Evaluating kits at two weeks.

[kwilds]

I have a litter of mixed breed (meat) babies that are two weeks old. I took them out for their two week weight check (I am currently working on an ambitious breeding project with my meat herd and taking pretty intense records!) They are hopping about now and I "set" them up briefly to see if I could get an idea of what they will mature like. This litter, although almost identical in colour, has a wide range of type - some long and low, some quite compact and sizes all over the board. This is great for me as it makes selecting for the qualities I want at this point much easier and certainly is not a surprise as they are a mix of several breeds. I don't expect to see any uniformity for several generations at least. My question is - how much can a person really "see" in a two week old kit? One of the kits I kind of liked based on size seems to be VERY flat through the hindquarter. That is currently a weakness in my herd so I am thinking he/she will be on the cull list for sure. Or is it likely just a growth stage that it will mature out of? The next one I took out to look at looks great growth wise AND stood up like a little pro and was much closer to the commercial type I am aiming for. At this point he/she looks like one I will watch . . . now I just need to figure out how to mark them so I can tell them all apart! In another week at the next weigh in I will have no way of telling if the one I picked this week is still looking great or if the "cull" one has changed! The sharpie wore off in three days.

 

[sunrise]

Try a surgical marking pen, you can get them on amazon. It seems to last a very long time. Seems to me I can pick out the kits I like at about 6-7 weeks, after that they get ugly for quite a while. Still experimenting to see if the ones I picked early are still good when full grown. I didn't take good enough notes of my early litters so that's super important. I know every line is different though.

 

[Zass]

At two weeks I can get a good idea of health and vigor. With harlequins, I can select for markings too.
But...I'm not always 100% confident on gender until the 6-8 week range , so I don't usually get serious about selecting future stock until then.

(Mostly edited for rampant typos.)

 

[EnglishSpot]

I've put toenail polish on kits toes to keep track of who is who.

 

[kwilds]

EnglishSpot, I was thinking of trying nail polish - good idea!

I am terrible at sexing young kits too Zass!