Weaning Babies

[Hoosier]

One doe, Sadie, gave birth to 3 babies on October 5th , Kari gave birth to 5, 3 survived on October 6th and Minnie gave birth to 7 babies also on October 6th with all surviving . All the babies are drinking out of the water bowls. They are in excellent weight and are eating hay, pellets, and grains (rolled oats, rolled barley, cracked pearl barley, oat groats, red wheatberries.) From what I have read, babies should be weaned when they are 6-8 weeks of age. Is there other criteria that is used to determine when to wean? Since these babies are eating so well, can we wean them earlier? I want to do what is best for these little ones . I have handled all of these babies since birth and they seem to enjoy being held and petted . Hubby plans on processing these babies for us to eat. They are Californians with likely some New Zealand White mixed in.

 

[Miss M]

I wean mine at about 6 weeks... no earlier. Some do it as early as 4 weeks with no problems at all, but some have problems with weaning enteritis that early.

 

[AnnClaire]

If you want to wean at 4 weeks, be sure to include oats in their diet, and continue to provide them with access to mom's poops ... I realize that some folks do not agree with my theory that mom's poops provide the babies with a start of the gut bacteria they need to develop. If you watch, most (if not all) herbivores/grazers young will mouth and consume mom's droppings, and one of the scientific studies of elephants (animal planet? discovery channel?) reported that the young did this specifically to start their gut bacteria growing.

Cecals can be used, but my observation shows that mom leaves her coco puff poops in the nest box ... and in my case, they also try to build poop pancakes in their cages despite being suspended above ground ... this is also for the babies to chew and consume.

Anyway, once I figured this out and started providing them, I have not had one case of bloat or weaning enteritis

 

[Ramjet]

If you want to wean at 4 weeks, be sure to include oats in their diet, and continue to provide them with access to mom's poops ... I realize that some folks do not agree with my theory that mom's poops provide the babies with a start of the gut bacteria they need to develop. If you watch, most (if not all) herbivores/grazers young will mouth and consume mom's droppings, and one of the scientific studies of elephants (animal planet? discovery channel?) reported that the young did this specifically to start their gut bacteria growing.

Cecals can be used, but my observation shows that mom leaves her coco puff poops in the nest box ... and in my case, they also try to build poop pancakes in their cages despite being suspended above ground ... this is also for the babies to chew and consume.

Anyway, once I figured this out and started providing them, I have not had one case of bloat or weaning enteritis

That's a really interesting theory .... I have a nursing doe with two kits (out of 12 , she suffocated the others staying in the nest box) and have noticed she has started pooping in a different part of the cage seemingly doing her best to ensure the droppings don't fall thru the wire tho at this time the kits aren't able to reach them as they are still in the nest box.
She had always done her business in a specific corner of the cage prior to this .... There is a center support under the wire in the spot she's using now that catches a few droppings which I remove daily. She still urinates in her normal spot.

 

[Hoosier]

Thank you for such an interesting reply! I have solid pieces of glass, glass cutting boards and a couple of plastic cutting boards that I rotate in the cages. It depends on my cleaning schedule to what gets put in the cages. I also put a piece of cardboard in the cages too (primarily to give those little baby feet time off the wire as well as moms' feet,) I noticed these babies eating the smushed poop off of these surfaces despite having plenty of food available. It also seemed that the does were leaving a WHOLE lot more poop on these surfaces once the babies were out of the nest box. Your reply makes sense with what I observed. We are going to continue feeding hay, pellets and the grains when removing the babies from the does. The rabbits do get whole 'racehorse' oats too, but I haven't put hardly any in the babies' bowls. At least three days a week, I take the babies out of the cages and give them grain. They bury their head in a bowl and I let them eat until they start playing or just stop. A bowl is put in the cage when I put them back in with mom, but the does seem to love the rolled oats and barley. While the babies are out of the cage, the does are given grain also. Thank you for your help!!! We'll make sure that the babies have access to mom's poop when we wean. Other than our skinny doe Sadie, we were going to remove the babies a few at a time instead of removing them all at once.

__________ Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:12 am __________

I want to add that on the days the babies aren't taken out of the cage to eat, bowls of grain are placed in the cages as well as the does get grain. These babies have access to grain everyday. <br /><br />__________ Tue Nov 26, 2013 9:43 am __________<br /><br />Overdue update. AnnClaire, we did as you suggested putting mom poop in the weaned babies cage for a few days after we removed the doe. I am happy to report that nobody got diarrhea and everyone is doing well. Again, thanks to everyone for their help.

 

[Desert Rose Rabbits]

If you want to wean at 4 weeks, be sure to include oats in their diet, and continue to provide them with access to mom's poops ... I realize that some folks do not agree with my theory that mom's poops provide the babies with a start of the gut bacteria they need to develop. If you watch, most (if not all) herbivores/grazers young will mouth and consume mom's droppings, and one of the scientific studies of elephants (animal planet? discovery channel?) reported that the young did this specifically to start their gut bacteria growing.

Cecals can be used, but my observation shows that mom leaves her coco puff poops in the nest box ... and in my case, they also try to build poop pancakes in their cages despite being suspended above ground ... this is also for the babies to chew and consume.

Anyway, once I figured this out and started providing them, I have not had one case of bloat or weaning enteritis

I've talked with about this with my husband quite a lot. I really think that the weaning enteritis is a direct reaction to the way we keep rabbits. I'd be curious to know if wild rabbits have this issue, or if it's primarily seen in domesticated rabbits kept on wire floors. I second the poop-cakes! They drive me nuts, but they insist that they're there.

 

[DogCatMom]

The "Mom Poo" theory is interesting, but from an evolutionary/scientific perspective, the behavior wouldn't have developed or persisted unless it had a survival or "deep health/growth" reason.

In many other mammals, the first three to four days of breast-feeding (whether from two or eight) are deemed the most crucial days because of the colostrum the mother's body produces in her milk.

Do rabbits not produce colostrum? I've read several books on rabbits and rabbit-keeping the past four months; not one of them has mentioned colostrum.

This alternative method of developing gut bacteria would account for the lack of colostrum, if there is such a lack.

Anyone know for sure? Thank you!

 

[dobergoat]

I don't know about rabbits and colostrum. But I do know that with sheep, goats, horses, & humans the colostrum is for antibodies, gut bacteria for digesting milk and high levels of nutrients to help cope with the stress/work of birth and help develop a fat layer. I would assume the same holds true with rabbits as it's the same with most mammels I believe. The gut bacteria to digest solids is different then to digest milk. So for sheep you can't just stop giving milk and expect the lamb to be able to digest hay/pasture/grain, they need to slowly change the gut flora from breaking down milk to solids. Same reason you have to wait to be sure the kits are eating solids well before removing them from the doe. Not sure how they get the gut bacteria to digest solids, but I assume it slowly converts as they slowly start to ingest more solids.

I've also noticed the "mom poop" thing, but just thought it was the young investigating.

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

I have seen a 3 week old baby eating mom poop... It is very normal.. but I think by 6 weeks old they don't do that anymore.. I have had rabbits for a long time.. I have never seen a baby over 5 weeks old eating moms poop..

 

[bobqdevon]

I rebreed at around 6 weeks, then pull the previous litter out between week 7 and week 8.