Age to determine *** of young kits

[Orrin]

An "oops" litter arrived at our house and we didn't even know it until this week. (We got two female rescues from a shelter and they spaying operation on one of them either didn't pan out or didn't happen.)

Anyhow, we have nine lively kits (no stillbirths) and the shelter wants to take them away from us. Like right now! The shelter people are afraid of unwanted pregnancies in this new litter. Although we do not know their exact age we feel as though we have plenty of time before that will ever happen.

I want to keep the litter until we can determine the *** of the kits, then separate the bucks from the does. I definitely want to keep two, a beautiful silver-gray and one of the largest ones; bucks, of course. (The daddy is either a half-Flemmie or full-blooded Flemmie. He came from an "oops" litter, too.)

I finally get to my question. At what age will I be able to make a fairly accurate determination of the sexes? Right now, I am guessing they are about two weeks old.

Although the shadow obscures some of them, here are all nine. The picture was taken two days ago.

This is the largest one of the bunch.


Here is the runt of the litter. We find it hopping all over our free roam area, but worry about it because its little legs wobble as much as they hop. We are trying to supplement its feed with kitten milk formula with a dash of heavy whipping cream added. We used that in the past to rear a rescued cottontail kit that we raised to adulthood (and released).

 

[JBun]

You're right, you have plenty of time. 8-10 weeks is when the males and females should be separated. You shouldn't separate/wean then from mom til about 8 weeks anyways(unless mom decides to wean them earlier and wants them out of there). Just from your pictures, they look to be about 3 weeks old there, so you have about another 5 weeks to keep them together.

So with the shelter wanting you to give them the babies now, does that mean they want you to separate them from the mom and wean them now(which would be a very bad idea), or do they also want you to send the mom to them as well(not a great idea either)? Is this just a request on their part or are they trying to tell you what to do?

As for sexing, I would say around 5-8 weeks is when you can try and *** them, but even then some can be really difficult to tell and you have to wait until they are older to *** them properly. There's a tutorial of how to check here.

 

[Orrin]

I've followed the tutorial in the past and it was a big help--I haven't made any mistakes, yet. However, I've never sexed any kits this young.

I agree that the babies are far to young to be taken from the mom. I don't understand what is going on in the heads of the shelter people. By first-hand observation we know their needs and they clearly need to stay right where they are! Here are the two smallest ones. We are giving extra attention and food to the little rascal in the foreground. We are afraid it wouldn't have a chance competing for grub with its much larger litter mates. I worry, however, that the fresh alfalfa and kitten milk replacer is compatible with the bacterial flora in its gut. It is a wobbly little darling. I hope it survives.

 

[Orrin]

Here is an update on the tiny kit in the picture, above. It is getting stronger by the hour. We keep it in front of our easy chairs where we can keep a close eye on its food supply. The little rascal eats like a pig and poops like a rabbit. My wife feeds it formula every few hours. Whenever we work in our office we let it free roam. It loves to run and binky!

So far, this is the only one of the litter that we've named: Blue. Why? In order to keep track of it we marked it with blue food coloring and the name stuck. Granted, the name could cause complications further down the line because it has a blue-colored littermate.

 

[JBun]

So adorable!!!

I'm really glad it's doing so well with your(and your wife's) extra care and attention.

 

[Orrin]

Thank you. We are glad, too. The little rascal blessed us with this after this morning's feeding. We let it roam free for a few minutes each day. It had peed on my wife's T-shirt while feeding, yesterday, so we put this on the floor for its romping session. It got the idea. It didn't do business anywhere else, except here, just as intended.

It amazes me that a three-ounce, three week old bit of fluff can pick up on something so fast .

 

[April LD]

SO sweet. They look my sweet binks...binks in the gray/white/black bunny and his "brother" Tigger. I have had them for about 5 years and the boys are only now loving on each other.

Binks loves every bunny we have, but they don't always love back...it's been nice to see them together like this.

Tigger is a loan bun and likes it this way..he doesn't want to share HIS space, but shares with Binks and Binks' GF Mrs Bon-Bons. Mrs Bon Bons and Tigger don't get a along but the space in the backyard is so large they can run free and no fighting. Tigger is a good boy - I can tell him "Tigger No" and he immediately stops and will lay down; Mrs Bon Bons will stop and run the other direction...works great.

Binks with this GF Mrs Bon Bons - with Black bunny
Binks with Tigger - Orange/Tort bunny

 

[Popsicles]

Omg the little tiny poops :’D cutest thing! What an adorable little baby, good job to both of you!

 

[Orrin]

Binks closely resembles our Bugsy, the doe who just kindled. I'm partial to agouti.

 

[JimJam]

I can *** my kits 100% at three weeks old, but I usually confirm the sexes at week 4 and I've never got it wrong they are super adorable @Orrin

 

[jamesewaller]

I never tire of viewing bunz--so very lovely,and being loved...sincerely james waller for joseph r cottontail/bdenium rip

 

[Susannah]

So, cute...and you and your wife are doing an excellent job with them...

 

[Orrin]

This is my first experience with a litter of rabbits. The wide variety of sizes surprises me. In the first picture, compare the large size of the kit on the right (motion blur) with the one on the left. The tiniest, which we are hand-feeding in our living quarters, is even smaller, yet.


The Humane Society insisted that we bring in the doe for spaying, ASAP, so that is what we've done. The kits seem to be getting along o.k. without mother's milk; but, someone needed to step up to the plate and do some foster grooming. In the second picture Mr. (Mrs.?) Big grooms one of its smaller siblings. We are hand-feeding formula to two. The other seven are eating hay like pigs.

Supposedly, the buck is a full-blooded Flemish Giant (but, I suspect his daddy wasn't). Is it too far-fetched to guess that the larger one is showing more of its Flemish genes than its siblings? Can this happen?

 

[JimJam]

Yes! I breed Flemish Giant crosses as well as purebred and the crosses vary - some individuals show more Flemish genes then others. I reckon this is definitely the case in your litter.

 

[Orrin]

Thank you, JimJam! I was hoping someone with experience had an answer. I'm satisfied, now.