The most important information about the rabbit breeding project
Our topic today; It will be about raising rabbits; Where I tell you about this beautiful animal and tell you my personal experiences with these beloved animals to my heart.
At the outset, we must know that the rabbit breeding project is a project from time immemorial; Where ancient civilizations were keen to domesticate it, for many purposes, including eating, entertaining and enjoying its beautiful shape.
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| Rabbits breeding project |
Rabbit breeding is considered one of the most important household projects for many villagers in particular. As it provides them with their needs of meat, and it is necessary in order to exploit the surplus food to be presented to the rabbit, as well as to benefit from rabbit dung in fertilizing agricultural lands.
It is also considered a rabbit breeding project; It is one of the national projects of any country in order to achieve food security, and farm owners and merchants compete for it in order to achieve abundant profit from this very important trade.
There are many types of locally bred rabbits in the local market, including the Alexandrian rabbit. In fact, the breeding of these local species has shrunk and has been overshadowed by the breeding and consumption of the bred species because of their higher production capacity.
A successful rabbit breeding and production project
Farm creation:
The place of the farm must be far from sources of disturbance, well-ventilated, lit, and airtight. To protect rabbits from natural enemies such as predators and mice.
Needs to create a rabbit project
1) It consists of 20 mothers + 4 males
2) Batteries, which are the proper basis for breeding rabbits (each female in a separate eye) so that they can be cared for and followed up individually. The battery consists of cages
3) Rats: These must be provided before purchasing rabbits, and they must be from a reliable source.
4) Medicines and antiseptics: Essential medicines for the treatment of diarrhea, anticoccidia and other diseases, as well as vitamins, mineral salts and immunizations such as blood poisoning vaccine must be provided, in addition to providing antiseptics for viral poisoning.
5) Rice straw, sawdust, and some empty cartons for the need for a mattress for the birthing house, and changing the mattress under the produce, or covering the birthing houses in case of cold weather.
Types of rabbits:
There are many international breeds, some of which are raised for the purpose of obtaining meat, and some of them are raised for the purpose of obtaining fur or both.
First: meat strains and readers
1 - New Zealand White
2- California
3- Bouscat posts
4-Giant Flandar
5- The Flemish Giant
6- Chinchilla
Second: Angora Bouseat hair production strains
Third: ornamental and exhibition strains
Including English, Baboon, Himalayan, and Loeb.
Fourth: local species
1- Al-Baladi Al-Ahmar
2- Black Baladi
3-Mountain
Where do we buy rabbits?
Trust and a good reputation are the basis for choosing the source of purchasing rabbits, with the help of those who have experience, taking into account the importance of being close to the place of purchase as much as possible. To avoid stress resulting from the process of transporting rabbits over long distances.
The age of the rabbits
The breeder purchases rabbits aged 2-3 months in March and April, or five months old in July and August, in order to start fertilization in August or September, when the breeding season is suitable under Egyptian conditions during the period from September to September.
June, then reproduction stops in the summer months due to the high temperature.
Rabbit transport
The process of transporting rabbits is an important and dangerous process. This is because rabbits are exposed to respiratory diseases immediately after transportation. In order to avoid this, transportation must take place in cages furnished with straw, not exposed to sunlight or air currents, and rabbits should not be stacked during transportation so as not to suffer damage or injury. After the rabbits arrive at their shelters, vitamins and mineral salts must be added to compensate for the stress resulting from transportation. Feeding on new diets, it must first obtain an appropriate amount of diets
Rabbits are accustomed to eating it from the place of purchase, and changing the diet should be done gradually by mixing the new diet with the old one in a ratio of 4:1, then in a ratio of 1:1, then in a ratio of 1:2, then introducing the new diet, to avoid the occurrence of diarrhea.
Take care of the rabbits until the breeding season
After the arrival of the rabbits and their settlement in the place of breeding, the breeder must take into account the cleanliness of the provided ration and not add rations to the rabbits’ food in large quantities until they are consumed firsthand, and the nutritional needs of the rabbits are estimated as follows:
Crude protein 15 - 18
Crude fat 2 - 3
Crude fibers 12-13
Digested energy in calories/kg of feed 3700-3500 calories
Mineral salts, vitamins and table salt.
Disinfection and cleaning
Disinfection is a process meant to get rid of microbes and viruses that cause diseases.
The disinfection process must be preceded by the washing of the rabbits’ homes and tools, using clean water, disinfectant, or soap to remove the organic materials attached to them, such as excrement, hair, and diet residues. As the presence of these materials reduces the efficiency of the disinfectant.
Types of antiseptics and their effect
- phenolic compounds (phenic)
Sodium hypochlorite 0.5% solution.
-iodine
The daily business of the rabbit farm
Rabbits need great care in dealing with them, so an atmosphere must be provided. Calm prevails in the rabbit farm when various operations are performed, such as opening and closing the ward doors and opening
cages and eating rabbits while avoiding surprising the rabbits; Because that causes her annoyance and nervousness.
