When is too late too late?

I am pretty sure I have five bucklings whom will be 8 weeks old this next Tuesday. Three of them have furry ballsacks. :shock:

When do I need to separate these fellows?? Two will be sold this weekend and one more the week after. The week after that another one goes to my sister, in place of the one I thought was a buck but is a doe.

So, the doe is separated out in her own cage, but what about all the boys? They seem to be getting along just fine. When do the fights break out???

OMG I thought I had them all figured out; to find out I was so wrong is making me ill.

They would probably be fine up to 16weeks and some will actually get along as adults. Generally though I would separate no later than 12weeks just in case.

I have had fighting [and pregnancies] at 10 to 11 weeks, but usually 12 weeks is still OK, and the fighting usually starts out kind of slowly, so when you start seeing tufts of hair, - it is time to separate [I raise meat breed rabbits, small breeds sometimes mature earlier]

As I was laying in bed at 4am, I recalled that some of the threads didn't seem to indicate the ability to reproduce until about 4 months, but they're part Mini Rex, so that had me worried, but I calmed down. (Plus done is done as of this moment.) It was such a shock to see dangly bits on 8 week olds that I flipped their father over just to be sure of what I was seeing. Then I hit the sexing thread. You know there are only two good pictures on that thread to show what a doeling looks like? One is of a newborn and another is of a 6 wk old, everything else is boys.

Most of the kids will be gone by this weekend, so I don't think fighting will be an issue. Although my Paula (who was Paul until 3am) is lonely looking in her 24x24 by herself. I'll have to sort through when it's NOT 3am and see if there's a girl in there I missed.

@Syberchick.... our ratio of boys to girls is opposite!! I find that funny (now).

Thank you for assuring me, and thank you to all the fine people who make this site awesome.

EnglishSpot":3dx41iae said:

@Syberchick.... our ratio of boys to girls is opposite!! I find that funny (now).

Thank you for assuring me, and thank you to all the fine people who make this site awesome.

Click to expand...

That is a strange coincidence particularly since our litters were a day apart!

I keep rechecking my litter... especially now that the boy is much more obvious, I feel confident that the rest of them are girls. The one I posted and asked if it was a boy or girl (and was told probably boy), is a girl.

As I was inspecting one of my girls I was like, "OMG, did they get in a fight?? What are these crevasses?? Why are they parallel? Omg, did they get in a fight and someone get their balls bit out??" And then I realized my girl was a boy and I was playing with someone's bits. I checked their father just to be sure he had the same looking equipment. After checking most everyone, I noticed one of the newly minted boys was trying to mount Paul. I snatched her up and flipped her and there was no dangly bits anywhere and he's (now she's) one of the biggest rabbits of the babies.

This is too hard on a woman at 3am!!!

If it makes either of you feel better, sexing is one of the harder things to learn on young kits. I know my first litter I'm 90% sure looking back I sold a buck as a doe.

The good news is it get easier as you get more experience. I now can tell on kits that are a few days old what they'll likely be with about 90% accuracy. (Though I tell my customers nothing is set in stone until 6 weeks)

The almost concerning part is you'll be an expert at looking at bunny parts!

But hey, the more in depth I get wih this rabbit thing the more I'm convinced we're all a bit loopy to be slaves to these furry, long eared things that usually even if unintentionally scratch and bite and keep us up all night worrying anyway! (I say as I'm trying to arrange pick up for a new doe!!)

Thank you for the encouragement!!

I have 18 kits who are now 2 weeks old to practice on. Let's hope my boy/girl ratio isn't as skewed this time!!!

Question---if these kits don't have hairy dangly bits at this point, are they girls?? Or are they undescended testicles, since every body matures at a different rate? I've got the stem popping up for these 'uncertains'.

Dang it, we need pictures of doelings!!

Best I can do would be pictures of either 13 day old does, which are dwarfs and my camera probably wouldn't even focus on, or a 9 week old. I can get pics later this morning if it helps. I like otter satin's satin of "stovepipe = buck, taco = doe" it does kind of help!

I've had bucks not drop until 12 weeks before on some of the slower maturing breeds, so unless you can identify parts I wouldn't automatically assume no 'dangly bits,' as you put it, means that they're does.

EnglishSpot":1lkh22wu said:

Thank you for the encouragement!!

I have 18 kits who are now 2 weeks old to practice on. Let's hope my boy/girl ratio isn't as skewed this time!!!

Question---if these kits don't have hairy dangly bits at this point, are they girls?? Or are they undescended testicles, since every body matures at a different rate? I've got the stem popping up for these 'uncertains'.

Dang it, we need pictures of doelings!!

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All Does.... at 2wks






Oh, and fyi- my one buckling does not appear to have any 'dangly' bits at 7wks old. But he's very obviously a buck when you look at his bits.

Now I've got to tidy up the bunny birth certificates that are going out with my sold kits this weekend. Mustache, Jet (previously Jenny), and Henry. I'll post Paula on CL today. Rocket (previously Roxy) doesn't have any reserves yet. Blinkers is now going south to my sister's to be herd sire.

EnglishSpot":1m3cl50a said:

Now I've got to tidy up the bunny birth certificates that are going out with my sold kits this weekend. Mustache, Jet (previously Jenny), and Henry. I'll post Paula on CL today. Rocket (previously Roxy) doesn't have any reserves yet. Blinkers is now going south to my sister's to be herd sire.

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I thought you were holding onto Blinkers!! He's adorable
So you had THREE gender mixups? o.0

How I sex buns is I look for either a "leaf" or a "twig" at 2 weeks on. I have a 95%+ accuracy so far. The Does will have a "leaf" while the "twigs" will be the bucks.

Sagebrush":qemewsty said:

How I sex buns is I look for either a "leaf" or a "twig" at 2 weeks on. I have a 95%+ accuracy so far. The Does will have a "leaf" while the "twigs" will be the bucks.

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Yup, that helped me when I was sexing mine. Those three posted above are 'leafs'.

Littermate bucks left in a cage can/will get along for a good length of time.
Move them, change them, all H### breaks loose. Does aren't that much better.

grumpy.