Hi All , just thinking ahead a bit here and wondering about weaning . My 13 little hungry monsters are now a week old and doing great , all more than doubled their birth weight and are contented little porkers . With a very large litter like this do you think it would wise to start weaning slightly early ? more to take some pressure off mum to be honest.
She has plenty of milk for them all and they are all gaining evenly so no problems there but obviously 13 is a lot to feed , what are your thoughts? I was considering starting to offer small amounts next weekend when they are 2 weeks.

Certainly would start them at two weeks if they show interest. 

I have started as soon as eyes open if the weight gain was levelling out, as the rate of gain should be increasing.

I start mine anyway at 18 days so they are already eating by the time I worm at 3 weeks.

I had a litter of med sized Gundogs August 2009. I started weaning at 17 days with no problems.
Diane

I started my litter of 12 at day 15 on good advice from here.  My girl came off the litter looking in great condition :) She had plenty of milk and they were gaining nicely, but I am sure starting to wean them early helped her.

We had a litter of eleven and didn't start weaning till over 3 weeks, Mum was happy to feed them and they did well :-)

lucy i started my lot of 9 at 17 days  and all did great :)
xxxx