The correct way to do this:
ventilation and cleanliness of the farm; The safety of ventilation must be ensured in the open wards, and this is done by opening the windows partially or completely to control the entry of air to the required extent, and if there are suction fans in the wards, a number or most of them are operated according to the case, in order to renew the air abundantly; Where the air is renewed at a rate that allows the removal of the smell of ammonia and does not allow any air currents to occur in the ward so that rabbits do not have any respiratory diseases, and at the same time urine and dung are removed and the ward is washed and dried well due to the lack of high humidity.
serving food
Feed is distributed in rabbit feeders twice a day
Rabbit trading
It is taken into account not to hold the rabbit by its ears or legs in order to prevent harm to it, and it is also taken into account not to transfer the rabbits from the mother with hands to their places, and a special basket made of plastic is used to transport large and small rabbits, in the case of weaned rabbits it is held from the pelvic area and in the case of large rabbits it is held The rabbit is made of leather on the shoulders with the right hand, so that the thumb wraps around the bottom of the ears and meets the index finger, which shares with the rest of the fingers in holding the rabbit from the skin of the shoulders, then it is lifted with the left hand from the lower back.
Male care
Separate males in separate eyes, each male in an eye, starting from the age of three months.
Cut nails
As a result of rabbits being raised in batteries and rabbits not using their nails in digging tunnels as they are in nature and digging the ground, all of this causes excessive growth of rabbits’ nails and this causes hindrance or obstruction to the rabbit’s movement, so rabbit nails must be cut and the clipping is not invasive so as not to reach the area of blood vessels So that no bleeding or infections occur.
Numbering rabbits
The rabbits must be numbered, and this is done at weaning, so that the product of each mother is known. Thus, the breeder can distinguish the rabbits and save the lineage data for them so that he can choose the rabbits that are kept and compare between his animals.
pollination process
In the medium-sized rabbit breeds used in Egypt, such as the New Zealander and the Californian, females should not be vaccinated before they reach the age of 1-5 months, as their weight at this age ranges from 2-2,500 kg.
The breeder first examines the female before carrying out the insemination process, as she must be in good health and not suffer from respiratory problems or hiccups or thinness. Then the genital opening is examined, and if it is smeared and has a dark pink color, this indicates that the insemination process will succeed by 80-90%. %, and the process of impregnation usually takes place in the cage of the male, where the female is transferred to him, which must take place in front of the breeder and takes a time of 3 minutes ending with
The male turns on one of his sides and may shout as well, then the female is returned to her cage after recording the date of fertilization and the number of the fertilized male. In the event that the female refuses to be vaccinated, she either withdraws into one of the corners of the cage or runs away from the male and does not enable him to carry out the fertilization process.
In this case, the breeder presents her to another male or re-introduces her to the male again after 24 hours. In the event that she refuses to pollinate, she is injected with vitamin E 5.5 cm under the skin. It is preferable that the pollination process take place in the early morning or evening. To avoid the high temperature that discourages the sexual desire of both the male and the female, especially in the summer
It is not preferable to use males for fertilization immediately after eating food, as they enter the stage of pregnancy, which lasts about two hours after eating lunch, and transfer their fertility.
pregnancy diagnosis
Ensure that pregnancy has occurred, re-vaccinate non-pregnant females, or prepare birthing places and supplies for pregnant mothers. There are several methods to ensure that pregnancy has occurred, but the most important, most efficient and accurate one is the test
Pregnancy that takes place during the period of 10-15 days of fertilization and is done by feeling the developing embryos in the two horns of the uterus through the abdominal wall from the outside by placing the hand under the abdomen and then
Passing the fingers of the hand with light pressure on the sides of the abdomen, so the trained educator can feel
The embryos are small balls along the two horns of the uterus, and it is advised not to perform this operation after the 14th day of fertilization because this may cause damage and death of the embryos, and it is difficult for the breeder to accurately diagnose labor before the 10th day of fertilization.
If pregnancy is established, the mother is placed under a good level of nutrition and fed openly until full until the end of the pregnancy period. If pregnancy is not proven, the female is presented again to the male for re-vaccination on the same day of the pregnancy test.
The pregnancy period in rabbits is about 30 days, and sometimes childbirth may occur early after the 29th day of fertilization, and the reason for this may be an increase in the number of calfs in the abdomen, or it may be delayed until the 35th day of fertilization, and the reason may be the low number of calfs in the abdomen or the presence of large individuals.
Preparing the birthing box:
The breeder, 0-5 days before the birth date, prepares the birthing boxes by brushing them with sawdust or rice straw, and the mother plucks part of her body hair (from the abdomen and sides of the thigh) and mixes it with the mattress material to prepare the cradle that will receive her young. The breeder must take into account that it is a material The litter is clean and free of rodent waste.
Birth
Childbirth usually occurs in rabbits without the breeder noticing it; Because it often occurs during the night or in the early morning, and birth rarely occurs during the day. After the end of childbirth, the mother wraps another amount of her body hair to cover her young, then the mother leaves the birth box and goes out to the cage where she drinks a large amount of water and then lies on the floor of the cage to rest from The troubles of giving birth while watching her young.
