Tale of Tails Rabbitry
Loving the herd life
A breeder sold me a buck and doe, but lowered the price on both because she believed they had slightly pinched hips. At the time, I was not interested in showing and just wanted healthy Silver Foxes to breed. Things have changed and I am considering showing because...well, that is a long story that I will save to post to my blog.
The buck and doe that showed slightly pinched hips at 8 weeks and 11 weeks are now turning 6 months old and both have nice wide parallel back legs and pose full to the table. I read somewhere that young rabbits pretty much all looked pinched when they are younger so I have been practicing on evaluating my last kindle of crosses that are 11 weeks old today. I have been noticing one doe that has a leg that is toed out much more than the other and another one that is truly pinched, and one appears narrow, but the other two look only slightly pinched, so also look somewhat undercut, but they are about the same as the ones I got that now have good hindquarters. I notice my last kindle all the bunnies looked at least slightly pinched as well.
So my questions are:
Do all or most young rabbits have somewhat pinched hips until they are older?
If so, at what age do they correct?
I do not want to cull a potentially show quality rabbit by mistake.
The buck and doe that showed slightly pinched hips at 8 weeks and 11 weeks are now turning 6 months old and both have nice wide parallel back legs and pose full to the table. I read somewhere that young rabbits pretty much all looked pinched when they are younger so I have been practicing on evaluating my last kindle of crosses that are 11 weeks old today. I have been noticing one doe that has a leg that is toed out much more than the other and another one that is truly pinched, and one appears narrow, but the other two look only slightly pinched, so also look somewhat undercut, but they are about the same as the ones I got that now have good hindquarters. I notice my last kindle all the bunnies looked at least slightly pinched as well.
So my questions are:
Do all or most young rabbits have somewhat pinched hips until they are older?
If so, at what age do they correct?
I do not want to cull a potentially show quality rabbit by mistake.
Which is probably why at least one grand champion leg needs to be won as a senior for a grand championship to be awarded.
culling a 10 month old buck today....
