messages
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Location
Durbin, WV
Good mornin all,
I FINALLY have some meat babies in the nest. Some of you may remember I started off with a Rex pair (they still haven't produced). Since then I purchased an unpedigreed proven Cali buck and a proven meat mutt doe was given to me just because they didn't want to winter her. I bred that pair and have a litter of 7. Before I got them I purchased a partial pedigreed Cali doe who was about 10 months old and had never been bred. I tried breeding her to my Rex buck and he didn't get the job done, so when I got my Cali buck I bred the pair. Only had 1 fall off and she gave me a litter of 11. Lost 3 due to them getting lost in the front of the nest box and freezing. I guess they were still latched as mom was getting out of the box. I have been keeping track of their weights to ensure they all are gaining/growing well. My question is

When does it really come into play or shall I say matter as far as tracking growth/weight? Does their growth rate as newborns indicate growth rate til butcher? There are 2 days difference between the proven doe (7) and the maiden doe (11 but now 8). I am pleasantly surprised that the first time mom's babies, being 2 days younger and from a much larger litter, are very close to the experienced doe's litter in weights. I don't weigh the litter as a whole, I do track weights independently.

This is my first batch in 100 years (since getting back into it) and I have different priorities now vs then.
 
I have a rabbit breeding logbook (amazon sells them) with bundles of forms (on the breeding stock, costs, breedings done and so on) the litter growth record says : 4, 6, 8, 12, 14, 16 weeks weight of litter. Breeding records for the individual animals say average weight litter at 8 weeks.
 
Being an absolute beginner, I weighed my first 3 batches weekly.
Checked the sexes at that time also.
Someone on here posted a site that had free forms to download, with examples on how to fill them out.
Brick House Acres Rabbitry. That is what I use now. Still weigh individually, but start at 4 weeks. Then every 2 weeks after that. Each time you do total litter weight, and average litter weight.
I'm on litter 6 now, with one due on the 18th. (Mine are all meat mutts)
What the data has shown me is that, I need to butcher between 8 and 10 weeks. For me at least.
 
Lil Acorn Acres Farm said:
Being an absolute beginner, I weighed my first 3 batches weekly.
Checked the sexes at that time also.
Someone on here posted a site that had free forms to download, with examples on how to fill them out.
Brick House Acres Rabbitry. That is what I use now. Still weigh individually, but start at 4 weeks. Then every 2 weeks after that. Each time you do total litter weight, and average litter weight.
I'm on litter 6 now, with one due on the 18th. (Mine are all meat mutts)
What the data has shown me is that, I need to butcher between 8 and 10 weeks. For me at least.
Click to expand...
Ok. I will look into it. I just didn't know if the better growing babies tend to continually grow better or if everyone evens out.
 
Lil Acorn Acres Farm said:
Being an absolute beginner, I weighed my first 3 batches weekly.
Checked the sexes at that time also.
Someone on here posted a site that had free forms to download, with examples on how to fill them out.
Brick House Acres Rabbitry. That is what I use now. Still weigh individually, but start at 4 weeks. Then every 2 weeks after that. Each time you do total litter weight, and average litter weight.
I'm on litter 6 now, with one due on the 18th. (Mine are all meat mutts)
What the data has shown me is that, I need to butcher between 8 and 10 weeks. For me at least.
Click to expand...
Awesome! I just checked those forms out and that looks like a great way to handle things!
 
CheleBelle75 said:
Ok. I will look into it. I just didn't know if the better growing babies tend to continually grow better or if everyone evens out.
Click to expand...
My data has proven it does NOT even out. The big ones stayed larger than the rest. That's why my window to butcher is 8 to 10 weeks. The bigger ones make that 5 to 5 1/2 pounds at 8 weeks. By 10 weeks even the runts make weight. Usually.
 
CheleBelle75 said:
Ok. I will look into it. I just didn't know if the better growing babies tend to continually grow better or if everyone evens out.
Click to expand...
I have similar questions, which is why I weigh weekly, starting at birth. I handle them all frequently anyway. :)

That's probably why I have rabbits that behave like this...
Calypso on scale.jpg Been there, done that...:ROFLMAO:

So far, I've found that the variations in growth rates seem more related to the genetic lineage than the size at birth. I've had giant litters (12-16 kits) that of course start out smaller than others, but they've all pretty much caught up by butcher age. Sometimes the smaller bunnies in a litter end up the same size or bigger at butcher than the larger bunnies, and vice versa. Some of that also seems to have to do with the size of the grow-out cage and the number of bunnies in it; lower-ranking bunnies can be suppressed and grow more slowly, even if they started out among the largest (giving them their own cage, or pulling the dominant bunny, usually solves that). I have noticed some patterns relating to illness/injury/recovery over the years, as well.

I've also seen some very interesting details about growth rates among meat pen bunnies. Below are charts from my daughters' three meat pens last year. Unfortunately, they did not record weights until two weeks of age, but there are still some features about the profiles that I find quite interesting.

My daughters chose bunnies according to their perception of quality; the bunnies were assigned to pens the day of entry based on absolute weight and consistency of weights only (they were all black Satins, from three different litters, two different sires). These turned out to be the placings at both the 4-H show and the Open fair show: A=1st, B=2nd, C=3rd, so their judgments were corroborated by two different judges.

The charts are in columns; the first column charts are Meat Pen A, those in the second column are Meat Pen B and third column is Meat Pen C. (The colors indicate which daughter they belonged to.)
1708023823342.png 1708026205078.png 1708023894559.png

1708023851331.png 1708026231156.png 1708023919388.png

1708023872956.png 1708026269756.png 1708023965814.png

Generally, final size was related to genetic line, but not entirely (you can see who was related to whom by the ear numbers, which begin with sire/dam initials). It was also somewhat, but not entirely, related to the weight of the bunny at 2 weeks.