Baby rabbits are born naked with their eyes closed, but their vitality is very high and constantly moving. Hair begins to cover their body from the fourth day, and their eyes begin to open from the tenth day. When they reach the age of 14 days, they start to come out of the birthing box, starting from the 21st day. The young begin to eat quantities of fodder in addition to what they breastfeed from the mother's milk. Examination of the calf after birth
The calf is examined in the morning of the next day after birth with great caution, and after closing the connecting hole between the mother’s cage and the birthing box, the breeder takes out the dead and deformed calf.
Or the remnants of childbirth that the mother did not get rid of. The breeder also examines the mother and examines her nipples to make sure that she is breastfeeding her young, especially at the first birth of the mother.
The educator then records the data of this birth, including the total number of young, the number of live, dead and deformed ones, and the condition of the matter, as this data enables him to judge the efficiency of this matter.
adoption
Adoption takes place in the following cases:
Mothers who give birth to a large number of yolks, more than eight
Death of the mother after childbirth
- Infection of mothers after childbirth with a disease that makes them unable to care for and breastfeed the newborn, such as mastitis or inflammation of the uterus
- Abandonment of the mother for her successor
The mother's failure to breastfeed her young may be the result of the lack of development of the mammary glands due to the mother's young age
- Mothers who give birth to a small number of calfs (1 - 3), where the female is impregnated on the same day of birth and directed to conceive again, as it is used in the production of another litter, and alternative mothers choose the calm nature, who will have given birth to a number of young not less than 0-1 individuals, and the process is completed By putting the young that are being adopted with the young of the surrogate mother after isolating the mother by closing the connecting hole between the mother’s cage and the birthing box for a period of 1-3 hours until they acquire the smell of the nest and the surrogate mother does not reject them. It can also be disabled
The surrogate mother's sense of smell by rubbing her nose with any substance such as eucalyptus oil.
False pregnancy
If an alert occurs to the female to a degree sufficient to cause ovulation, such as the female being aroused by another female or impregnated with a sterile male, the so-called false pregnancy occurs, where the female takes the path of the pregnant female and begins to pluck the hair from her body and prepares the birth nest 16 days after fertilization.
It is inferred from this that the pregnancy is false and not a real pregnancy, and in this case the female can be impregnated immediately and pregnancy occurs in a large percentage.
Lactation and milk production in rabbits
The mother breastfeeds her young once every 24 hours, and she does the feeding process after midnight or early in the morning, with an average of 3 minutes at a time, and she performs this process while standing.
Re-vaccination of the mother after childbirth
Fertility is very high in rabbits several hours after birth and gradually decreases until it reaches its lowest level after 21 days of birth and then begins to gradually rise again, so the vaccination of the female on the second day after birth gives the highest pregnancy rate.
Program for re-vaccination of mothers after childbirth:
Mothers who give birth to three or less young are vaccinated within 48 hours after birth, and their young are weaned before the 38th day of birth so that the mother has the opportunity to prepare for the next birth.
Mothers who give birth to 4-7 young are vaccinated 6 days after birth.
Mothers who give birth to eight or more young are vaccinated after weaning their young, in order to preserve the health of the mother and the vitality of the production.
- Mothers who give birth to a dead ring or whose successor dies shortly after giving birth, are vaccinated on the next day after giving birth.
- Abortion cases are left to rest for 3 days, then the mother is subjected to vaccination. The aim of developing these programs is to obtain the largest number of stomachs from the mother in a year so that education is economical. Here it should be noted that a good production system is what enables mothers to produce a large number of young Of good vitality at weaning and not only at birth.
Weaning the successor
The newborn young are weaned when they reach the age of 28-35 days, as the amount of milk produced by the mother decreases. Newly weaned young rabbits may experience what is called weaning shock as a result of being removed from their mother.
And about the place to which she is accustomed, so it is preferable to transfer the mother to another cage, as she is more tolerant of the weaned product of the shock of leaving the cage to another cage. The first week of weaning is about 50 g/day, then it is gradually increased starting from the second week to avoid diarrhea problems in the production after weaning. It is also advised not to provide alfalfa or green leeches in the first week after weaning.
Feeding the rabbits
Rabbits depend on nature for their food. Where rabbits can pick up all kinds of grains, seeds, larvae and vegetables, but in the event that the breeder keeps the rabbits in a closed place; Therefore, he must provide the rabbit with all its needs, especially vitamin D, which it is deprived of when it is not exposed to sunlight.
Breeders must provide a strong nutritional meal with a protein content of not less than 17 percent, where a group of grains such as beans, peas, corn, yield, corn, barley, sorghum and other grains must be mixed with the help of alfalfa or Drees.
And through my personal experience, I used to rely on rabbit feed, as it contains all the proteins, vitamins, and carbohydrates that the bird needs, and it has excellent results in increasing production and increasing meat.
In the end, I hope to have provided you with some benefit in this great national project.
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