How old do you wean the your kits? (Poll)

[Marie28]

At what age do you wean your kits? Are there certain things that would make you do it sooner or later?

Well ruby's single kit is now 4 weeks old. Its doing great. It still trys to nurse on ruby but when I'm out there ruby runs away from it every time. So after rereading when I should wean the kit it seems like it varies a lot. So I was wondering what everyone does on here :]

 

[firedragon1982]

I wait until they're 6 weeks old at the least. But everyone does things differently. I've read 8 weeks, I've read as young as 5 weeks.

 

[Bossroo]

Weaning time has too many variables of the type of rabbit you raise and you can't make all sizes fit all. Depends if you are a production breeder for profit or only a pet breeder where cost of production is not a concern.

 

[Pastor Dave]

It kinda depends on the bunnies' purpose.
If mom will tolerate them, 6-8 weeks is better for the bunnies' system. They develop best on mama's milk.

In nature, when the kits are running around and learning to eat, they stay close to the nest until abt 4 weeks. They may try to approach mom to nurse, but if she is ready to kindle again, she will drive them away from the nest.

Mine will nurse even up to the night before I take them away at 5 weeks. She only let's them when she needs the relief or has the impulse to do it. Much like while they are still in the nest box.

Mine then take the next 5 weeks in a grow-out pen gaining weight to get to 5lbs. Then I butcher at 10 weeks.

Show rabbits and pet bunnies could stay longer til abt 8 weeks. By 10 weeks, mama will lift for the buck's in the litter, or they will chase around and mount their sisters.

Hope this answers some questions.

 

[DutchBunny03]

6 weeks minimum, at least for non-production rabbits. Meat rabbits, like NZs, are weaned earlier, because the dam needs to be bred closer apart. For show rabbits, 8 weeks is best. You want those rabbits to get a glossy coat and good body mass. But it really depends on the litter. I've seen rabbits hopping around independent from mum at 4 weeks, and rabbits at 7 weeks still wanting some more milk. It also depends on the kit. When you get big, husky ones, and runty ones, they obviously need to be weaned at different times.

 

[Marie28]

Thank you for alll the responses. We breed for meat and to sell. She seems to be tolerating it oky, no aggression that I have seen. The kit is eating pellets, hay and drinking from the water bottle. We are probably going to wait a couple more weeks, we are just breeding enough meat for us and our dogs so we have no need to breed back to back.

 

[HaloRabbits]

We aim to breed enough for us and the dogs as well.
We are only on our second litter but we weaned at 6 weeks last time, but kept the babies together until 8 weeks, at that point we separated the ones we were keeping into their own cages. This time we are only keeping one, so we will do the same but at 8 weeks, separate the one we are keeping and keep the others together until processing.

 

[samssimonsays]

My french lops would be 12 weeks old. Any younger and they would bloat. Some moms would wean them at 8 weeks but they were not to leave before the 12 week marker. Rabbits, not the meat variety but regular rabbits, should be weaned at 8 weeks with the exception of if the mother chooses to wean earlier.