Evaluating babies at 4 weeks....

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tm_bunnyloft

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Some people say that if your Jersey Woolies balance at 4 weeks that they will as seniors as well. I looked over my 10 kits tonight to see what I think.

Culls for sure....
1 pointed white martenized. He is tiny and well balanced. He would make a nice buck for someone trying to make martens. But I have his daddy so don't need him.
1 black doe with long ears. I already have her mom who I want to replace.
1 pointed white long pinched ears.

that leaves 2 pointed whites with really nice hips and a nice rise with what seem to be well balanced ears. We will have to see what they weigh in another 4 weeks. I am a little worried about their size. One a doe and one a buck. Both of these will likely be for sale as I have what I need for pointed whites to use in my shaded herd for now.

the sable marten, seal, and 2 sables are all really well balanced with small ears and nice heads. They will definitely not be to big as seniors. They are tiny. Only problem I can see is they may be a slight bit pinched in the hips but not much. We will see how that goes as they develop as well. I will keep all 4 for now and see how they turn out.

I will try and get pics of them tomorrow. If not It will have to wait for a while.
I have a bunch of rex kits I have yet to share as well. oop :}

next evaluation will be in 4 weeks once we are settled in to our new home.
 
Sounds good. It seems that what I have at 4-6 weeks is what I will have as an adult. Except for my hollands and those heads, it's a pattern I can follow for everything I have here. I usually cull pinched hips, because I have a lot of it running in herd. But I have a really nice otter doe, and that truly is her only fault, she was well liked by the judges, so I am keeping her. There are so few DQs in Rex, I can be a bit more lenient with the faults.

At 4 weeks, I'm looking at bone, substance and type. Anything else that is a DQ goes out the door, no matter what else it has to offer. I put my culls in the meat cage at 6 weeks, and my keepers in the barn, and try not to look again till they are 8-12 weeks, when I cull for keeps.

I'll be looking for picts in 4 weeks, and hopefully one of the two does took, so I will have some of my own.
 
They are so slight that I think they are worth keeping because everything else about them is great. I do wish they were parallel like the pointed whites though.
 
Make sure you pick your keepers and then grow them out till they are 4 months. Those heads can take a long time to come in and they look very unbalanced for a while.
 
The kits I picked up are just at 4 mos. One still has a small head, with tiny ears (doe). The buck has a big head and a little body, he's small like his grand sire. Gonna put these guys on the table next spring.
 
Raven. I was going to sell her, but now I don't think so.

Next is Gizmo the sable martin. He was an impulse buy. I love sables but didn't want sable martins. Once I remove the martin from the equation I'll be fine, but right now all I have are otters, so that's not going to help.

The little otter buck doesn't have a name yet. I'm not real into rabbit names. He'll be looking for a home, since I have 4 other bucks.

I will have to go at it again when I find the new pack of batteries.
 

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In the pic it looks like a smoke pearl marten. To bad your not closer to Indiana. I could surely find a place for him here. :mrgreen:
 
tm_bunnyloft":1jg5jhdq said:
In the pic it looks like a smoke pearl marten. To bad your not closer to Indiana. I could surely find a place for him here. :mrgreen:


A smoked pearl martin would be much more gray in the face, like a blue rabbit. All three are molting there baby coats so there is a a lot of slate undercoat shining through. I tried to breed them, but they are so small. So I just left the pairs together for two weeks. I have no idea if anything happened, guess I'll find out.
 
Someone should be due this weekend, but since no one is nesting, I guess that's a no.
 
Don't be so sure. Both of my does waited until the day they kindled to nest at all. So maybe just maybe you will get kits soon.
 
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