Weaning question

[garden lady]

The kits will be 8 weeks old Thursday. There is no sign that Lulu is done with them. I noticed her washing one of the kit's head today. She never looks upset at them. They sit on her when she is laying down, and they are always together sleeping. I open the door and have 6 rabbits wanting to be petted. She still has milk. Lulu is probably around 9 months old now and acts a lot younger that her sister Sunshine. Will her milk dry up? Will they get old enough they will just stop nursing? I am not going to take them away from her yet. I am thinking when the other hutch is finished of just putting the older ones in there and then move the kits to the cage next to Lulu and then after a few days divide them 3 and 2. Try to find out who are males and females and leave them like that and then see how the weather is and divide them after that. I am more worried Lulu is going to be upset the kits are gone than the kits being upset their mother is gone. :shock: If they are next to her then I think everybody would be happy, but moving the kits to the new hutch and away from Lulu might not be a good idea. I don't think the older ones will be upset and leave everybody next to each other like they were except Lulu will not be there until later. Sound crazy or will I see her trying to get away from them soon?

 

[skysthelimit]

I think you are thinking too much like a person and less like a rabbit (which is not bad). They will be fine. Many of us wean at 4 weeks.
Some does take care of there kits as long as they are in the cage, some push them away sooner. I leave the dwarf breeds in till 11-12 weeks, just because they are so small.
Her milk will dry up when she stops nursing.

 

[caroline]

Since I usually re-breed does when their kits are about 4 weeks old I separate the kits at about 6 weeks so that the momma can have a little rest before the next litter. I have never noticed either mom or kits being upset at the separation. The kits, because they have each other for a while and the moms usually seem very fine with having a little space, even though they were engaged in groom and licking, etc. until the separation. Just my experience.

 

[Secuono]

Rabbits do enjoy the company of other rabbits as long as they don't harass each other.
I noticed my kits on pasture weren't nursing much at all, they are now 3.5 weeks old.
I still do not believe in weaning caged rabbits at 4wks, since they do not have a natural diet to assist them. I wean caged rabbits at 6wks, but if I don't have the cage space, I will leave them in with mom as long as needed or until the doe gets aggressive with them, which ever comes first.

So you'll be fine leaving them in with her longer, just take a few kits out at a time or breed her. One or both will help dry her up.

 

[Asinaway]

I really have not ever had a mom who got anxious over her kit's being taken away, most seem relieved or calmer after. I keep mind with momma 8-9 weeks depending on the moms conditon, if she's looking good them i can push it to 8 weeks, if she's look a bit rough I cut it short and take them away at 6 weeks.

At that time, I seperate my doe's and Bucks and usually start tattooing at 10 Weeks. I tend to hold on to my litters for at least 3 + months before I sell.

So far this routine has seemed to work in my experience, and both mom and babies do perfectly fine.

The most I have ever let a kit stay with mom was four months, but it was a doe and they had gotten along just fine, I guess I just never got around to seperating them.

I think your doe will be fine, if you feel more comfortable take all but one out and wean her slowley from the last kit.

 

[skysthelimit]

I still do not believe in weaning caged rabbits at 4wks, since they do not have a natural diet to assist them.

I guess that depends on what you are feeding them. Natural diet is a relative term, and a lot of people here are not feeding straight pellets to kits, they are getting hay, leaves, plants, etc. All of my kits are introduced to fresh green things early on.

I have not had a case of enteritis from weaning at four weeks, except for a particular line, which I culled doe and all kits. 8 weeks is definitely not too early.
They do enjoy company, but worrying about them missing each other is a bit too "House Rabbit" society for me.

 

[garden lady]

Thanks to all the answers. I will not worry then. If it was summer I would have to because it would be too warm to be all close like that. I clean the whole bed out daily. There is enough room for the kits to run back and forth and nobody seems upset yet, so I will just relax over it.

 

[Secuono]

I still do not believe in weaning caged rabbits at 4wks, since they do not have a natural diet to assist them.

I guess that depends on what you are feeding them. Natural diet is a relative term, and a lot of people here are not feeding straight pellets to kits, they are getting hay, leaves, plants, etc. All of my kits are introduced to fresh green things early on.

I have not had a case of enteritis from weaning at four weeks, except for a particular line, which I culled doe and all kits. 8 weeks is definitely not too early.
They do enjoy company, but worrying about them missing each other is a bit too "House Rabbit" society for me.

Maybe I should of said a real diet or wild? Natural used to mean the same thing, now it doesn't.
I was being a bit general or traditional, caged rabbits get pellets, pastured rabbits get grass. I wasn't going to divide into detail- caged, caged and supplemented, tractors, colony or pastured.

I agree they don't really seem to miss other rabbits and if moms are stuck with kits that bother her or not enough room to get away from them, then they do seem happier once they are gone.

