4 Week weights are in! How do they look?

[Phacelia]

My first litter of home grown meat rabbits has reached four weeks of age, so I decided to weigh them today. There are seven kits from a NZR doe and a Creme d'Argent buck, and they have done great, so far. They seem to be a pretty good size to me, but I really have nothing to compare them to. What do you guys think? Here are the results (in lbs):

0.95, 1.00, 1.15, 1.15, 1.00, 1.05, 1.10

waiting to be weighed

 

[Marinea]

My last litter of eight NZ crosses weighed between 15.9 and 17.1 ounces at four weeks.

Your kits are adorable!

 

[ladysown]

normal size for their age, now weigh them at 6 and 8 weeks.

 

[Phacelia]

Thanks Marinea! I hope they start getting less cute over the next few weeks, as we are planning to eat them !

Ladysown, I will definitely be weighing them at 6 and 8 weeks. I'm guessing that will tell me a little more about their production qualities. I am planning to retain one doe from this litter.

 

[WhWRabbitry]

Phacelia,
I don't know anything about the appropriate weights - I just wanted to say they are adorable!!
This makes me think I should weigh my 4 week olds just for fun.
(I appreciate your comments on my blog! )

 

[HendricksHearth]

I already posted on your blog, but I think they look great and weights are fine. I'll be curious to see how they grow out. The NZR I used to have were smaller and slower-growing than my NZW on a pellet/hay diet, but I've been told this is more of a Georgia thing. I also found my reds were typically nicer tempered than whites and I love the color of their coat. Can't wait to see the progression!

 

[JessiL]

Cutie patooties! I don't normally weigh until weaning at 5-6 weeks, so I can't comment on size, sorry. Once they hit their growth spurt they should do 1/2 pound a week at least - Americans and Champagnes d'Argent can do that.

 

[Comet007]

They seem a little small to me, but maybe it's the mix. We've been breeding our NZR buck to two NZB does, and at four weeks (just looking at one set of litters) our smallest was 1 lb 13 oz, and the largest was 2 lb 5 oz. Ten out of 15 babies were over the 2 pound mark.

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However, I just looked at the size of the 4 week old kits from our does first litters, and the smallest was about the same as yours and our largest was 1 lb 4.6 oz. I believe that between the two does we had 22 live kits in the first litter set, and 15 made it to processing time. That was before we figured out a good supplement formula for any laggers.

It makes sense that the babies in their first litters would just be smaller - the same was true for our first second generation doe, her babies are in that same range.

 

[Phacelia]

Thanks for your input, Comet007.

Yes, this is her first litter. Also, the Creme is a slightly smaller breed than the NZ, so that could also play a factor.

 

[Comet007]

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised at the weights of the kits in the next litter! Congrats on the first one!