should I put off weaning? 8 week old flemish giant kits

[TinysMom]

Harmony's kits (flemish giant) turned 8 weeks old today and I thought I would try to wean them. After looking them over - I wound up leaving three kits with mama and putting the other three in the cage next door.

Mama and kits are all very upset. The three kits that didn't get nursed were having fits when mama nursed the three in her cage - and mama won't touch her food and is laying as close to the other cage as she can to be near those kits. Mind you - the kits in her cage are all over the place in there (big cage) - but the three I was going to start weaning are as close to mama as they can be and as I said - she seems pretty upset.

Harmony has been an awesome mama and I know flemish can mature more slowly (or so it seems) than the smaller breeds.

Would you leave the kits with mama another week or so - till mama decides herself to stop nursing?

I do know that when she nurses - one kit just goes off to the side and eats - like he/she isn't really interested in nursing anymore (but is still affectionate with mama).

I'm really looking forward to hearing what experienced breeders have to say about this - particularly if you've worked with the larger breeds.

Oh - and mama is in great shape - so it isn't like it would hurt her condition to let the kits stay a bit longer.

 

[Inle_Rabbitry]

What I do when weaning, is figure out which kits are more attached to the mother (and you have obviously observed which ones those are by now) and keep those kits in with her for an extra week, while I remove the ones that are less attached. Gruadually over this extra week, I'll remove one kit from the mother each day. So far, this seems to help both the mother and kits to gradually get use to being apart. Nearly every mother rabbit I have had, has gone through some sort of depression after her kits are removed, but she soon regains herself after a few days and is back to being perfectly normal. Another thing you could do is just place the kits in a cage next to the mother. She won't stress out if she can still see and smell them, but it will get her use to not having them around and eventually, she'll ignore them if they're neighboring her.

Hope this helps!

 

[Inle_Rabbitry]

What I do when weaning, is figure out which kits are more attached to the mother (and you have obviously observed which ones those are by now) and keep those kits in with her for an extra week, while I remove the ones that are less attached. Gruadually over this extra week, I'll remove one kit from the mother each day. So far, this seems to help both the mother and kits to gradually get use to being apart. Nearly every mother rabbit I have had, has gone through some sort of depression after her kits are removed, but she soon regains herself after a few days and is back to being perfectly normal. Another thing you could do is just place the kits in a cage next to the mother. She won't stress out if she can still see and smell them, but it will get her use to not having them around and eventually, she'll ignore them if they're neighboring her.

Hope this helps!

 

[RAL Rabbitry]

I don't think it will hurt to leave them in with her another week or so. They are too young to breed and she is in good shape. I would then move Mama to another area to make the break clean.

Roger

 

[SilverBirchRabbitry]

I would leave them in with their mother for another week. I also suggest that maybe you move the other three kits where they cannot see their mother. Just a suggestion.