When and How to Remove Baby Bunnies + Nest?

[Binks]

Hi, quick question, and a quick answer would be appreciated as this is a time sensitive situation, my rabbit had 7 babies and they're almost ready to leave home [weaned]

I privately sold all of them and the new owners are coming to pick them up at different times...

What I was wondering was this:

Should all the babies be taken away at once, or is it ok for them to be taken away a few at a time? I might have 2 taken away this Monday, then 2 taken on Tuesday, then 2 on Friday. I'll be keeping the last one with the mother.

This is the mother's first litter as well, I'd like to make this process as stress free as possible.

Thanks

 

[Blue eyes]

"Weaned" and "ready to leave home" are not necessarily the same time. What are their ages?

Also, what have they been eating?

 

[Binks]

"Weaned" and "ready to leave home" are not necessarily the same time. What are their ages?

Also, what have they been eating?

They're 4 weeks since Friday, they're eating pellets, hay, and drinking water, they've even been trying to steal the mother's lettuce, so we had to feed her lettuce when she's out of her cage. They are 100% healthy and ready to get their lives started. I was only wondering for the mother's sake! is she still going to develop milk for only 3 babies? 1 baby?

 

[JBun]

4 weeks is too early for baby rabbits to be separated from their mom. If at all possible they should stay with mom and not be weaned until at least 7 weeks old. They shouldn't be sent to new homes until they are at least 8 weeks old. If you are in the US(as well as some other countries) it may even be illegal to sell baby rabbits in your area, until they are 8 weeks old.

There are a few reasons for this. Baby rabbits are very prone to developing digestive illnesses at weaning time, which many times can prove fatal to them. The longer they can stay with mom, the better chance they will have of staying healthy and not getting sick. That extra time is important for their immune system and digestive health to fully develop. They also develop important skills that they may miss out on if weaned too early. Things like how to drink from a bottle or bowl, how to eat solid food, and social skills.

On occasion there are mom rabbits that will wean her babies on her own before 7 weeks old, and you can't really do anything about it. But even then the babies should stay together with their siblings and not be sold until 8 weeks old, to give their immune system time to fully develop before subjecting them to the stresses of being separated from mom and siblings, and being in a new home. Stress can actually be extremely detrimental to rabbits, particularly the babies.

Wait until they are 7 weeks old to wean them. If mom is till nursing them, then wean a couple of the babies(wean the largest ones first) every 2-3 days. This gives the mom's milk time to gradually dry up. It can also be helpful for the smaller babies to stay with mom the longest and get more milk before they get weaned too. The babies that you wean, you can put together in another cage, or less stressful is to keep the babies in the cage they are used to and put mom in a new cage with the unweaned babies. Then continue weaning a few more babies every few days, until they are all weaned at 8 weeks old. With baby rabbits, it's very important to minimize the stress of weaning as much as possible.

 

[Aki]

:yeahthat: Babies under 8 weeks aren't ready to leave. I'm surprised you didn't come across this information while researching before deciding to breed, because that's something everyone knowledgeable about rabbits agree about.

 

[Blue eyes]

For convenience, here are the feeding recommendations from the House Rabbit Society:

• Birth to 3 weeks–mother’s milk
• 3 to 4 weeks–mother’s milk, nibbles of alfalfa and pellets
• 4 to 7 weeks–mother’s milk, access to alfalfa and pellets
• 7 weeks to 7 months–unlimited pellets, unlimited hay (plus see 12 weeks below)
• 12 weeks–introduce vegetables (one at a time, quantities under 1/2 oz.)
If momma is eating greens w/ babies before this, they can continue.

And this from Rabbit Health Central:

A domestic rabbit feeds her babies for about 8 weeks, gradually decreasing the frequency of feedings until they lose interest. Your baby bunnies will start to nibble on pellets and solid food at about the age of two to three weeks, but this does NOT mean they are ready to be weaned.

 

[woahlookitsme]

As a breeder for almost 9years I completely agree with JBun. It is very important for babies to get healthy gut flora from mom and that she teaches them to eat cecotropes as well. To give them the best chance they should not be taken away from mom at least until 6-8weeks of age. I only weaned one of my litters at 5weeks and that was because mom was too high energy to stay with them.

This litter might turn out to be okay and healthy at your home right now but when put into a new environment they also might run into GI issues from stress. If the babies are older and bigger they can handle this stress much better. Since you have these babies already separeted and eating pellets if you must sell them I would but for future reference I would not continue that practice.

 

[majorv]

Fellow breeder of show rabbits here...totally agree with jbun and woahlookitsme

 

[Preitler]

For convenience, here are the feeding recommendations from the House Rabbit Society:

• Birth to 3 weeks–mother’s milk
• 3 to 4 weeks–mother’s milk, nibbles of alfalfa and pellets
• 4 to 7 weeks–mother’s milk, access to alfalfa and pellets
• 7 weeks to 7 months–unlimited pellets, unlimited hay (plus see 12 weeks below)
• 12 weeks–introduce vegetables (one at a time, quantities under 1/2 oz.)
If momma is eating greens w/ babies before this, they can continue.

Pardon me, but sometimes when I read something quoted from this society I'm stumped.

That feeding recommendation is perfect for getting commercial meat rabbits to slaughter weight fast. In my opinion, fastest possible growth isn't the same as healthy. Ok, no question, it works, and there my be not awful consequences, but in my opinion, this is bad advice.

Kits should have access to whatever the doe eats, imho a wide veriety of fresh forage, hay, very little pellets, maybe some rolled oats. There is no sense in keeping greens out of the diet.

Well, greens: I mean weeds, grass, all kinds of it. Little vegetables, fruits or salads, only in winter in small amounts . that is stuff created by humans for our digestive systems, that differs a lot from rabbits.

Good thing is that rabbits can cope with a lot of diets, but it doesn't need to be expensive to be good.

 

[Blue eyes]

Kits should have access to whatever the doe eats, imho a wide veriety of fresh forage, hay, very little pellets, maybe some rolled oats. There is no sense in keeping greens out of the diet.

The HRS deals mostly with rescue rabbits and often those rabbits come from questionable backgrounds.

I agree that greens are fine if momma was also fed greens. Unfortunately this is seldom the case with rescue rabbits. Giving greens to young rabbits from these backgrounds usually proves fatal. (Their little digestive systems don't have the enzymes from momma's milk to help digest the greens.)

I always took the HRS recommendations in this light -- if one doesn't know the rabbit's background, then err on the side of caution and hold off on offering greens.

Other than that, the recommendations essentially do give "the kits access to whatever the doe is eating."

The list also helps newbies to see how the weaning process is a gradual process.

 

[ladysown]

My babies in the nestbox are nibbling on hay and pellets starting at the end of week one. The earlier you start them eating solid food they healthy they are long term gut health wise. at two weeks I flip the nestbox on it's side and scatter pellets in the box and put hay or greens at the side, and they eat. Getting more and more solid feed at the weeks go. Prevents them from driving momma nuts as well.

I STRONGLY disagree with feeding them unlimited feed until they are seven months old. PERHAPS until they are four months old but definitely not until seven months old.. good way to get fat rabbits. There are also studies that show if you slightly underfeed them at 3-4 months old their bodies learn to utilize the feed they get better.

In regards to the poster.
Four weeks is a tad young to sell though I've known quite a few people who have done so successfully.

Better is six weeks.

if you live stateside legally you can't until 8 weeks.

as to taking them away from momma. all at once or in pairs or singly... it all works. She'll adjust.