Telling kits apart

[ollitos]

How do you mark your kits so you can track them? We have all white kits so it's impossible to keep track of which is which. I have one kit with an adhesion so I put a Sharpee dot on his head so I can find him easily. Aside from that one kit, I have no way to tell which kit is which. They're too tiny to tattoo ... so what to do?

 

[Fid]

Why do you need to until they are weaned? I mean, other than wanting to.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

You can number their ears with a sharpie. The only problem is you have to remark every few days. I just marked some yesterday with a "fine" sharpie, and I went over the numbers several times in the hope that they will last longer.

You could also buy different colors and pretty much cover the entire inner area of the ear with that color, even marking two kits with the same color, but in different ears.

 

[Secuono]

I think BlueKote might work or even Thrushbuster, since the purple stains and can be heck to get off.

 

[skysthelimit]

Wonder if you can use finger nail polish like we do with puppies.

 

[Miss M]

I have used nail polish, just a dot on top of the head. Of course, you have to keep the kits out until the polish is dry. Pity, having to play with baby bunnies... :razz:

I needed to do it when I had a couple of broken reds and several chinchillas in the same litter, and one of each was falling behind. I supplemented with formula. As they grew, it was easier to look for the two with dots on their heads, rather than pulling them out to compare sizes.

 

[Southbound_SF]

Someone asked earlier why you'd want to be able to tell them apart. Some answers have been mentioned - medical treatment, supplemental feeding - but the most common one for me is fostered kits. If I move some from one litter to another for whatever reason, I might still want to know their exact parentage. And since nearly all of my rabbits are black, they can be hard to tell apart! Sharpies haven't worked too well for me (the color is part of it) so I'm glad to have some more suggestions.

SB

 

[MaggieJ]

I found that blue or green food colouring on the porous fur of the hind foot lasted a few weeks. I used this on black kits too... The fur on the feet is lighter colour on the bottom and held the colour.

 

[ollitos]

I want to tell them apart so I can track their weight gain. I want to evaluate who grows fast and determine if that's a kit I want to keep or sell as meat.

 

[skysthelimit]

The good thing about mine is the broken markings help me distinguish them. In the first few days and weeks, some are clearly larger than that others. But once they are weaned, I can't tell any difference in their growth rates. Once they reach three mos, then it becomes obvious who is growing faster. I can't tell anything till right up to the time it's time to butcher.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I want to tell them apart so I can track their weight gain. I want to evaluate who grows fast and determine if that's a kit I want to keep or sell as meat.

When tracking for growth, most use 52 days and 70 days as weight/growth benchmarks. You don't want to start tracking them too soon, because a lot can change in that first 50 days.

 

[akane]

I've had a lot of "runts" end up being the biggest rabbits come butchering time. Right around 4 weeks when I wean is when I want to keep track of them. See who adjusts to no milk the best and who grows the best on our food only without any boosters from mom. Before that they change depending who was on top for the last feeding and got the most milk that day.

 

[arachyd]

I use a medium-point sharpie or thicker (fine-point doesn't last) and put a number on the inside of both ears, not too close to the ear tip. The number lasts long enough for me to get weekly weights and freshen up the numbers on weighing day.

 

[Cattle Cait]

I like the nail polish idea, I might use that myself. I use a Sharpie to mark my baby Checkereds, they sell before they're big enough to get ear numbers so I have to keep track of who is spoken for.