Care and Management of Rabbits/Chapter 18
XVIII
WEANING
WEANING
In the weaning of the young stock is where most beginners meet their stumbling block. Too many people have the idea, fostered by the dishonest claims of certain breeders who are trying to overemphasize the possibilities of the rabbit, that it is necessary for the doe to nurse the young only four weeks. After that they expect to breed her again and have another litter out of the way in another eight weeks.
Do not be so foolish. There is money to be made in keeping rabbits, but it is not to be made that way. In fact, that is a good way to lose all you have invested. The young rabbit needs the nursing of the mother doe longer than that. It's digestive system is not developed sufficiently at four weeks to enable it to handle the hay and grain which an adult rabbit is eating. One knows that a baby, for instance, cannot be fed solids until it is twelve months old. Suppose that someone would try to wean a baby from milk entirely at six months. Would it be peculiar if that youngster should pass away?
Yet people are constantly trying to fly in the face of Nature by doing this very thing with their rabbits. There is nothing to be gained in weaning the youngsters sooner than eight weeks. And if you practice this religiously you will find at the end of the year that you have had very little of the infant mortality you hear other breeders complaining so much about.
One of the largest breeders of New Zealand Reds in the country states that he weans the youngsters at seven weeks of age, allows the doe to rest a week, then breeds her again, provided it is in the breeding season, which is late winter to early summer, or in the fall. During the summer months he does not breed at all.
And he never does this unless he is rushed for time and a little behind on his schedule. With his fancy show stock he does not breed but twice a year and allows the doe to nurse the young for nearly three months. Each doe is allowed to handle only three youngsters. What does this prove to the beginner?
It should at least point out the fact that it pays to go slow in the breeding business and to take your does into consideration. I have seen excellent breeding does absolutely ruined in a season's forcing for some of the wonderful results that some dealers are claiming are possible with rabbits.
It is true that "pigs is pigs" but it is better to take Nature in consideration if you want to build substantially and achieve lasting and permanent success.
The young stock will commence to eat as soon as they get their eyes open and get out of the nest box, but they still need the help of the mother's milk.
By the time they are seven or eight weeks old they will be in a position to handle the grain and mash in fair shape and you can then successfully wean them. But by all means continue feeding them milk, if at all possible.
The litter is weaned by simply taking the doe away from the youngsters and putting her in a separate hutch. The litter should be left in the same hutch in which they were born. They will be better satisfied and results will be better than if you move them.