I desperately would like to have a hanging scale like the one pictured here from Bass Equipment. It would make life so much easier when it comes to weighing rabbits. But at present I don’t have any place to hang one, or at least not any place convenient, so the produce scale with the rabbit chewed box continues to be my option. Though I think that it is time to replace the box. We’ll be making a quarterly run to Costco soon, so I’m sure I’ll find another box of appropriate size there. I really like the Mexican Coke boxes for this, but since we don’t drink it, they are harder to come by.
Anyway, I weighed the big kits on Thursday and the smaller kits on Sunday, so here for your viewing pleasure is a list of numbers you probably don’t care about unless you are specifically looking for the weights of New Zealand Whites at various stages of their growth cycles. Which is why I do this, really. So other folks can have a reference out there floating on the internet. One that I didn’t have when I started this venture, but sorely wished I did.
Lola’s (x Leo) First Litter at 15 Weeks Old:
Kit 1: 7 lb
Kit 2: 6 lb 10.9 oz
Kit 3: 7 lb 1.4 oz
Kit 4: 7 lb 13.3 oz
Kit 5: 6 lb 8.7 oz
Kit 6: 7 lb 0.7 oz
Total Litter Weight: 42 lb 2.7 oz
Amount Gained: 4 lb 9.5 ounces
Phoebe’s (x Leo) Second Litter at 12 Weeks Old:
Kit 1: 5 lb 14 oz
Kit 2: 5 lb 8.7 oz
Kit 3: 5 lb 0.3 oz
Kit 4: 4 lb 11.5 oz (Runtilla the Bun)
Kit 5: 5 lb 1.2 oz
Kit 6: 5 lb 14.1 oz
Kit 7: 5 lb 4.5 oz
Total Litter Weight: 34 lb 6.3 oz
Amount Gained: 2 lb 6.5 oz
Piper’s (x Starbuck) Fifth Litter at 8 Weeks Old:
Kit 1: 2 lb 9.5 oz (Colossus the runt we force nursed)
Kit 2: 4 lb 0.7 oz
Kit 3: 4 lb 1.7 oz
Kit 4: 4 lb 3.4 oz
Kit 5: 4 lb 9 oz
Kit 6: 3 lb 13 oz
Total Litter Weight: 23 lb 5.3 oz
Amount Gained: 4 lb 2.6 oz
Sweetie Belle’s (x Leo) First Litter at 8 Weeks Old:
Kit 1: 3 lb 7.2 oz
Kit 2: 3 lb 11 oz
Kit 3: 4 lb 0.5 oz
Kit 4: 3 lb 3.2 oz
Kit 5: 3 lb 9 oz
Kit 6: 3 lb 15.9 oz
Kit 7: 3 lb 6.3 oz
Kit 8: 3 lb 13.2 oz
Kit 9: 3 lb 1.2 oz
Total Litter Weight: 32 lb 3.5 oz
Amount Gained: 6 lb 2.3 oz
Lola’s (x Starbuck) Second Litter at 4 Weeks Old:
Kit 1: 1 lb
Kit 2: 1 lb 2.8 oz
Kit 3: 1 lb 2.2 oz
Kit 4: 1 lb 5.8 oz
Kit 5: 15.5 oz
Kit 6: 1 lb 6.2 oz
Kit 7: 1 lb 2.3 oz
Total Litter Weight: 8 lb 2.8 oz
Amount Gained: 3 lb 6.3 oz
Serenity’s (x Leo) First Litter at 4 Weeks Old:
Kit 1: 15.6 oz
Kit 2: 1 lb 14.6 oz
Kit 3: 1 lb 0.5 oz
Kit 4: 1 lb 0.5 oz
Kit 5: 1 lb 1.9 oz
Kit 6: 1 lb 1.6 oz
Kit 7: 1 lb 15.6 oz
Total Litter Weight: 9 lb 2.3 oz
Amount Gained: 5 lb 1.8 oz
I will check on the newborns this afternoon and see if the larger litter looks like each kit is getting enough milk. If not, I will go ahead and give 2 of Phoebe’s kits to Andromeda to raise. With only 4, she will have huge, fat kits from lack of milk competition. If raising six they will still be large, but not as enormous. And all of Phoebe’s will have an equal shake. One just needs to compare the size of Piper’s kits above and the size of Sweetie Belle’s kits above to see the difference in weights of a litter of 9 and a litter of 6, Colossus’ weight notwithstanding since the whole situation with him was a fluke. I don’t want to wait too long to make the choice, either. They grow so fast and I don’t want them to be too far from the same size if I switch them.
If I foster them this will be my first time doing it. Thankfully there is plenty of Andromeda’s fur to rub her scent all over them. And by doing it at mid-day they’ll take on the smell of the rest of the litter well before the evening feed and shouldn’t be rejected. Hopefully it won’t be an issue at all and Phoebe will do just fine with her nine.
When Did This Become a Farm? 
All of our fostering attempts have gone smoothly. As long as size is very similar we just rub them on the doe’s side and bury them in with the others. We have never had a rejection. I hope it goes smoothly for you too. It is really worth it.
It seems to be going pretty well. The fostered kit is now as fat as the other ones.
A lot of people use vanilla when fostering from one litter to another. A little on your hands, a little on the mother rabbit’s nose, a little on the kit… Suddenly everything smells like vanilla and by the time it doesn’t they have NO idea.
I also appreciate your posted weights and dress-out weights. It gives me a reference guide written out that I think a lot of breeders sorely need. I’d love to go through your posts and chart them. My own weigh charts are hand-written scattered throughout the house. 😛
I can’t stand the smell of vanilla myself.
Charts would be handy. I’ve thought of making them but forgot how to do it a long time ago.
What about a supermarket produce scale? One could probably be had for cheap with a little digging.
I’ve thought about a produce scale, but they are pretty expensive.