How to raise rabbits at home: maintenance, care

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Thought about how to raise rabbits at home? Recently, more and more farmers have begun to worry about this issue, which, however, is not surprising. Rabbits are a good source of he althy dietary meat, as well as a valuable skin from which many beautiful things can be made. However, in order to get all these resources from animals, you must first learn how to properly care for them. This is exactly what will be discussed in our article.

Choice of breed for cultivation

Raising rabbits at home is a rather complex and painstaking process, the success of which depends on many factors. Perhaps every professional breeder knows that these animals do not tolerate any infectious diseases quite well, so a novice farmer will have to familiarize himself with the vaccination schedule for pets. However, he, in turn,depends on the breed that is used for breeding. The list below shows only the most popular ones.

1. The gray giant is one of the largest beef breeds in the world. The weight of adults often reaches 5-6 kilograms. On average, a female gives birth to 7 to 8 cubs. This breed is characterized by a fairly rapid set of live weight and unpretentious care. Ideal for breeding beginner farmers.
2. European silver is a rather picky breed that is bred, as a rule, to obtain valuable silver fur. Animals have a rather calm disposition and tolerate even the most severe cold. The skin is soft and thick, ideal for making fur hats and scarves.
3. New Zealand White is a meat-and-hide breed of rabbits, which is characterized by very good fecundity. A distinctive feature of the animals is their pubescent soles, which make it possible to raise rabbits in ordinary metal nets without bedding. On average, a female brings from 7 to 12 cubs per litter.

Also, do not forget about the decorative breeds of rabbits. At home, such animals are very often raised as pets. The cost of one such individual can range from one to several tens of thousands of rubles, in connection with which the breeding of rabbits turns into a pretty good source of additional income. Although, to raise a specimen for sale, you will need to study a huge amount of theoretical information regarding the rules for the care of rodents.

Growing methodsrabbits

Don't know how to properly keep rabbits at home? The information in this section will help you answer this question. If you decide to organize a serious business, then you should pay special attention to the place where your animals will live. For this, it is recommended to build a special room (shed) in which the animals will feel comfortable. It must be protected from drafts and frost, and also be able to be ventilated during the hot season. As for the methods of keeping, professional breeders distinguish three main ones among them:

• enclosures;
• cells;
• pits.

Cells are the most common option. Depending on the size of the structure, it can accommodate from one to eight individuals. This method allows you to separately care for young and pregnant females, which is very important, since their diet is significantly different from the food that adult males eat. The cell area is recommended to be calculated approximately as follows: for each adult, there should be from 0.7 to 1 square meter of free space (depending on the breed being grown). Also, each cage must be equipped with a feeder and drinker.

As for raising rabbits in pits, this method is very popular with professional farmers. The depth of the pit should be no more than two meters, and the length and width - from 2 to 3 meters. It is imperative to strengthen the walls around the entire perimeterflat slate so that the earth does not collapse on the animals, leaving several open areas so that the animals can dig holes in them. After that, you can populate a group of rabbits in the pit. In the cold season, such a structure can be covered with polycarbonate so that more heat is retained inside, and dry bedding must be placed at the bottom of the pit.

Keeping and caring for rabbits at home almost always involves the use of an aviary in which the animal can move freely. However, this does not mean that special pens cannot be used on the street. If you have enough free space, then you can organize an aviary on the grass or even in a barn by laying a layer of dry grass on the concrete. As for the fences, it can be very different, however, for convenience, it is best to use a regular mesh, since this option is the most budgetary and can be easily dismantled if necessary. Additionally, you can make a small canopy for the rabbits, which will protect them from precipitation.

Basic rules for caring for rabbits

If you do not know how to raise rabbits at home, but decide to breed them, then you should familiarize yourself with the basic rules for caring for animals. This is especially true for those who want to organize a whole business on furry animals, since high-quality care ensures good productivity. The following are only the most important rules that absolutely any farmer must follow:

1. Avoid direct sunlight on the cells in the summeryear.
2. Enclosures should be located away from places with strong drafts.
3. Get your pets a complete and balanced diet.
4. Vaccinate all livestock on time, including rabbits.
5. Remove the young from the rest after 45-60 days.
6. Keep your temperature during the cold season.
7. Clean aviaries, cages and pits regularly.
8. Change the water in the drinkers daily with clean water.

