Keeping rabbits at home

Regardless of the scale of the economy (farm or household), special cages are built for rabbits. Thanks to this, feed is used correctly, breeding work is carried out successfully, and it is much easier for the owners of the farm to monitor the health of animals and take preventive measures in a timely manner.

This article will describe the main features and methods of keeping rabbits. You will also find photos and drawings of cages for rearing livestock in summer and winter.

Keeping rabbits at home

Temperature and humidity conditions and lighting

The paws and ears of animals are very sensitive to frostbite, but high temperatures also adversely affect the health of animals. In the rabbitry, you need to maintain a stable temperature at the level of 12-18 degrees.

Note: Adults can withstand extreme cold or heat, but only for a few days. If the temperature extremes last longer, the animals will get sick and die.

In addition, the room should have an optimal level of humidity, since with excessive dryness or humidity, animals develop diseases and reduce productivity. Drafts are also a danger, so all cracks in the containment room must be closed.

In the summer, the room should have natural light, but if the weather is too hot, the cells should be shaded, and special sheds should be equipped on open ranges. In winter, natural lighting must be supplemented with artificial.

Hygiene and nutrition

These animals are very demanding on hygienic conditions of keeping and feeding. The room should be well ventilated, and the interior space should be regularly cleaned of manure, wool and feed residues. This condition plays a particularly important role when keeping rabbits at home in enclosed spaces.

Note: To comply with hygiene requirements, cages are cleaned twice a week, and drinkers and feeders are cleaned daily.

Equally important is the observance of hygiene requirements when feeding and watering livestock. Water should be clean and should be changed daily. Fresh grass, which is given to animals as food, is pre-washed under running water, and then lightly dried. Any feed should only be laid out in the feeders, as the food will become contaminated on the floor. Before issuing a fresh portion of feed, food remains are removed from the container.

When feeding, preference should be given to juicy seasonal feeds, and in winter, supplement the diet with root crops, high-quality hay and special compound feeds.

Prevention of injury and disease

Rabbits are very easily injured, so the cages must be made so that they do not have sharp corners. In addition, with the simultaneous maintenance of several individuals in cramped cages, fights arise between animals. To prevent this from happening, you need to simultaneously place only individuals of the same age. New animals cannot be added later.

When buying new animals, they must be quarantined for a month, preventing contact with the rest of the livestock. In addition, at the first signs of malaise, the animal is isolated from the rest until the exact cause of the disease is determined and the treatment is completed. Cells are disinfected several times a year with special agents or a blowtorch. Disinfection is also carried out when transplanting new individuals or after treating diseases.

Ways to keep rabbits

There are several ways to keep rabbits in the household. Animals can be permanently kept in cages or an aviary. They can also be kept in pits and free range. In the pits, rodents dig their own holes, and the quality of the meat increases. But with this method of keeping, the quality of the fur deteriorates, so it is not suitable for breeding animals to obtain fur.

Keeping rabbits in cages for beginners

Rabbit cages come in several types:

• In warm climates, they can be installed outdoors (for example, in the yard);
• In cold regions, structures are installed indoors;
• There is also a combined type of content: in summer, animals are on the street, and in winter - indoors.

Each type has some nuances. So, if the cages are in the yard, drafts should not be allowed nearby. In addition, rabbits do not tolerate high and low humidity.

The most optimal humidity is considered to be no higher than 75%, although even at a humidity below 50% the animals will feel bad. Also, the cages should not be allowed to be in wetlands, where fogs often occur.

Examples of the location of cages in open areas are shown in Figure 1. If they are placed in a barn or any other room, care should also be taken that the room always has clean and sufficiently humidified air. Other indoor cage placement requirements include(picture 2):

• They can be placed in several tiers in two rows, facing each other;
• Between the rows you need to leave a passage;
• The ends must be covered with shields so that there are no drafts inside;
• Electric lighting is carried out in the cages, since the average length of daylight hours to ensure high productivity and normal development of the livestock should be about 10 hours a day;
• When choosing the type of cage, you need to focus not only on climatic conditions, but also on the breed and size of animals.

For example, for adult animals of downy and meat-skin breeds, one- or two-section cages can be equipped. The optimal length ranges from 110 to 130 centimeters, respectively, but with enough building materials, the length can be increased to one and a half meters.

When equipping a cage for group keeping of young animals, it is important to calculate the number of animals that will be in it. Based on this quantity, the length and width are calculated.

Note: One adult individual should have approximately 0.7 square meters of space, and with a group content, this figure is 0.1 square meters. meters (for cells with a mesh floor) and 0.3 square meters. meters (with wooden floor).

Juveniles intended for breeding and sale can also be kept in regular adult cages. In this case, the number of animals should be as follows:

• Up to seven commercial young animals;
• Four males or females intended for breeding.

It is worth noting that females are kept together only until the beginning of the pregnancy period, and then they are seated. Males can be kept in groups only up to three months of age. However, in winter they are also brought into groups, and in summer they are separated.

