Ok to wean these suckers?

[DaytonHillRabbits]

Hey all! My first litter are now 4 weeks old, and all six made it. All are big, healthy and bouncing around exploring their mother's cage like crazy. They are eating and drinking on their own now and don't spend much time that I can see nursing (mind you I know they don't nurse often so that's not really relevant). Mother spends a lot of her time with her bum wedged into the box's hole trying to keep the pesky buggers inside and off of her. She is a pit dragged down I'm thinking.. could stand to gain some weight and I would like to give her another try soon.. so.. is 4 weeks way too early to wean these kits? I plan to bring them all inside the house to better socialize them and get them ready for their new homes in 2-3 weeks time, so they won't be cold. What are y'alls thoughts?

 

[Susie570]

I know people DO wean kits at 4 weeks, but I've heard of a lot of problems with weaning enteritis and, I believe, their chance of getting enteritis increases if they are weaned early. Can you give the momma something to hop up on and get away from the kits?

 

[EnglishSpot]

You could always move the mom to new quarters and come back for "visits". I weaned at 4 weeks, but I rotated 2-3 kits in with her daily for awhile, since I didn't want to set her up for mastitis.

Setting up a place mom can jump up and get away is also great, since by the time the kids figure out how to jump up there, they aren't as pesky.

 

[DaytonHillRabbits]

Is enteritis fatal? I have heard it mentioned before but never really saw that there was a real cause... just that some kits seem to fail around weaning time.. freaks me out, the entire litter survived this first timer's first go at being a mom, all big healthy babies.. I'd hate to lose one now..

 

[Zass]

Yes, enteritis it's very often fatal when weanlings get it.

I tend to think of it as a bacterial imbalance. Either from simply not having the correct GI bacteria to digest their food, or else having another bacteria, like e-coli (sometimes picked up from human hands) wreak some havoc.

Occasionally it seems like a small amount of mold toxins in the feed can trigger enteritis and wipe out kits, even when most of the adults in a rabbitry are not affected.

 

[DaytonHillRabbits]

Ok, so the best place for these kits is with their Momma then... until what age? When do you all wean? These kits are going to be sold as pets if that makes any difference.

 

[Susie570]

Ok, so the best place for these kits is with their Momma then... until what age? When do you all wean? These kits are going to be sold as pets if that makes any difference.

I sell kits starting at 8 weeks, so I start taking them away from momma at 7 weeks to get them weaned and comfortable with being away from momma. I still let them socialize a bit with floor time and such, but most of their time is spent in the 'grow out' starting at 7 weeks. By that age they SHOULD be mostly weaned already.

If I have an early deposit on a kit (I start taking deposits at 6 weeks), then I will try to separate that kit out from the rest at about 7 weeks, so the transition isn't so stressful. This last litter, I had a woman buy 2 kits and I separated them out into a cage together.

 

[DaytonHillRabbits]

I actually have all these kits sold, and was planning to let them go at 6 weeks as that's the age I'd been told by 2 breeders that they sell at. So I'm either going to have to contact these people and tell them it's going to be moved back 2 weeks, or I'll have to seperate at 5 weeks, and keep a close eye on them until their pick up. These kits are very healthy and large, so I'm not sure they would have any problems with the 6 week pick up.. BUT... it's all about their health in the end, they will be pets so I would want them to live as long as they can, as they won't be going for meat (so no shortened life expectancy). Hmm.

 

[Zass]

In PA and NY it's illegal to sell pets before 8 weeks.

Some place do not regulate..so
check your state laws...

 

[DaytonHillRabbits]

I'm in NS Canada, I've never heard of that law here.. but will look into it. Thank you for bringing that to my attention!

 

[ohiogoatgirl]

once I am back into rabbits I plan to take off the biggest ones at 4wks into a growout cage and every other day return them for a day then back to the growout at night, then after several days of that keep taking more of the kits out, the biggest ones each time.
for example at 4wks I take the 3 biggest into a growout cage. day three I take the biggest 4 kits into the growout cage. day four I take the 5 biggest kits. day five I take the 6 biggest. and on until its the whole litter and I just don't return them at all after 5.5wks. at least this is my current weaning plan lol.

 

[Zass]

Weaning can occur anywhere between 4 and 12 weeks. Best to go by the the doe and the kits...Some breeds have males develop as early as 8 weeks, and some take much longer.

Some does wean their babies as early as 4 weeks, some do not.

Pretty much everyone agrees that males should definitely be out by 12 weeks if you don't want any surprise litters.

The process can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be.

I usually wait until closer to 8 weeks and simply remove the doe from the pen.

Since I'm selling harli kits at 8 weeks, I pulled the doe out at 7 weeks so that the kits were accustomed to being on their own before I sent them to off new homes.

That was something Dood suggested a while ago..

 

[Susie570]

Since I'm selling harli kits at 8 weeks, I pulled the doe out at 7 weeks so that the kits were accustomed to being on their own before I sent them to off new homes.

That was something Dood suggested a while ago..

I think that's where I got the idea from

 

[DaytonHillRabbits]

I did end up seperating her from her kits and apparently forgot to update here. The night I took them from her, I had been watching her and she had decided to park herself in the entry to the box (not really a nest box, it's more of the shelter on this particular pen, but it's had the same effect) and refuse to move effectively trapping the kits inside the box for HOURS. I went down and shoo'd her out of the way since the water and feed is on the outside of the box and the kits ran for water primarily and then feed, she LOST HER BANANAS. She was getting really aggressive and chased them back into the house, and when they would try to leave it she would charge them. I watched this for about 3 mins, and then decided she was too deranged to raise them any longer. They're doing great! Haven't seen any problems at all as of yet (probably shouldn't say that without knocking on wood eh?) So thrilled with these babies, they are SO sweet and curious.. happy babies! Mama has calmed down some and has gone back mostly to her pre-breeding temperment.. not quite as cuddly as she was, but 100 percent improvement on how she had been.

Anyways, just wanted to update and thank y'all for your help!