If you follow these simple rules for the care and maintenance of rabbits at home, then over time your work will not go unpaid. The cost of rabbit meat today reaches 600 rubles per kilogram (depending on the region), and the skin remains very popular among lovers of clothing made from natural fur. What can we say about decorative rocks, the cost of which can reach 20 thousand rubles apiece.

What to feed rabbits at home?

In winter, animals need quite large amounts of hay, which must be prepared in advance. Herbal collection can be very diverse, but it should not contain celandine or buttercup, since these plants are poisonous to rabbits. For making hay, it is best to rent or purchase a plot of land for alfalfa - ideal for making hay, which can be given to animals in unlimited quantities not only in winter, but also in summer.

WhatAs for fresh food, the choice is extremely diverse. Rabbits can be given almost all known root crops: carrots, beets, potatoes; also they will not refuse pumpkin or fresh cucumbers. Rodents also like to eat white cabbage, but in large quantities it can lead to bloating. But it is best to refrain from using zucchini in food, since rabbits often get diarrhea from them.

Sprigs of fresh raspberry, currant elm, oak or birch are also strongly recommended to be given to animals as they use this material to sharpen their teeth. However, in no case do not give them branches of various stone fruits (apple, peach, apricot) - this material is too hard. Otherwise, animals can simply break their teeth on them.

Vitamin and mineral supplements

Thought about how long rabbits live at home? As a rule, the answer to this question depends on the quality of animal care. For example, if you add special vitamin supplements to your diet, then your pets will live much longer than if they received all the beneficial trace elements only from food. The same applies to breeding animals on the farm. If you regularly add various vitamin supplements to the water and feed, which can be purchased at any veterinary pharmacy, then the animals will gain weight much faster, and the quality of the fur will improve significantly.

Usually rabbitsseverely deficient in calcium and phosphorus. Both of these elements are contained in large quantities in bone meal, so it should be added from time to time to animal food at the rate of 2 grams per adult animal. As other mineral fertilizers, rabbits can be fed ordinary chalk (no more than 1% of the daily ration), table s alt (from 0.5 to 1% of the daily ration, or special complex supplements based on natural ingredients. Well, rabbits get most of the vitamins from high-quality hay, as well as protein. You can also give the animals fish oil capsules from time to time, which contains a large amount of vitamin D and A.

What foods should be eliminated from the diet?

Now you know a lot about what rabbits eat at home. However, so that animals do not suffer from indigestion and diarrhea, it is recommended to exclude from their diet some foods that can lead to various unpleasant phenomena: from bloating to poisoning. Here is a list of what not to give rabbits under any circumstances:

• bread, pasta and other flour products - they can make animals bellies quite bloated;
• red or white cabbage in large quantities - will lead to the same as feeding bread;
• chocolate, biscuits, sausage and other "human" food are extremely harmful to animals to varying degrees;
• various legumes (peas, beans) - they can only be fed in combination with other plants;
• nuts and mushrooms can be verypoisonous to rabbits and very often lead to the death of animals.

In addition, do not forget about a whole list of various herbs that are forbidden to give fresh animals: bird cherry, spurge, dope, bindweed, hemlock, tansy, wormwood, larkspur. It's also best to avoid getting these crops in your hay, so be sure to inspect dry food carefully before throwing it into a cage or animal pit.

Vaccinations and disease prevention

To keep rabbits at home, it is necessary to vaccinate them against the most common diseases (myxomatosis, VGBK), especially if small children like to play with animals. Most farms have a dedicated vaccination schedule to ensure that there is no missed time for the next vaccination. Such actions can significantly extend the life of rodents. Therefore, if one of the novice breeders asks you: "How long do rabbits live at home?", Then feel free to tell them that it all depends on whether they have been vaccinated against common diseases.