Group keeping significantly reduces the quality of skins in males. Therefore, if the farm does not have enough space for individual maintenance, only males intended for obtaining skins are seated in separate cages. An important role is given to the mating of animals. How to conduct it correctly - see the video.

Drinkers for rabbits

In front of each cage, you need to install built-in feeders for root crops and concentrates, as well as drinkers. This design greatly facilitates the care of animals. On top of the feeder, a metal crayfish with transverse partitions is made so that suckling cubs do not climb into the feeder. The drinking bowl should also be protected.

For the issuance of grain and granules, it is advisable to install self-feeding bunkers, the feed supply in which is replenished once a day (Figure 3). You can also learn the detailed device of the bunker feeder from the video.

Note: Some rabbit breeders advise laying the amount of feed calculated for several days at once. However, this is not recommended, since in this case the diet of animals is disturbed and feed consumption increases.

If there are no built-in drinkers, you can use plug-in ones. However, they must be of a stable construction so that animals cannot knock them over, and they must also be easy to clean. For example, for these purposes, you can use tin cans or clay cups fixed to the floor or wall (with a hook, a nail, or in any other way).

For young animals, which are kept on walks in the summer, it is necessary to equip a nursery with a gable hinged lid. The distance between the rods should be approximately 3 centimeters. For the issuance of concentrated feed on paddocks, they equip a trough-shaped feeder with partitions and a group drinker of the same design.

Do-it-yourself rabbit drinkers can be made automatic using a tank and a float for this. Thanks to the float in the drinker, a stable water level is constantly maintained. Often, drinkers are made independently from improvised materials: plastic bottles or cans (Figure 4).

From other inventory, the homestead owner will also need a small cart for transporting feed, as well as cleaning and cleaning equipment: a rake, a shovel, a broom, a scraper, a bucket and a dustpan. Disinfectant solutions and agents (for example, lysol or creolin) are stored in separate containers. All equipment must be immersed in them after each treatment of cages, feeders or drinkers.

DIY rabbit cages

When building cages, attention should be paid to ease of maintenance, hygiene, as well as simplicity of construction and low cost of building materials. The greatest attention should be paid to the floor:

• In warm and temperate climates, the floors of the aft compartment are made of wooden slats (oak, maple). Plastics, stamped metal and metal mesh can also be used.
• In the nest box or in the nest, the floors should be of solid wood.
• In cooler climates, the floors are made of board or double.

These rules also apply to the arrangement of floors in portable cages. If the farm prefers to keep livestock on solid board floors, you need to make a slope of 5 centimeters to the rear. For arranging a double floor, you can use a grid, on top of which a removable plank floor is laid. It is this design that is considered the most hygienic, since the removable floor can be easily cleaned of dirt and droppings.

Note: Animals should not be allowed to be kept on a mesh floor for a long time, as in this case they develop pododermatitis.

In home gardens, two-section cages are considered the most popular, but for a large number of livestock, a shed system is more suitable. Sheds can be of arbitrary length, depending on the number of individuals. In addition, sheds can be single or double tiered. If the cages in the shed are placed in two tiers, a simple mechanism (suspended road) is installed between them, with the help of which one person can serve a large number of adults and young animals at once.

In addition, a metal frame and mesh are used for construction. In most cases, such cages are designed to keep livestock indoors, but in the summer they can be taken out into the fresh air. Also, the farm should be equipped with separate uterine or portable cells, which are made of plywood or wood. If you install a heater in them, you can get a round not only in spring or summer, but also in winter. Recommendations for building cages for rabbits with your own hands are given in the video.

Large cages with partitions are considered an excellent option for keeping young animals on the skin. First, they are divided by partitions in half, and in each compartment there are six individuals of the same age, weight and development. As they grow, the cage is divided by ten partitions into 12 parts, so that each rabbit is kept separately until the moment of slaughter (Figure 5).

Note: The content in such cages has a number of advantages. Firstly, the skins are not damaged, their quality increases in general. Secondly, it becomes possible to send individual individuals for slaughter after the molt is completed.

You can also make cages yourself using the drawings shown in Figure 6.

Keeping rabbits outdoors in winter - heating and feeding

If the farm has domestic rabbits, the care and maintenance of animals in winter should be special. They are prone to colds and frostbite, so their cages are insulated for the winter. The floor is covered with boards and a thick layer of bedding, and all cracks are closed. At the same time, you need to leave holes for ventilation and sunlight.

Note: With proper insulation, the cells can not be transferred indoors, and kept right on the street. But if in winter the temperature drops below -30, it is still better to transfer them to a barn.

Experienced rabbit breeders advise making the floor in cages made of mesh so that manure and food residues fall into a special tray, from where it is easier to remove them. In winter, the livestock should be closely monitored, and if the animals show signs of frostbite, they are transferred to a warm room.

Equally important is the diet of animals. In summer, they feed mainly on green and succulent fodder, and in winter, the basis of the diet is hay, mixed fodder and grain crops. Hay should be of high quality, free of fungus or mold, as this can cause disease. The composition of the winter diet must necessarily include vitamins and mineral supplements (for example, chopped needles or tree branches). You can also give them boiled potatoes, bran and stale bread.