Rex weights

[skysthelimit]

I complain a lot about how slow Rex grow. My buns are not making senior weight. It's been a long, hot summer, and that is part of the problem. The other thing I notices is how much bigger everyones Rexes are than mine. So a-culling I go. I weighed some kits today.


As a baseline, the new buns I have go first.
Kasai 7/30, so she is 11 weeks----4lbs, 4 oz.

My kits
Blanche 6/16 4lbs 7oz
Solo 7/5 5lbs
Otters 7/7 4lbs 7 oz, 3lbs 8oz, 3lbs 7oz
Fava kits 8/11 3lbs 2oz, 2lbs 7 oz, 2lbs 5 oz

New bun
Bloom 6/5 6lbs 6oz or better, she was squirmy.

Mine
Black Does 4/21 5lbs 10oz, 5lb 5oz

So my six month old does that should be senior weight (8lbs) are at least a pound smaller than a 4 month old. Though I have some improvement with the new bunch of kits. Weighed the ambers yesterday, and I'd hate to cull them, but at 5 months they don't even weight 5lbs.

 

[tm_bunnyloft]

Hmmmm I wish I had some miracle grow for rabbits. I would surely stick some in the mail for you.
So sorry your not getting the weights you are wanting. I hope it goes better for you soon.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I will try to add my data to this thread. I don't have a set schedule for taking weights, but I do have dates and weights on my litters.

 

[caroline]

I weigh the kits @ weaning/tattooing, which is usually @ 6 weeks, although this past month I didn't get some of the does re-bred on their usual schedule of 4 weeks breed-back so I am leaving the doe kits with them until I do breed them. I try to weigh again on about monthly intervals until their 1st breeding @ 4-6 months, depending upon how well they are growing. Then I weigh the does each time I take them out to breed them. I also clip their nails then. If I notice that a doe doesn't seem to have maintained condition when It's the usual time to re-breed,I don't.I had 2 does this past week that surprised me with their weights. One was nursing her 2nd litter of 10. The kits are doing great but she was down to 7 lbs. so I'm feeding her extra oats & BOSS and did not re-breed.

My kits @ 6 weeks weigh between 2-3.5 lbs. Of the 16 brood does that I have currently they all weighed 8 lbs by 5 months. They now average about 9 lbs but a couple are as much as 10.5 lbs.I am watching to see if the chin line, that I am line breeding rather closely, starts getting smaller.

I think that it helped to give my herd size because the first buck I had was 10 lbs. and I used him on everything and kept a couple of his larger sons that I used for a while so now I do have good size in most everyone and almost without really thinking about it I have tended to find the more growthy kits more attractive and have just naturally culled the scrawnier ones.

 

[skysthelimit]

So I am culling the black does, the two Fava kits under 3lbs, and possibly the two otters? I don't really need them.

I am hesitant to cull the ambers, though I would cull the buck before I cull the doe.
I have one 10lb black buck. I am considering breeding him to my chins, because they are all smaller than the others in the herd.
I'd hate to cull the opal as well, but he's just 6 lbs at 8 mos.

 

[DevonW]

With those weights I would start considering whether they're really Rex. I've noticed the word Rex some people use for both standard and Mini especially if it is a Mini Rex lacking a dwarf gene. Most oversized Mini Rex tend to hover between around the 6lb mark which could easily be mistaken for an undersized Rex.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

With those weights I would start considering whether they're really Rex.

I was thinking the same thing. I think some of your rexs have some mini rex in there line somewhere.

 

[MKirst]

How do we know if our Mini Rex have the dwarf gene ? I don't see that listed anywhere on the pedigrees for the 3 does I have.

 

[DevonW]

There are certain signs you look for such as size, ear length, body shape. It's not a requirement that it's listed on the pedigree.

A good place to start for information is here http://www.thenaturetrail.com/rabbit-genetics/dwarf-gene-dw-falsedwarfs-peanuts/

Mini Rex lacking a dwarf gene tend to have HUGE ears (over 3 1/2"), longer faces, are longer in type and tend to mature well over 4lbs where as a true dwarf Mini Rex will have short ears, a rounder head and body length and will mature at or under 4lbs.

 

[skysthelimit]

With those weights I would start considering whether they're really Rex. I've noticed the word Rex some people use for both standard and Mini especially if it is a Mini Rex lacking a dwarf gene. Most oversized Mini Rex tend to hover between around the 6lb mark which could easily be mistaken for an undersized Rex.

The lady I got them from is a trusted friend, and she's been breeding these rabbits for 6 plus generations, all of my Rexes come from her, and that line all comes from two very good Rex breeders. So unless I'm prepared to call them liars, then they are all Rex in the 7-10 generations at the least. Not saying that these breeders could not have picked up something a long time ago that wasn't Rex, but that would have had to have been many years ago, two have been breeding the same lines for 10 years. But I've seen all of her current stock, and now I have half of her current stock, half sisters, daughters and sons and sires of my stock, and they are all standard size.

The kits are not shorter, or more compact, but lighter in bone.

So I am right in culling these kits and jrs?

__________ Wed Oct 24, 2012 4:35 pm __________

Oh, keep in mind too, that none of these are adults, so it's possible they are just very slow growing. Who knows what they will weight at 9 mos, or 10 mos. A breeder told me at the last show, that he likes to weight till the doe is around 10 mos old to see if she reaches senior weight. They just might reach senior weight, but showing and otherwise, do I really want buns that don't reach senior weight until they are 10 mos old?

 

[DevonW]

The kits are not shorter, or more compact, but lighter in bone.

So I am right in culling these kits and jrs?

__________ Wed Oct 24, 2012 4:35 pm __________

Oh, keep in mind too, that none of these are adults, so it's possible they are just very slow growing. Who knows what they will weight at 9 mos, or 10 mos. A breeder told me at the last show, that he likes to weight till the doe is around 10 mos old to see if she reaches senior weight. They just might reach senior weight, but showing and otherwise, do I really want buns that don't reach senior weight until they are 10 mos old?

I agree in culling the smaller rabbits out of your herd it can be tough now but later on definitely it will be worth the trouble.

Considering commercial breeds are 6-class waiting until 10 months isn't that outlandish. I'd preferably say they should be at least minimum Sr weight by 9 months when they start into the Sr class. I prefer they be minimum sr weight when they're still in the 6/8 class because that's when I want to start breeding my does and I don't want rabbits that take forever to reach maturity.

In the end it all comes down to personal opinion and what suits your own needs the best.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I'd preferably say they should be at least minimum Sr weight by 9 months when they start into the Sr class.

Unfortunately, Rex are considered Senior at 6 months.

 

[skysthelimit]

So the concensus is cull and that's what I will do.
Standard Rex is a 4 class rabbit. Many people are done showing there Rexes at 10 mos. If they don't make senior weight at 6 mos, then by the time they do, they will be at breeding age and will never get a chance on the table.

Such a shame though, I have a handsome opal buck, the color I really wanted, but he is 6lbs at 7 mos, just too small.