Ideas of ID-ing kits in a colony?

[BC Belgians]

Next time around I want to breed two does at the same time, in case I want to foster kits from one mother to the other.

My rabbits are pedigree rabbits and some kits may go as breeding stock. If I have two or more litters in my colony style set up, is there a way to ID the kits? With my breed of rabbit, the kits will all look the same.

What about colored zap straps on the hind leg, like leg rings? Of course I would check them regularly as the kit grows until I can tattoo at 5 weeks old, at which point they would be removed. Would they or the mother chew them off?

 

[akane]

First problem to solve is how will you tell who's nest is who's? Many does do not go near their nest when you are around. Some will hang about and grunt some so you can guess that's probably the mother but otherwise there is no way to tell in same color litters.

You can sharpie the ears of the kits and just remark them as necessary. I think some have said it lasts up to a week. Silver sharpies have been recommended for dark colored kits and most anything would work on light colored kits.

 

[BC Belgians]

First problem to solve is how will you tell who's nest is who's? Many does do not go near their nest when you are around. Some will hang about and grunt some so you can guess that's probably the mother but otherwise there is no way to tell in same color litters.

Yes. Good point. Never thought of that. I could possibly see which nest each doe is building? My senior doe will probably go into the permanent nesting box she has used in the past. But then, again, she might find any new nesting box I add more interesting :? Oh dear.

 

[Dood]

I tattoo day olds when I foster kits over to other does. The most was 4 litters that needed marks and i used a dot, a vertical line, horizontal line and then of course a litter without a mark.

It has never interfered with their adult tattoos

 

[BC Belgians]

Thank you Dood! I was just going to add, colony aside, how people ID a foster kit in a litter if you breed a solid colored breed. Do you use a tattoo pen for the little mark?

 

[Dood]

Yes, I have an EZ tattoo pen

 

[WildWolf]

I have a colony set up, but haven't bred two does at once. You should be able to see them each building a nest, right? Although, be aware that either doe might grunt/"protect" the nest whether it's her's or not. Also, they might decide to kindle in one nest. <br /><br /> -- Wed Aug 13, 2014 5:35 pm -- <br /><br /> Or, could you breed them a couple days or a week apart? How close in age do the foster kits have to be to the other kits?

 

[ek.blair]

Or, could you breed them a couple days or a week apart? How close in age do the foster kits have to be to the other kits?

I was going to suggest this as well, I think up to a few days apart the kits would be close enough in age if you needed to foster. As long as you have does that kindle right on 31 days it should work. Then tattoo the ears if you foster, like Dood suggested.

 

[jimmywalt]

We had 3 REW lionhead babies. We had people put deposits on them a couple weeks before they were weaned. I use 3 different color sharpie markers (black, blue and red) and just put a tiny dot in the ear of each one. Then when they were picked I would write down the persons name and the color dot on a piece of paper. It worked great to tell which bunny went with which family.

 

[Bandits Bunny Farm]

What I'm planning on doing when we build my colony is I'm going to save my hutches to use kind of as a maternity ward, so they'll have the kits in the hutch (I'm going to put the does in the hutches on day 28) and when they have the kits, moms will be in the colony while I have the babies in the house, and then at night put mom and babies back in the hutch, until the babies are 3-4 weeks old, and then they'll be moved into the colony with the moms until theyre sold.

I'm planning on having 2 structures, one for the bucks and one for the does, and then when the babies are about 7 weeks, the bucklings I will put in the buck's structure. That way, (a) it'll be easy to tell which kits belong to who, (b) I'll have accurate pedigrees, and (c) ... I forgot what (c) was :lol:

 

[bantambunnies]

To tell the different nests apart, I have two suggestions: 1) breed the does several days apart, or 2) if your rabbits have white fur, try a couple drops of food coloring on the fur they're likely to pull. Then the nests will be dyed :lol:

Not sure if that last suggestion is reasonable or not.