I have a litter of for meat mutts growing out (there were seven but three didn't make it). The mother is a ten pound NZW and the father is a six pound mutt, possibly part harlequin. The kits are seven weeks and a few days and are about a pound to a pound and a half each. Is this normal? It seems extremely small to me. They are being raised in a colony, but a small one. They aren't skinny, quite the opposite, they've always looked very well fed. Any advice on how to boost their weight or why they may be so small would be great!
why are they so small?
- Thread starter DarayTala
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Cattle Cait
Well-known member
That would be the Harlequin influence, right there. They're not very fast growers and don't have a lot of meat on them either. My commercial crossbreds are around 4lbs at 8 weeks. Might also be that they're colony raised too, idk. I raise mine in groups in big grow-out pens.
jollysrabbits
Well-known member
either buy a new buck or keep back a male to line breed and get more of the does bloodline, honestly I would just buy a new buck, any meat breed would make a good cross or purebred nz's
my harlequins by seven weeks are bigger than that... they are usually 3 lbs, and reach five pounds by about 14 weeks tops.
So it is NOT necessarily the harlequin influence.
the buck is 6 lbs...so you can't be expecting the kits to suddenly outshine him.
So it is NOT necessarily the harlequin influence.
the buck is 6 lbs...so you can't be expecting the kits to suddenly outshine him.
Well, I'm just gunna have to hope they put a bit more meat on them. I can keep them until about fourteen or sixteen weeks, but after that I'll need the space. I definitely will look around for a bigger buck. I knew they'd be smaller than their mother, which is fine. I was hoping for at least four pounds by ten or twelve weeks though. I'm guessing its unlikely they'll reach that?
it sounds like it is not a good match - I would get a different buck, or keep a son and breed back.
When I cross breed a 4 pound mini lop with a 12 pound AmChin doe about 60% of the kits grow well and look like meat rabbits, infact I had a magpie that was obviously the mini lops daughter who was the fastest grower in her litter of 5 and she was butchered at 9 weeks when she was over 5 pounds.
The other 40% are smaller, some as little as 3 pounds at 16 weeks. So it just depends.
