Would you restrict feeding?

[ThunderHill]

Hi! I have a one-week old litter of 4 NZ kits, and 2 of them are much bigger than the others. The two chunks are .5 pound already at 1 week, and the other two are .26 (the white runt) and .38 (the black, who is actually a foster). Everyone seems to be getting fed well. At least for now their legs look properly aligned and they are squirming around okay, but we've had a litter of only 2 from this doe who ended up with splayed legs, and they were just a bit bigger than these two at this age.

Since there are actually 4 feeding from the doe, do you think overfeeding isn't a concern and we're okay to leave them with the litter and mom, or would you pull the two big ones and restrict their feedings to make sure they don't get too big too fast? If so, how would you go about doing it, and for how long? I'm so worried that they'll turn out like the splayed bunnies, and I never want to let that happen again!

Thanks for any advice!

 

[SableSteel]

Getting too big too fast isn't usually a problem; especially in a litter of four. Only if it were a singleton would I worry. They look healthy to me.

 

[ThunderHill]

Thank you for the advice!

 

[Lewis]

They look so healthy and beautiful

 

[ThunderHill]

Thanks! They are doing great, and no sign of splay legs. At 2 weeks, they are both already .8 lb, which is twice the size of the little REW! But everyone seems healthy and happy! I'll certainly keep my eye on those two for future meat breeders!

 

[Ducklove74]

I personally would never restrict feeding of ones so young...I have however taken a small one to feed separately on mom once a day for a few days if it looks as if it's being underfed or pushed off by others this can happen especially if it's a big litter. Mom only feeds a few minutes twice a day, so kits have to be ready and raring to eat. I find that you always have 1 or 2 big healthy chunksters and they usually even out some as they grow. Only time I would worry about kit getting too fat too quick is if it was a single.