Weaning Kits

I have a doe with five kits that are about five weeks old now (estimated).

The mother of the kits is a smaller rabbit with a leaner body, picture below, and the father of the kits is a chunkier white rabbit with a more compact body.

Can I wean the kits now? Or when can I wean them?

(Can post picture of kits if needed)

I’m sure you could wean them now, but the recommended time that I’ve seen is around six weeks. It’s easier for mom if you can leave her two or three babies for another week, to help her draw down her milk production gently. If you have them indoors where it’s reasonably warm, you can rebreed her two weeks before starting to wean. Otherwise prolly not, in IL. You don’t want new babies when it’s likely to get too cold for them.

In an emergency, like back-to-back litters, kits can be weaned at 4 weeks. If there is no good reason to wean now I would wait to at least 6 or even 8 weeks, personally I let the doe decide and just remove the bucklings at 12 weeks.
If you are worried about the does condition you can supplement her feed with 1-2Tbsp of oatmeal and Sunflower seeds (I just put some sunflower seed oil on her pellets mixed with the oatmeal). Introduce gradually over a few days.

About how to wean, what I've read it's better to go cold turkey than to drag it out. So, you've got two opinions on that now .

Preitler said:

In an emergency, like back-to-back litters, kits can be weaned at 4 weeks. If there is no good reason to wean now I would wait to at least 6 or even 8 weeks, personally I let the doe decide and just remove the bucklings at 12 weeks.
If you are worried about the does condition you can supplement her feed with 1-2Tbsp of oatmeal and Sunflower seeds (I just put some sunflower seed oil on her pellets mixed with the oatmeal). Introduce gradually over a few days.

About how to wean, what I've read it's better to go cold turkey than to drag it out. So, you've got two opinions on that now .

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After reading these replies I think I may wait until they are about 6 to 8 weeks, but because they are smaller rabbits.

Thank you for your input!

I take my babies out when I see they are eating pellets, hay and look healthy. Also when I notice my doe is sick of them and constantly not letting them feed. That seems to consistently be 5 weeks.

Scooter1A said:

I take my babies out when I see they are eating pellets, hay and look healthy. Also when I notice my doe is sick of them and constantly not letting them feed. That seems to consistently be 5 weeks.

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The kits are about five weeks now and are eating solid foods and even treats, and the doe is running away from them so I may wean them now.

Thanks for this input on this subject!

Transitioning too solid food i.e. weaning and learning there is such a thing as NO doesn't mean kits are ready to be on their own. Any young animal has a milkbar closed stage and a leave the house stage. They are not the same. Learning how to be an adult animal is way more then stop drinking milk. I find from what i see in my kits and what i hear also in other research that development to adult is longer then what we interpret as the mom seems done with them behaviour. So here kits stay with the doe untill 12 weeks easily (8 weeks at least) and does maybe lots longer. Seperating the boys is due to the risk of breeding their mom, not because they are annoying her. Human teenagers are annoying too, doesn't mean they are ready to live an adult life on their own. We just interpret the learning no fase as old enough to be without mom.

tambayo said:

Transitioning too solid food i.e. weaning and learning there is such a thing as NO doesn't mean kits are ready to be on their own. Any young animal has a milkbar closed stage and a leave the house stage. They are not the same. Learning how to be an adult animal is way more then stop drinking milk. I find from what i see in my kits and what i hear also in other research that development to adult is longer then what we interpret as the mom seems done with them behaviour. So here kits stay with the doe untill 12 weeks easily (8 weeks at least) and does maybe lots longer. Seperating the boys is due to the risk of breeding their mom, not because they are annoying her. Human teenagers are annoying too, doesn't mean they are ready to live an adult life on their own. We just interpret the learning no fase as old enough to be without mom.

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So even though the doe is not letting them feed at five weeks, they are not ready to wean?

my babies go into the nursery hutch right next to mom and dad. they stay together until it's freezer camp time at 11 weeks.

HeyHayHay said:

So even though the doe is not letting them feed at five weeks, they are not ready to wean?

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They are not ready to be without their mom. Even if they can do fine without milk by then. Most problems with health from transition to solid and leaving the doe come from us doing so too early. Weaning enteritis for one and other behaviour problems later on. Same goes for young cats, dogs, horses and so on.

"They eat pellets so they can be sold" is still common and those who buy such animals end up with problems (or they have good substitute parent animals to take over the learning to be adult stuff from). Biggest problem is that many don't recognize the later problems cause or even at all.

From what i saw with my lambs, they started playing with pellets from about 2-3 days old. Not eating them mind, just moving them around their mouths and out again. I see many ads claiming they really eat i.e. chew and swallow them then already. Not true, that takes 2-3 weeks easily and even then it doesn't mean they are old enough to wean since they eat pellet or anything besides milk. So no, eating pellets is not a good measure for when to wean in any mammal.

We typically wait until they are 7-8 weeks old to wean the babies off their mama.

HeyHayHay said:

So even though the doe is not letting them feed at five weeks, they are not ready to wean?

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You can wean them now, and they will likely be okay as long as they are kept on the same diet they've been on. In the wild, kits are sometimes weaned at 4 weeks so that the dam can raise another litter. However, a lot of people who raise rabbits like to wait for at least another 3-4 weeks, to wean at at least 7-8 weeks, for the general health and well-being of the bunnies.

I've weaned litters anywhere from 4 weeks to 12 weeks. They generally all do just fine; I haven't noticed any more problems with weaning enteritis or behavior depending on the age. In my barn, bunnies which were going to get weaning enteritis seemed to do so whether they were still with their dam or not. At least in my experience, it has more to do with genetics than anything (assuming they're being fed the same thing as the dam has been eating, which is quite important).

But... in my meat rabbits, which are the ones for which I have the most consistent data, the growth rates are definitely affected by weaning age, at least in the short term. We have done some unintended experiments as a result of breeding meat pen bunnies for 4-Hers. Until recently, the rule in Alaska 4-H was that each 4-Her had to own their meat pen rabbits by the time the bunnies were 6 weeks old, so that there was time to actually raise the rabbits (meat pens are typically three 10 week old bunnies). So, I'd sell 6-week-old bunnies to other 4-Hers, and my kids would keep others for their own meat pens. In a meat pen, the fryers are supposed to be matched in terms of color, which for us often means that the pens are made up of bunnies from more than litter. What we saw was that the bunnies sold at 6 weeks hit a distinct growth plateau after they were moved to a different barn, which meant they were smaller and less well-conditioned than the ones we kept. Those were left with their dams till the Fair, and never experienced a plateau, so they were bigger and in better flesh condition than the ones weaned at 6 weeks, even though they were all from the same several litters.

We know that the 6-week-weaned bunnies were taken care of well, and were kept on the same type of pellets that we use. We also know that some of those bunnies that weren't sold at auction eventually did catch up with the 10-week-weaned bunnies, so they weren't stunted forever. It could be that it was the change of barn that stressed them, but in my own barn, I also generally see a growth plateau when I wean rabbits. Interestingly, it doesn't seem to be directly related to age at weaning.

Here are charts of growth rates of two rabbits left with their dams as long as the charts cover (they're both does since I wouldn't leave bucks past 12 weeks). There are slight variations in the rates, but no distinct plateaus:


Below are three charts from rabbits born on 6/12 and weaned on 8/29, at 11 weeks of age. You have to pay attention to the dates since some charts cover much more time than others (the first chart doesn't extend past the plateau), but you can see that there is a distinct break in growth rate at exactly the time of weaning:

I've had to wean Kits at 5 weeks, one of my Does doesn't tolerate them after four weeks but I haven't had any problems yet