Reaching adult size/weight

[ek.blair]

So both of my does are NZ/Cali/SF and i was told they were born Aug 2013. I finally weighed them last night a done is 4lbs 3oz and the other 4lbs 4oz. This seemed a little small to me. The person I got them from only fed them grass hay and oats. We picked them up about a month ago now and I have slowly switched them over to barley fodder (6% of their weight), about a tsp of flax, and a tbsp of BOSS every couple days. It is still rather cold up here so I imagine a lot of their energy is going to keeping warm rather than growth. Do you think they will continue to grow or are they full grown? :?

 

[ottersatin]

I think they need a better diet.
You might want to switch to a good quality Pelleted Rabbit feed,
which would provide a more balanced diet.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[TwoAcreDream]

The NZ Cali cross should be a higher weight. Not sure what the SF is.

The 2 calis in my avator pic were born August 2013. Sisters.
The young gal did not wrote the kindle date down, so I had to guess.

The one just had babies this morning. The other one is due in a few weeks.
Not sure of their weight but they have the size I wanted to see.
The new mommy one was in a cage by herself because of a kitty attack
on her head, and she healed well. This gave her time to really grow fast.
This happened at the place where I bought them. I have no cats here.
I may have bred them early, I'm not sure. I had them in a cage together
till recently.

My rabbits get plenty of pellets, hay racks are filled and I put treats
in separate small dishes. Especially for my pregnant and nursing does.

If the does are in your avator, I was wondering about the ear length.
Looks like short ears to me, but it maybe just the angle of how the
pic was took.

 

[ek.blair]

Unfortunately up here in interior Alaska a 40lb bag of rabbit pellets costs $28 which is why I have chosen to go the fodder route. I can get a 50 lb bag of barley for $8. Maybe I need to feed a higher percent of their body weight in the fodder? I am going to try starting to add the BOSS to the barley for fodder too.

I forgot to add to the original post that they also get free choice grass hay and alfalfa cubes.

Their ears do seem a little short. I am not too worried about it as the really are just meat mutts. But I was hoping that they would be a little bigger than the are. We are planning on getting pure SF this spring but wanted to get started so we picked these up.

 

[TwoAcreDream]

The short ears make me think they might have some dwarf in them.
Please explain what SF means. I can't remember all the abreviations.
If they are part dwarf, they might be ready to breed now.

I make sure the hayracks are full. And plenty of water is available.
I try to find them cheap treats. Recently it was carrots.
Pellets I am always looking for cheaper prices. In the summer, I
feed big handfulls of grass. I just bought 50 pound bags of
barley and wheat for $ 5 each from a local farmer. Beats the
feed store price. I used some wheat, whole corn, sunflower
seeds this morning , equal amounts and that went into their treat
cups. I only put pellets in the J feeders. I have some who will scratch
out grain if it is all mixed together.

 

[Dood]

That is ALOT small.

Ideally meat type rabbits should be 5 pounds by 8 weeks but I would expect 5 pound by 16 weeks (4 months) at the very latest, regardless of diet.

If they were indeed born in mid August they are pretty much adult size at 6 months old and changing their diet won't increase their frame size, just their weight and you could make them fatty and negatively effect fertility.

I'd breed them and hope their offspring do better and if so replace them

 

[TwoAcreDream]

I have 6 adult mixed does, and 1 jr. Four of these does
have already established themselves here as keepers.
They have good size litters, and foster other babies.

One mix doe has not had any babies yet, but due shortly.
One just had a litter of 2 on her second try. Pulled all kinds of fur,
so I was able to borrow a little to help out another litter.
I planned on using mom of 2 to foster if need be. So far, not needed.
If on the 3rd try, she only has a couple, then she will have to be sold.
The other mixed ones have current litters of 7 and 8.

Go ahead and get your does bred. They may surprise you

 

[ek.blair]

I bred them Feb 1 and one had a good looking haystache last night so I am pretty sure she is pregnant. If their babies don't grow like we hope we will probably just eat everybody and start over with the full SF (Silver Fox ) come spring. opcorn:

 

[BlueMoods]

Given the cost of pellets up there, is alfalfa either bales or cubes any better? If so, get some into the diet, at least 25% but as much as 33% for breeders and 50% for fryers. The higher protein will do a world of good for them. Check prices for bales, cubes and bags of chopped alfalfa, any of it will do, just might need to break the cubes up to make them easier for the rabbits to eat. Mine eat them fine just tossed in the feeding area, but they have been getting them since weaning so, gnawing at them is old hat to them.

I make sure my fryers get 18% overall protein and the breeders 16%, more for pregnant and nursing does since that nutrition is going to the kits as well.

 

[dangerbunny]

Protein is very important for growing animals

 

[ek.blair]

I do give them alfalfa cubes as well. The buck doesn't really eat them just the does. The go through about a 2-3 inch cube in a week. I am hoping that when I have grow outs they will learn from mom and eat the alfalfa too. I have started adding the BOSS to my barley that I grow for fodder as it is suppose to have a higher percentage of usable protein.

 

[dangerbunny]

Can you post pictures? All of those breeds should be larger I'm curious if there is something else else in the mix.

How much alfalfa are they eating? Also sometimes when you buy a Jr it won't reach maximum growth and will out produce themselves

 

[RothsRabbits]

Here is another idea. When you breed two purebreds you most of the time get big fast growing animals. When you breed those sometimes the animals are smaller and don't grow as fast. There are lots of possible reasons as to why they are small. But they definitly should be almost full grown.

But your in AK?? that may have something to do with the growth? Domestic rabbits grow better on pellets, although they are now days being fed other things. Its a trait thing, I am starting to believe.. some rabbits won't touch anything bbut pellets.

Maybe they are infested with parasites.

who knows there are lots of reasons they could be small, I personally would eat them or sell the meat?

 

[BlueMoods]

If it takes them a week to eat one alfalfa cube, you need to break it up for them. It might take some of my weanlings a week to eat one cube that size but, by 8 to 10 weeks they eat a cube a day, plus the pellets and whatever fresh food I give that day. My largest bucks and does eat 1.5 to 2 cubes per day when it's the only hay they have, less if they have loose hay too but can't always get mold free hay here.