The thing I found most interesting was that the "best" bunnies (Pen A) turned out to have had the most consistent growth profiles (per the charts), as well as the overall highest growth rates, even though they weren't necessarily the biggest:

Meat Pen A weights 5.05, 5.03, 5.04
Weights at 2 weeks 0.10, 0.08*, 0.10
Growth rates 50.5, 62.875*, 50.4

Meat Pen B weights 5.06, 5.05, 5.03
Weights at 2 weeks 0.12, 0.11, 0.10
Growth rates 42.167, 45.909, 50.3

Meat Pen C weights 4.12, 4.10, 4.13
Weights at 2 weeks 0.09, 0.08*, 0.09
Growth rates 45.778, 51.25*, 45.889
*Note that the two smallest bunnies (0.08, 0.08) had the highest growth rates (63% and 51%).
Also note that 0.08 means 8oz, not really 8/100 of a pound.

That's a lot of data but not a very big sample, but interesting nonetheless. Incidentally, these weights are not actually typical of our fryers. The Fair show limits fryer size to 3.5 - 5.5lbs, so the biggest bunnies got left home. :)

Since every rabbit operation is different, I encourage you to weigh early and weekly and see what your rabbits' answer is!
 
Last edited:
Alaska Satin said:
I have similar questions, which is why I weigh weekly, starting at birth. I handle them all frequently anyway. :)

That's probably why I have rabbits that behave like this...
View attachment 39646 Been there, done that...:ROFLMAO:

So far, I've found that the variations in growth rates seem more related to the genetic lineage than the size at birth. I've had giant litters (12-16 kits) that of course start out smaller than others, but they've all pretty much caught up by butcher age. Sometimes the smaller bunnies in a litter end up the same size or bigger at butcher than the larger bunnies, and vice versa. Some of that also seems to have to do with the size of the grow-out cage and the number of bunnies in it; lower-ranking bunnies can be suppressed and grow more slowly, even if they started out among the largest (giving them their own cage, or pulling the dominant bunny, usually solves that). I have noticed some patterns relating to illness/injury/recovery over the years, as well.

I've also seen some very interesting details about growth rates among meat pen bunnies. Below are charts from my daughters' three meat pens last year. Unfortunately, they did not record weights until two weeks of age, but there are still some features about the profiles that I find quite interesting.

My daughters chose bunnies according to their perception of quality; the bunnies were assigned to pens the day of entry based on absolute weight and consistency of weights only (they were all black Satins, from three different litters, two different sires). These turned out to be the placings at both the 4-H show and the Open fair show: A=1st, B=2nd, C=3rd, so their judgments were corroborated bu two different judges..

The charts are in columns; the first column charts are Meat Pen A, those in the second column are Meat Pen B and third column is Meat Pen C. (The colors indicate which daughter they belonged to.)
View attachment 39652 View attachment 39658 View attachment 39655

View attachment 39653 View attachment 39659 View attachment 39656

View attachment 39654 View attachment 39660 View attachment 39657

Generally, final size was related to genetic line, but not entirely (you can see who was related to whom by the ear numbers, which begin with sire/dam initials). It was also somewhat, but not entirely, related to the weight of the bunny at 2 weeks.

The thing I found most interesting was that the "best" bunnies (Pen A) turned to have had the most consistent growth profiles (per the charts), as well as the overall highest growth rates, even though they weren't necessarily the biggest:

Meat Pen A weights 5.05, 5.03, 5.04
Weights at 2 weeks 0.10, 0.08*, 0.10
Growth rates 50.5, 62.875*, 50.4

Meat Pen B weights 5.06, 5.05, 5.03
Weights at 2 weeks 0.12, 0.11, 0.10
Growth rates 42.167, 45.909, 50.3

Meat Pen C weights 4.12, 4.10, 4.13
Weights at 2 weeks 0.09, 0.08*, 0.09
Growth rates 45.778, 51.25*, 45.889
*Note that the two smallest bunnies (0.08, 0.08) had the highest growth rates (63% and 51%).
Also note that 0.08 means 8oz, not really 8/10 of a pound.

So that's a lot of data but not a very big sample. Incidentally, these weights are not actually typical of our fryers. The Fair show limits fryer size to 3.5 - 5.5lbs, so the biggest bunnies got left home. :)

Since every rabbit operation is different, I encourage you to weigh early and weekly and see what your rabbits' answer is!
Click to expand...
Thank you so much. I probably will go ahead and weigh weekly. So far the first time momma, she is raising 8, at 1 week and 3 days old 3 are 6 - 6.3 oz, the rest are 5 oz- 5.7 oz.

I'm pretty happy with that.
Experienced moms litter of 7 at the same age are 3.8 oz - 5.3 oz.

New mom litter is 100% Californian

Experienced mom is a meat mix and sire is Californian. Have no clue about moms mix
 
CheleBelle75 said:
Thank you so much. I probably will go ahead and weigh weekly. So far the first time momma, she is raising 8, at 1 week and 3 days old 3 are 6 - 6.3 oz, the rest are 5 oz- 5.7 oz.

I'm pretty happy with that.
Experienced moms litter of 7 at the same age are 3.8 oz - 5.3 oz.

New mom litter is 100% Californian

Experienced mom is a meat mix and sire is Californian. Have no clue about moms mix
Click to expand...
What are the weights of the two moms?
 

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