 

[Lizardslaps]

how large is the litter? I had a litter of 3 that were still suckling at 9weeks old as well as eating the dry feed and hay

the larger litters (7) I have had wean themselves at 4weeks all caged and they have done that more than once

 

[garden lady]

how large is the litter? I had a litter of 3 that were still suckling at 9weeks old as well as eating the dry feed and hay

the larger litters (7) I have had wean themselves at 4weeks all caged and they have done that more than once

There are 5 of them. I checked and she is full of milk. They have been eating grass hay and alfalfa, pellets, oatmeal, clover grass, leaves, BOSS, a little bit of Calf Manna, kale, mustard greens, weeds. They started eating oats, clover, weeds, pellets, hay at 12 days. In the picture the mother is at the top left next to the wire, darker looking and can see her ear, but not face. One big happy family.

 

[Lizardslaps]

they grew so nice and pretty have you decided what you want to do with them?

 

[garden lady]

they grew so nice and pretty have you decided what you want to do with them?

We are building another hutch and will have 2 pens for them to exercise in different times of the day. All I know to do with them is collect manure for the garden and raise worms. So far I am enjoying it. We are not going to raise rabbits or breed them, just let them live out their lives here. There may be 4 pens part of the time. When the garden is planted and the plants are up, I will let one out at a time there too because when they were loose they did not bother the garden, but when first planted, they about destroyed it. I am putting up another pen close to the house for the inside 2 cats to come out and get some sun and exercise, so they can use that pen sometimes too. The whole yard will be fenced so dogs cannot get in, but we will have to watch them for digging and not going to put males out when females are out, so accidents. The compost we have is unreal and my husband wants to sell some rabbit manure too.

 

[Oceanrose]

I always liked to take the boys out, and leave the girls together. Then I'd wean them when I was ready to rebreed mama. Most of my girls preferred it that way. I never rebred though before 3-5 months, wasn't into breeding for production, and never had a lot of litters.

 

[garden lady]

I always liked to take the boys out, and leave the girls together. Then I'd wean them when I was ready to rebreed mama. Most of my girls preferred it that way. I never rebred though before 3-5 months, wasn't into breeding for production, and never had a lot of litters.

I am going to have to get to looking and see if I can figure out boys and girls. I think I like the bucks the best.

 

[ZRabbits]

I weaned my babies at 5 weeks. Luna is starting to calm down and get back to where she was before she became a Mom. The babies are all doing well in their new settings. Molly, my only girl, is by herself. The boys are together but will be separated once they are bit older and I get more crates. They were all eating pellets and hay. The last two days that Molly and Luna were together, Molly did not nurse. So I had to split because of feeding. The alfalfa pellets that I feed my babies until 6 months, was just too rich for Luna. She's now starting to transition to timothy pellets which eventually all my rabbits will be on. I was worried at first how it all would go, but all are doing well.

As long as Lulu is not upset with the babies there, I think you will have time to start to find out what the babies are (boys or girls) and can start to think about giving them their separate places. Once your husband builds the hutches, I think you can start moving some.

Karen

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I still do not believe in weaning caged rabbits at 4wks, since they do not have a natural diet to assist them.

I guess that depends on what you are feeding them. Natural diet is a relative term, and a lot of people here are not feeding straight pellets to kits, they are getting hay, leaves, plants, etc. All of my kits are introduced to fresh green things early on.

I have not had a case of enteritis from weaning at four weeks, except for a particular line, which I culled doe and all kits. 8 weeks is definitely not too early.
They do enjoy company, but worrying about them missing each other is a bit too "House Rabbit" society for me.

I will second that...I wean mine at 4 wks and, honestly, by then the does are MORE than ready to have some space and time to themselves. I have not had any digestive issues with mine either.

 

[AnnClaire]

I still do not believe in weaning caged rabbits at 4wks, since they do not have a natural diet to assist them.

I guess that depends on what you are feeding them. Natural diet is a relative term, and a lot of people here are not feeding straight pellets to kits, they are getting hay, leaves, plants, etc. All of my kits are introduced to fresh green things early on.

I have not had a case of enteritis from weaning at four weeks, except for a particular line, which I culled doe and all kits. 8 weeks is definitely not too early.
They do enjoy company, but worrying about them missing each other is a bit too "House Rabbit" society for me.

I will second that...I wean mine at 4 wks and, honestly, by then the does are MORE than ready to have some space and time to themselves. I have not had any digestive issues with mine either.

And I will third that ... mostly completely weaned by the end of 3 weeks and on solid foods for the previous 2 weeks with fresh fodder supplement ... no weaning enteritis at all here. And the Satin doe is more than ready for me to take the nest box inside during the day of the first week, all day the sedond week and all day/night the third week :lol: