# Culling baby rabbits



## SavannahLeigh

'Ello there!! I was wondering if any of y'all had any tips on humanely killing "failure to thrive"  young. My does have large litters, and often the babies die from being pushed to the bottom, or just not having what it takes. How would you kill them humanly? Only if they're suffering of course 
Also, I am wayyyyyy to much of a softie to drown them, etc. I WAS going to raise them for meat, but then I fell in love with them, and now I just breed and sell


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## Hopalong Causually

This can be a touchy subject because people have such strong emotions about dispatching animals.  Since you have received no help yet, I'll tell you how I dispatch at butchering time.

I made a cervical dislocation device by heating and bending a length of 3/8" steel rod into a "V" shape with extensions that allow it to be firmly attached to a wall.  It's a simple and quick task to insert the rabbit's neck back into the "V" and snap it's neck with one quick tug on the back legs.  It is as quick and humane as anything I can imagine.  For really small kits, smaller diameter steel rod would be needed.

Sometimes dispatching an animal is truly the most humane thing to do.  Some people just can't seem to get a handle on that reality.


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## lcertuche

If you have another doe with fewer babies sometimes you can sneak it with her babies. Look on the internet for ideas. I think basically you handle all the young so she can't distinguish the smell difference. Pet her and handle all the young and then the newest one(s). I've heard of putting vicks on all of them but I would be afraid Mama would reject them all.


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## DutchBunny03

Rabbits usually receive kits from other dams very well. Putting vanilla on the dam's nose to mask the smell of foreign kits can help, but isnt usually needed. Just letting nature take its course with runts and weak kits is what happens regardless, but a more humane way may be to just break the rabbits neck.


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## SavannahLeigh

Thanks guys! I just HATE seein suffering babies


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## lcertuche

If there isn't a another baby available or they are just too far gone breaking the neck seems the kindest act.


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## SavannahLeigh

Okay... How does one break the neck exactly?


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## Hopalong Causually

Rabbits are very fragilely constructed and it doesn't take much force to accomplish the act.  The cervical dislocation device I described above makes it very easy, neat, and clean.  Many years ago, I saw my father dispatch one by holding it up by the back legs and delivering a karate chop to the back of the neck just behind the ears.  That snapped its neck most efficiently.  Although I haven't tried it myself, I imagine a small kit could be put down in much the same way by hooking two fingers around the back of its head on either side of the neck and tugging the body in the opposite direction.  Be prepared, in any event, for the rabbit to kick a bit afterward.  This is merely a reaction of the nerves and doesn't necessarily indicate that the rabbit is still alive.  If you touch the eye and there is no autonomic blinking response, you can be sure the rabbit is dead and feeling nothing.  I know this all can sound gruesome, but it is offered under the premise that you have discounted the possibility that the rabbit can be saved and must be put down as an ethically humane last resort.  I've raised several litters to, and through, butchering and must admit that I still feel a bit uncomfortable dispatching them.  But this is a great life lesson in bringing you into a personalized understanding of the origin of your food.  Too many people are content to buy their food removed from the process and willing to let others do the dirty-work while they feel all smug and righteous in ridiculing others who grow their own food.  I find that attitude to be the epitome of hypocrisy.


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## DutchBunny03

http://www.how-to-hunt-rabbit.com/killing-rabbit.html


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## Pastor Dave

Sorry to reply late to your question, but have been fighting a respiratory illness.
If I can't foster out the kit, or it is likely to die soon, you can wrap it up in a rag or cloth and put it in a freezer. It is more humane I think, and you don't have to break the neck. This is mainly for kits that are less than a week old, etc.


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## Bruce

Somehow I can't imagine freezing the kit until it dies is particularly humane.


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## Pastor Dave

I was told that it relaxed and fell asleep, then just proceeded to die.
I know snapping/pinching the neck is faster, but if not done correct, it seems more traumatic. 
It is just the easier route I have had to use.
Either way, culling isn't pleasant.


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## Latestarter

Culling or killing for meat, the end result is the same... the animal loses its life. I've always been of the understanding that freezing to death is relatively painless as the one freezing slips into a coma/sleep and then passes on... relatively painless, so I would consider it humane, but takes time. 

Breaking the neck will kill it, but does the brain die immediately? or does it remain active for a spell afterwards? When a human breaks it's neck it doesn't necessarily die... Paralysis is a given however, so any muscular response wouldn't happen. Humane? I don't know,   but is "accepted" as such...

A .22 round to the brain is immediate, terminal, no pain, no warning so no fear, stress or negative reaction, and IMHO is the most humane.

Sorry you're under the weather @Pastor Dave  Haven't seen you on the boards much. Hope you're in recovery and get well soon. Being sick sucks.


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## Pastor Dave

Thanks @Latestarter, appreciate it.
I do use the .22 method to dispatch at butcher time for the same reasons.
Mine are treated humanely, raised for meat, and when the time comes, the meat in the freezer outweighs the emotions and feelings. I stick to my methods and it is more rehearsed, less thought abt at the moment.


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## mygoldendoe

Iv always been told to breed in pairs for fostering especially if u know which usually delivers large and small.  But the ppl I talk with on the FB group say they dispatch mostly by head bashing or breaking neck with hopper popper type thing. Tho for babies, I agree with previous post, hands can be just as good, if u know what ur doing..
 I will say when I was younger my brother saved a baby rabbit in the woods. It's neck was bent completely sideways so mom made us put it back out for nature so that it's life had meaning for something else to live. As I pet the baby good bye it wiggled and so I instinctly held tighter so I didn't drop it. I felt its neck pop and it scared me so I did drop it. It hopped a lil bit and its neck was up right, it looked around and then ran away. So if I had to dispatch babies for whatever reason I think I'd have to do bullet or bashing bc I don't trust the neck severing bc of that past event.


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## lcertuche

Wow, that sounds like a bunny miracle.


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