When to wean when does are expecting agian

[Zorander]

Here's a picture of everyone in my dining room over the frigid weather.

 

[Hens and Roos]

interesting information, thanks for sharing. Our does once weaned want nothing to do with the kits. We raise Californian rabbits and 1 doe is very protective of her nest box for the 1st week or so after kindling. We have not tried breeding does back while they are caring of current kits. If you wean current kits at 6 weeks and does are 1.5 weeks pregnant with next litter- you are rebreeding when the current kits are around 4.5 weeks old correct? What extra conditioning/feed are you providing the does to keep them in good condition?

This past year we struggled with our buck doing his job, we just had a doe kindle a litter of 7(only 3 kits remain; 4 probably died around a week of age- so not sure what happened there) from using this particular buck- we were figuring she wasn't expecting since he didn't finish the job.

 

[Catalaya's Rabbitry]

http://catalayarabbitry.weebly.com/1/post/2013/12/how-to-breed-for-rabbit-shows.html

Here's an article on when to rebreed and when to wean based on number of litters you want per year.

 

[Catalaya's Rabbitry]

http://catalayarabbitry.weebly.com/1/post/2013/12/how-to-breed-for-rabbit-shows.html

This is a good article on rebreeding, weaning, and number of litters per year.

 

[Hens and Roos]

thanks for posting the link, it is a handy reference to have!

 

[Zorander]

you are rebreeding when the current kits are around 4.5 weeks old correct? What extra conditioning/feed are you providing the does to keep them in good condition?

For my does, I wait until their bodies look like they did pre pregnancy.
They are free range in my backyard daily so they build up good muscle tone and get to eat a natural foraging diet. I give them a ton of greens daily and I put a big handful or two of calf manna in their bowl of pellets for them and their older kits.

 

[Zorander]

I'm sitting out in my yard petting the rabbits and I just realized I never actually weaned the kits. They still had access to their moms during the day and early evening but they eventually just stopped being interested in nursing and were way more into foraging and eating the greens I brought out a few times a day.

 

[Hens and Roos]

must be nice weather by you, we have big snow flakes falling here! No sitting out in the yard! Thanks for the information, I will have to look into the calf manna(have only seen 50 lbs bags by us so far)

 

[Zorander]

must be nice weather by you, we have big snow flakes falling here! No sitting out in the yard! Thanks for the information, I will have to look into the calf manna(have only seen 50 lbs bags by us so far)

Our weather has turned nice. It went from averaging mid 40's 2 weeks ago, last week it got down -30° then up to 60° yesterday. Weird weather. ..for the calf manna I got a small bag, maybe 5#.