First Litter Of Kits - Advice Please

[Country Joe 1,411]

your problems are going to be 1) food (they eat for england)

2) socialising the kits (with 2 litters it will take up alot of time to do a propper job)

 

 

just a question, why put both jills in kit??? personally ive left a hob and multiple jills together to rear kits without any troubles, even witnessed the hob playing with the kits for hours and the jills will spend hours robbing and moving each others kits to their nest box. but if something goes wrong it will effect all of them, this should not be the case if housed indiviual. either way i think your in for one steep learning curve.

Spot on Paulus.

[The one 8,451]

Good luck getting rid of the surplus kits mate ,with the lack of rabbits a few guys are packing in altogether so i hope with two jills ready to drop anybody thats said or reserved a kit doesn't back out or your going to get left with a few and as been said get the freezer topped up as two litters will empty it for fun

[smoothfinish 26]

split the 3 up mate let the mothers bond with her young for a few weeks then you can put both jills in the same cage with there young until you get rid of them DO NOT LET THE HOB HAVE ANY CONTACT! with the young that could get very messy and one for thing if you do struggle to get rid of any please PM me and il take a jill but only if mother and father have a good temperament hope this helps

[northwestferreting 1]

What do you feed kits on,when they stop feeding from their mother?and how long do they feed off theor mother for?

[Country Joe 1,411]

What do you feed kits on,when they stop feeding from their mother?and how long do they feed off theor mother for?

All this should have been found out before breeding a litter.

You should have had a shed freezer. when I bred, i skinned the Rabbits chopped them in three pieces with an axe.

then bagged them and froze.

you could just put in a whole rabbit, but soon there will be flies about.

[The one 8,451]

What do you feed kits on,when they stop feeding from their mother?and how long do they feed off theor mother for?

Try them on a young rabbit or a back leg off a rabbit from three weeks of age they wont eat it but they will suck the meat juice off it ,and increase the amount you put in as they grow they would suckle off the mother till you split them up so i start them off on solids early and it gives the jill a break more so if its a big litter , and i take her away for a hour then two and finally just putting her back in at night . By the time the kits are six weeks if there eating and drinking well i remove the jill and run the kits on themselves for another two weeks to a month before i rehome them . theres no point leaving the jill in with a big litter of kits they will just drag her condition down and she will look like crap , By the time my litter of kits are six weeks old they where eating two full rabbits a day

[smoothfinish 26]

wood pigeon breast when there 3-4weeks as the meat when fresh is very soft and is great for there protein diet cut 3 to 4 breasts in to the size of your finger ends then start them on the rabbit carcass and maybe a egg once a week then mother wont get too drained and keep mum well fed and hydrated all the best

[stubby 175]

always make me laugh when people say hobs will kill young, maybe 30yrs ago when ferts were fed bread and milk and NO MEAT, then yes they would eat them, but its not a done deal nowdays, I have in the past housed 4 jills and 2 hobs together in a fert court, spaded jills become aunts and help with the young ones, and hobs make marvelous dads, being just as gentle as the jills, the only time hobs need to be removed is when the young get to around 10 weeks old, as the hobs then want to mate them.

 

ok, so this is your first litter, yes it would have been better to only let the best jill breed, but thats too late now, so put the hob in one cage, and keep both jills together, if they both have young, the will both feed each others, makes it alot easier on first time mothers

[smoothfinish 26]

I was not saying that the father will eat his young i said it is better to take him out as when my polecats had there first litter 3years ago the father killed all 6 kits and he was not a bad ferret i fed him like a king my old man still says it was the jill that killed there litter but she had never even had a live mouse :s so i don.t no but just to be safe

[masmiffy 82]

Personally I would remove the hob and leave the jills together always worked for me never had any problems.

Last time I bred ferts the 2 jills had 8 each when they want meat its a lot of mouths to feed.

I used to give mine 'soaked' dry ferret food as well as dead stuff.

As for 'socialising' never had any problems with that either just let the kits play with you as much as you can.

I always had my hands on kits from day 1 again never had any problems just make sure you handle the jills before going into the nest!!

Good luck with whatever you decide to do.

 

I have given up ferts now due to lack of rabbits, short 'seasons' and a ferreting partner.

Miss the little buggers tho

Edited April 3, 2013 by masmiffy

[Malt 379]

I was not saying that the father will eat his young i said it is better to take him out as when my polecats had there first litter 3years ago the father killed all 6 kits and he was not a bad ferret i fed him like a king my old man still says it was the jill that killed there litter but she had never even had a live mouse :s so i don.t no but just to be safe

Jills are known for killing their litters on occasion..

[Country Joe 1,411]

 

 

I was not saying that the father will eat his young i said it is better to take him out as when my polecats had there first litter 3years ago the father killed all 6 kits and he was not a bad ferret i fed him like a king my old man still says it was the jill that killed there litter but she had never even had a live mouse :s so i don.t no but just to be safe

Jills are known for killing their litters on occasion..

 

 

Very true, especially if you start disturbing them, when not long born.

[The one 8,451]

 

 

I was not saying that the father will eat his young i said it is better to take him out as when my polecats had there first litter 3years ago the father killed all 6 kits and he was not a bad ferret i fed him like a king my old man still says it was the jill that killed there litter but she had never even had a live mouse :s so i don.t no but just to be safe

Jills are known for killing their litters on occasion..

 

Very true, especially if you start disturbing them, when not long born.

if its a jills first litter its a gamble you dont even have to disturb them to set them off

[Nigel1 10]

Hi mate if im correct your only 14 yrs old you asked theses questions thinking about breeding in one of your recent post and you decided to leave it a year as your Jill was very young not 12 months so you decided to leave it till you get more experience no offence but why take good advice of the lads who has been there and done it then do something totally different but hey you no best so ATB

[Nigel1 10]

Above post is ment for rookie hunter from Wigan