Rabbits stand out among all animals primarily by intensive reproduction. One female can give six bouts a year. This is an average of 100 kg of meat and 50 skins. Is it worth it to convince you that rabbit breeding can be a pretty profitable business?
Rabbit meat is a dietary product. It is tender and juicy, reminiscent of the taste of poultry, but containing much more protein. Especially valuable is its very low cholesterol and fat content. In addition, it is easily digestible. That is why it is recommended for children and the elderly, and pregnant women.
Feeding, breeding rabbits is not hard work. And such work is available to almost anyone. About how to breed rabbits and will be discussed in the article.
Start by choosing a breeding pair. Choose healthy animals with characteristic breed traits. Pay attention to the weight, body length, coat color (cover). Keep in mind that each breed has its own standards and indicators of growth, weight, color. If you want to know what will be the offspring, then take for breeding adults. An adult, healthy animal has clean, lively eyes, a strong body, and a dense, shiny pile. They are well-fed and mobile. Refuse to purchase rabbits with an unsatisfactory physique, elongated head, protruding hips, sagging belly and back, improper ears, drooping tousled hair. Even if they will be assigned a very low price. Their treatment will cost you much more, and will not always be successful.
Housing for a rabbit should be spacious, bright, dry, easy to maintain. They can become self-built or purchased cells installed in the open air or indoors. Take care of feeding troughs, drinking bowls, nesting (carefully insulated) rooms inside the cage. The floor in the nest should only be wooden, covered with hay.
Breeding rabbits (mating) can begin no earlier than six months (the age of the female) and seven months (the age of the male), although these animals can become sexually mature by three months. Early birth will harm the rabbit's health, and young growth will grow weak and often unsuitable for further breeding. That is why, when rabbits reach two months of age, they need to be sorted by sex (to protect males from females). It will not be difficult to determine the sex at this age: pull the skin on the abdomen near the genitals - a tube is visible in males, a triangle with a longitudinal section will open in females. It is believed that breeding rabbits can begin when 75% of their live weight is reached. Thin and poorly developed rabbits cannot be allowed to breed. For six females, one male is enough. The rabbit’s estrus lasts no more than five days, with a frequency of 9 days (a little less often in winter). A day or two after giving birth, the female resumes estrus and she is again ready for mating, which is acceptable but undesirable.
Check the female’s hunting before mating: the sex loop should be swollen and pink. For a young female, choose an older male, for an older one - a younger one. Before mating, rabbits are enhanced their nutrition, but they should not be brought to obesity.
Mating is performed in a separate, cleaned, disinfected and completely empty cage. Clean the drinkers and feeders. To cover the female, a single male cage is sufficient. A sure sign of a successfully completed mating is the fall of the male back or to one side and his quiet contented rumbling. A male should not cover more than two females per day. Get a notebook or notebook where you will mark the dates of cases and delivery.
Pregnancy (succession) lasts a month (from 27 to 35 days), fruits the size of a cherry are well felt already on the fifteenth day after mating. But this must be done very carefully. Protect the pregnant rabbit from noise, screams, barking dogs. Rabbits are shy by nature, and frightened, they make sudden movements and jumps, which can cause a miscarriage.
Before giving birth, put in a cage a mother queen (lodge) with bedding and ensure the constant availability of fresh water, as the rabbit will be thirsty. Okrol usually comes early in the morning, or at night and lasts no more than two hours. A rabbit can lead up to 15 rabbits, and sometimes more. She herself gnaws the umbilical cord, licks the newborns and puts them in a nest. But at this stage, breeding rabbits can be a surprise for you, and unpleasant. The fact is that some females refuse babies. Try to remove the female from the cage, pluck the fluff on her abdomen and lay them a nest. Put the rabbits there and plant the female. If even after that she does not begin to feed the babies, put them in another female with rabbits of the same age. It is for these purposes that it is desirable to have two females with a difference of no more than one day.
The lactation period in rabbits lasts about a month. From the age of two weeks, young growth begins to try the feed that their mother eats. Rabbits are fed with oats, mixed fodder, wheat bran (80-100 gr), fodder yeast (5 gr), bone meal (4-5 gr), fish oil (2 gr). During lactation, the norm should be increased. Taking into account each baby who “helps” his mother eat food at the age of two weeks, 30 grams of hay and concentrates are added. This is a guideline. As the rabbits grow, the amount of hay is gradually added. Upon reaching 45 days of age, the rabbits are separated from the mother and separated by sex (females and males are kept separately).
Breeding rabbits is not limited to the proper selection of pairs for mating and proper feeding. It is necessary to carry out annual vaccinations, which are not 100% protection against possible infections, but will give a chance of recovery in case of illness.