Giving 'em the Boot

[pfaubush]

I'm on a pretty intense breeding schedule. Breed back at 2 weeks, wean at 4. My question relates to the nestbox. I've been pulling it at 21 days. I've been reading in several places that if it's pulled at 2, the kits will grow faster and have a better chance at weaning (though I've never really had a problem with this). Can anyone attest to this?

When do you pull the box and why? What differences have you seen in pulling it at different times?

TIA

 

[Shara]

I pulled the nest box with my last litter at two weeks, because it was cardboard and I didnt have any new cardboard boxes. I put a piece of cardboard for them to sit on, but that was it. I was amazed at how much faster their eyes opened and they started moving.

 

[ottersatin]

I do not pull the nestbox before three weeks.
I wait till the kits are furred out with their eyes open [12 days].
I leave the nestbox longer in the winter.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[Shara]

Yeah, My litters seem to open their eyes about ten days, and MAYBE a day or two longer. *shrug*

 

[Miss M]

I pulled my recent ones at two weeks, because the kits were out and about and hardly ever in there. I replaced them with cardboard boxes stuffed with hay, into which I had cut entry holes large enough for the does. I left those in there another week or so, because it was cold.

 

[eco2pia]

Paula, why does what you're reading say they grow bigger? Is it that they are out eating solid food more?

I have always left them in nearly permanently, they are big sturdy furniture and the does like sitting on top looking down. I haven't ever been unlucky enough to have a messy doe use one for a litter box...knock on wood. Once they start kidling out kits, the box is nearly always occupied, I clean it between litters, in the week or two between weaning and the next kindle.

However, I would love to get those kits big even faster.