Are there any repercussions if you wean a kit at 6 weeks old?

[Jessica Beee]

A breeder weans her kits at 6 weeks old, and I hear a lot of other breeders wean their kits at 8 weeks. Whats the difference?

 

[lauralynne]

Some wean at 200g rather than age. What's as important as that is making sure she's keeping them for a couple weeks after weaning to make sure their thriving on their own before letting them go to their new home.

 

[Kylelemler]

We wean at 7 weeks and hold on to for an addition two weeks. We were weaning at six weeks but with a suggestion from an older breeder we changed to 7.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

I wean at 8 wks and let them go at 10-12 weeks (depending how good they are eating on their own)

 

[Cuddlebug]

Wean at 8 - 10 weeks, depending on size and keep an additional 2 weeks to be sure they are doing well on their own.

 

[starleomach]

I wean at 8 and keep them 1

 

[greychins]

I wean at 8 and keep them an additional week to check they're still gaining. However... the precursor to that is that if they are not 250 grams, they're not leaving even if they do gain and do fine after weaning in weeks 8-9. They have to be 250 to leave here.

 

[saphire]

I wean at 2 months done to the day and keep them 2 weeks..

 

[AZChins]

I do things a little differently. Some kits do great being weaned at 8 weeks, some need a little more time. I keep an eye on the babies to see how they are progressing. With female kits I will keep them in with their mamas for longer than males because of the social interaction with another chin. The older a kit is at weaning generally the less stressed it will be.

It's usually between 9 and 11 weeks that I end up weaning. There never seems to be an occasion where weaning at six weeks is necessary.

I could give you a dozen reasons why it benefits a kit to be allowed to nurse and stay with its mama for as long as possible...

 

[saphire]

I agree with Susan, the longer the better.

 

[Godins Chinchillas]

It depends here. I weaned a kit recently that was 6 weeks 4 days. She was 300 grams and I needed her mom for a newborn whose mother was not producing milk and ended up passing away due to 2 abdominal abcesses and perforation while we had her in surgery. That is my rare case when I needed to wean earlier. Otherwise they are with mom until 8 weeks and they stay here until they are 9 weeks. Now if the above kit was not 300 gr she would of stayed with mom and I would of rotated the newborn with her.

 

[mishalaa]

There never seems to be an occasion where weaning at six weeks is necessary.

I had one. Mom was attacking her kit at 6 weeks. She was over 200g so I went ahead and weaned her. She did fine.

Also, like Jessica, I had an instance in which I needed a foster mom for a litter of triplets, so I weaned a litter at six weeks and rotated kits in order for all the younger kits to have a nursemaid chin, and no mother to be nursing more than two kits.

These were rare occasions. My general rule is 8 weeks and at least 200g. But other breeders have weaned all their litters at 6 weeks before, it's not unheard of. That's their choice.

 

[AZChins]

That's a pretty rare thing to happen since most mother chins won't attack any of their little ones.

I haven't weaned a kit under 8 weeks in recent memory. It's better for a kit to nurse as long as possible to get that little bit of extra immune system help.

When there is a good reason to wean early, that's fine. However, I have seen MANY MANY backyard breeders that will wean as early as possible in order to sell their kits and make money. That should never even factor into the equation. When I hear about people regularly weaning kits early I automatically start thinking that it's because they want the cash for the chins sooner. I'm not saying that everyone does that, but around here I've seen it happen many times and often the health of the kits suffer because someone couldn't just wait a few more weeks.

 

[Mt. Zion Chins]

the ONLY time I have wean kits at 6 weeks is because the mother is constantly yaking at me and making the kits afraid of me. I wean them early and work with them a lot and weight them every day to make sure they are doing ok. However they still don't leave my home until they are at least 10 weeks of age.