WW3

[Susie570]

Well, today I decided it was time to do a final sexing on the 8 week old kits ,and separate the does from the bucks. Since my cage space is limited, I decided to keep the doe kits with their moms (they all seem to be getting along well) and put all of the buck kits together. I can see some of you smirking already.

I got them separated out, more bucklings than I had anticipated. A few minutes later, fur was flying, kits were screaming, my son was screaming and crying... utter chaos broke out. Good grief.

So, it seems that in each litter, there is a dominant buckling. It apparently is not a good idea to put these little guys together. I pulled out a ball of buckling kits who were screaming screaming. One kit had a death grip on the other. I pried them apart and managed to put the trouble makers back in their prior groups. I didn't see any blood, but there was fur everywhere. I've never seen such a thing. I hope this is something I can get figured out because I don't have enough cages to house each buckling individually. :shock:

 

[Dood]

Rabbit might be on the menu sooner than you expected

In my experience the pet breeds, whether NDwarf, MLop or some mix, mature quicker than the NZ, Cali and AmChins I've owned, and even sooner than my AmChin x MLops and the boys, and sometimes girls, get territorial at 6, 8 and 10 weeks verses the 12, 14 or 16 weeks I can safely mix the bigger buns

 

[akane]

If you pull one of the dominant rabbits out you can often leave groups together given enough space. It's usually one pair who hate each other or one bully who wants to beat everyone else up and the rest are fine up to 10-12weeks old. Individual bloodlines vary.

 

[Miss M]

Wooooow... at 8 weeks!

 

[Susie570]

Yeah, I really didn't expect them to act this way at such a young age.

The rest of the kits seem to be getting along (I guess ill see when I go back in today), but I can't leave the little bucks with their mom's... or does for that matter. I haven't weighed them, but they're fairly solid. I would think it might be a waste to butcher them this young though.

All of the little does seem docile so far.

I remember from River's litter last year, there was only the one little buck and his testicles dropped and he started spraying around this age. I really wasn't sure what age to normally expect this type of behavior though.

What age do people usually butcher mini lops?

 

[Dood]

My sister had a 13 week Mini Lop get his mother pregnant :x and I believe I've read of others with fertile boys at an even earlier age

I mainly raise rabbits for pet food so size doesn't really matter to me and I almost always end up culling males (of all breeds) first because of fighting

And I don't think they'd be too small - I process quail that are 1/3 the size of a 8 week old Mini Lop and feel it's worth it

 

[Homer]

...

What age do people usually butcher mini lops?

Not Minis but French usually 10-12 weeks and Flemish 12-16 week range. :clover:

 

[Susie570]

Thanks all.

I actually just realized they are a week older than I thought (my timing has been off due to the surgery and a crazy month). So, they're actually 9 weeks old right now.