Vaccination against myxomatosis is first given on the 28th day after the birth of rabbits. For this, a special vaccine "B-82" is used, which can be purchased at any veterinary pharmacy. The method of administration is intramuscular (injection). In this case, the dosage should not exceed one cube per head. Revaccination is carried out no earlier than six months later. However,understand that myxomatosis is the disease that rabbits most often get from mosquitoes, so you should schedule your vaccinations so that revaccination falls at the end of spring, when the insects wake up from sleep.

Vaccination against viral haemorrhagic disease of rabbits (RHD) is usually given 45 days after birth. However, if the cubs were weaned from their mother at an early age, then the vaccine can be administered on the 30th day, since by that time the rabbits will already have good immunity. As in the previous case, the method of administration is intramuscular. The dosage of the drug should not exceed 0.5 cubes per head. Re-vaccination is carried out after about six months. As an alternative, an associated vaccine can be used that induces immunity in animals against both HBV and myxomatosis.

As for rabies, rabbits rarely get sick with it, so it makes sense to vaccinate animals only if they often come into contact with humans (ornamental breeds). Re-vaccination should be carried out at least once a year, and when selling rabbits, the breeder must provide the buyer with a certificate confirming the vaccination of the animal. Such a certificate can only be obtained from the veterinarian who vaccinated. Also, vaccination is allowed only on he althy animals - this rule is as important as observing the optimal dosage. As for the treatment of rabbits at home, it should only be carried out by a qualified specialist.

How to breedrabbits?

Now you know a lot about how to care for a rabbit at home. However, in order to get an uninterrupted profit from the business, animals must constantly breed. The information in this section will help you better understand how animals reproduce at home.

As a rule, mating of animals passes quickly enough. For one cage, the male is able to release up to 2 milliliters of seminal fluid. Approximately 20 minutes after mating, sperm enter the oviducts, and after 12 hours, fertilization occurs.

Rabbit pregnancies average 30 days. The mass of newborn cubs is usually equal to 50-90 grams (depending on the number of rabbits in the offspring and the breed). A couple of days before birth, the female rabbit will become quite aggressive towards males and will run around the cage.

The fertilized rabbit must be placed in a separate cage for okrol. During this period, it is necessary to give more hay and less fresh feed. Just before giving birth, the rabbit will begin to pull fluff out of her chest in order to arrange a nest for her offspring.

After the birth, it is necessary to carefully inspect the cage so that not a single newborn rabbit remains outside the nest. Do not unnecessarily annoy the female with your frequent presence, because due to stress, she can easily destroy her offspring.

Advice from experienced farmers

Many experienced farmers are happy to share with beginners useful tips aboutbreeding rabbits at home or in cages. For example, professionals recommend changing the water of animals more often, since contaminated fluid adversely affects the digestive system of rabbits. As a result, animals grow much worse and gain weight.

And what do professionals advise about keeping dwarf rabbits at home? Experienced farmers recommend giving animals water at room temperature after each meal. If the animals are raised outdoors or in a barn, then the temperature of the life-giving liquid should be monitored, especially in the winter season.

How to raise rabbits at home strong and he althy? It is recommended to add a few sprigs of plants to the diet so that they can sharpen their teeth about them. Otherwise, animals will not be able to eat hard root vegetables.

Video and conclusion

We hope now you understand what it is like to breed rabbits at home and in cages on the street. If the information from this article seemed not enough for you, then we recommend that you watch a short video in which an experienced farmer also talks about many of the nuances of breeding these animals at home. This material will answer most of your questions.

As you can see, raising rabbits at home is not as difficult as it might seem at first glance. Yes, these animals do not tolerate various diseases very well, but if you make a vaccination schedule and get vaccinated on time, you can reducethe mortality rate from disease is almost zero. As for the relevance of the rabbit breeding business, it has always been and remains quite high. Many people love rabbit meat, so they are ready to pay any money for dietary meat. What does it say about valuable fur, which is bought up by clothing factories in unlimited quantities? If you manage to build a good mini-farm for animals with all the amenities, then raising rabbits at home will not only be profitable, but also interesting.