weighing kits

[SquashNut]

I had to clean my does nest box today and weighed her litter.
Is 3 1/2 pounds good for a 14 day old litter of 7?
I cann't find any information on weighing at 14 days.
Does this seem like alot?
My scale could be off, so I thought I'd ask.

[Bernadette]

I think you're asking a question that compare apples to oranges.

What breed of doe are we talking? First litter? What kind of buck?

Seven kits weighting a total of 3.5lbs gives an average of 1/2lb each. Sound like a decent chunk of rabbit to me.

Some of my does have huge kits, some carry on with steady weight gain, some don't, some have smaller kits that gain weight in leaps and bounds. In my books the only thing that really matters is how quickly those kits can gain enough to attain fryer weight. Comparing your rabbits to mine isn't really what's important.

Keeping good records, and comparing your doe A to your doe B is what matters (in my opinion), so you keep the better producers, and the offspring of the better producers, improving what you have on a regular basis.

Doesn't really answer your question though, does it?

[SquashNut]

since this is my first full sized rabbit litter I was hoping to compare to other peoples rabbits, then when I got a few nore litters I would compare my own litters against each other.
This litter is from my NZW buck and my California doe. First litter for the doe..
Second for the buck. That litter made 5 pounds average in about 9 weeks. I didn't own the doe so not sure many litters it was for her.

[orphy]

I would think your only concern would be that they are gaining weight, not whether the are keeping up with everyone elses. Bernadette is right apples to oranges.

[dlwelch]

Originally Posted by SquashNut

I had to clean my does nest box today and weighed her litter.
Is 3 1/2 pounds good for a 14 day old litter of 7?
I cann't find any information on weighing at 14 days.
Does this seem like alot?
My scale could be off, so I thought I'd ask.

If you think your scale is off, you could check it with a bag
of flour or sugar.


I commend you for being concerned about weight. You should
decide on a particular age to weigh and be consistant and
weigh *every* litter at that age. I have religiously weighed
my litters at 28 days for 9 years. Without benchmarks you
are not able to assess the milking ability of the doe and
the growth genetics of the dam and sire.

[orphy]

Noone said there is anything wrong with weighing the litters. But trying to compare them with other peoples is where it won't be that advantagous. I can tell her what my litter weight is at any certain point. But should I give the weight on the Nz/giant crosses or on my lionhead. It would be better to keep your own records and compare litter no 1 and litter no 2. That would be a comparison.

[SquashNut]

I see what your saying, your type of rabbits are different from mine. I'll have to find some one who raises the same as I do.
I was just looking for a starting point. If The first rabbit I have is poor at raising kits, I'll want to improve them, but how do I know if she is doing a good job with nothing to compare it to?
It's kinda like not getting a job with out experience, but you cann't get experience with out a job.

[MaggieJ]

Originally Posted by SquashNut

I see what your saying, your type of rabbits are different from mine. I'll have to find some one who raises the same as I do.
I was just looking for a starting point. If The first rabbit I have is poor at raising kits, I'll want to improve them, but how do I know if she is doing a good job with nothing to compare it to?
It's kinda like not getting a job with out experience, but you cann't get experience with out a job.

SquashNut, I think you may find that if you keep records for six months or so, you will have a pretty good idea of how well individual does are doing. Naturally, over time, you will select the best replacement stock from the litters... and if a young doe, who looked promising, is not delivering what you want after a couple of litters, you will cull her. If you keep on selecting the best of the best, improvement is bound to come.

[Bernadette]

To add to what Maggie said, another thing to pay attention to is how long it takes these kits to reach fryer weight.

I am learning which combinations of buck to doe produce the best performing offspring. It does take time, and more that one litter from a doe to be able to compare, but I thoroughly enjoy learning as I go.

And you know what? Mistakes taste just as good successes!!!

[dlwelch]

I had one litter of 5 NZ that were 14 days old yesterday. They
averaged 1/2 pound each. This is a 4H meat pen producing doe
who is selected for producing 5# fryers at 70 days. I have
a line/strain of NZW who will produce 5# fryers at 56 to 60 days.
I would expect those kits to weigh slightly more than 1/2 pound
at 14 days. But I had none to weigh!

Cross herd evaluation is being done by some rabbit producers
in other countries. It *could* be a useful concept but I don't think
it will ever become an accepted tool in the U.S.

[Bernadette]

Linda, I think the cross herd comparison would only be of value if all the variable were somehow considered, and I don't know how one could do that. Differences in feed, climate, housing, are all factors - not just genetics.

You have given Squashnut the one bench mark she's looking for - if 1/2lb at 14 days is an accepted weight in your rabbitry, then I'd say she's definitely on the right track.

[dlwelch]

Needless to say, the analysis is performed with very sophisticated
software and the use of BLUP - Best Linear Unbiased Prediction.
Several rabbitry tracking software companies have incorporated
BLUP into their packages.

You have given Squashnut the one bench mark she's looking for - if 1/2lb at 14 days is an accepted weight in your rabbitry, then I'd say she's definitely on the right track.

The 1/2 pound may not be acceptable in my barn if I were ONLY raising
for meat. It's not a weight that I have ever taken before. Based on the
data I have, I can *almost* guarantee that those kits (mine)will not
reach 4 3/4 to 5 pounds at 56 to 60 days.

However, the sales for 4H/FFA meat pens are so profitable that I
have to cater to those customers. How many would rather
sell 500 rabbits for $20 to $30 each instead of selling to a
processor for $1.20 per pound?

Linda Welch

[SquashNut]

I don't expect my kits to make 5 pounds in 56 days. I have made up a proposed breeding scedual of 31 day rebreeed and 10 week slaughter.
If the kits do better than that, so much the better. If not that's probably OK for now.
But I am not breeding for commercial use. Just some for our table and hoping to sale some breeding stock to pay the bills.
Part of the problem is, we are buying alot of rabbits right now and with out having some idea how our does are doing, I don't know if I should go back to that breeder to buy more or not. So I hoped to have some thing to gauge the rabbits with.
We are consitering buying a second buck, if this doe is not up to standards, we wouldn't want to buy a buck from that breeder for sure. (although it could be a feed problem too)
I'll weigh again at 28 days to have some thing to compare in the future.