How to breed and care for rabbits

To create a rabbit farm, you need to choose the right place. It should be placed in a dry, elevated place. Away from residential premises and other outbuildings. Lowlands, where there is often fog, are contraindicated for rabbitry. When building rabbit hutches, you should think about how to protect rabbits from sunlight. Rabbits do not tolerate heat well. When they overheat, they suffer from sunstroke. When placing rabbit hutches, you should also remember that rabbits have a high oxygen consumption. They do well outdoors, but do not tolerate drafts. Considering everything we learned about from books, it was decided to use a combined method of keeping rabbits, i.e. In the summer, our rabbits lived in cages on the street away from living quarters. At the same time, grandfather and dad made a huge canopy of tarpaulin over the cages so that the sun’s rays would not fall on the rabbits’ cages and the rabbits would not overheat. With the onset of winter, we moved the cages with our pets to the barn.

Construction of cages for rabbits

A place of residence for our rabbits has been chosen. Now it was necessary to make cages for them. Before starting production, we also had to get acquainted with the literature. After that we got down to business! We got spacious cells. When making the cages, we made sure that the walls and roof had no gaps to avoid drafts. We made the floor from slats, the gaps between which are 16-18 mm so that the rabbits’ feces can freely trample down, but at the same time their paws do not fall through. Watching rabbits, I noticed that they are very clean animals, firstly, they always go “to relieve themselves” in only one place, and secondly, they take care of their fur and it is always clean and well-groomed.

Choosing a rabbit breed

The location for the rabbitry has been selected. The first cells are made. All that's left is to buy rabbits. But which breed should you choose?

Reading the literature, I learned that the ancestors of rabbits belonged to the same breed and their origin is traced back to a wild rabbit originally from Asia. Archaeological excavations indicate that the domestication of rabbits began approximately 2.5 thousand years BC. People began catching and keeping these animals in captivity even earlier. The lifespan of a wild rabbit is only three years; at home, they live up to 9 years. With the domestication of rabbits, breeding work began, which resulted in the appearance of breeds that are not found in the wild. At home, signs began to emerge that made the rabbit distinctive from its wild ancestor.

In the 20th century, rabbit breeding developed very intensively compared to the previous period of domestication of rabbits. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were only 6 breeds, and after 100 years their number increased 10 times and now amounts to more than 60.

When choosing a rabbit breed, we took into account the advice also read in books. This advice was as follows: “choose the breed of rabbits that is preferred by rabbit breeders in your area.” Therefore, at the beginning of May we bought a female rabbit of the Soviet chinchilla breed. This breed is large in size and adapts well to changes in food and climate. Rabbits of this breed take root in almost any home conditions.

And we also purchased a red rex rabbit. This breed was developed in 1910 in France. It is popular among rabbit breeders.

Feeding for rabbits. Procurement of feed

In order for rabbits to develop normally, they need to be fed properly. The diet of rabbits may include the following food: grass of natural meadows, legumes, green branches, beet tops, cabbage, carrots, fodder and sugar beets, turnips, rutabaga, turnips, potatoes, silage, hay, grains of cereals and legumes, bran, meat and bone meal, salt.

When feeding hay, you need to pay special attention to the composition of the herbs included in the hay in order to prevent plants harmful to them from getting into the feeders of rabbits and make sure that the hay contains more plants that are useful for rabbits, such as: nettle, plantain, yarrow, tansy, wormwood, dandelion, sow thistle. But rabbits must be protected from such plants as open lumbago, datura, acrid buttercup, celandine, wild cherry, hemlock, spurge, and black root.

Drinking water must be included in the diet of rabbits. Rabbits tolerate its deficiency more difficult than starvation. The water must be fresh. In summer – a refreshing temperature, and in winter – slightly warmed up.

My grandfather and I went all summer to cut hay for the rabbits in the village and did not forget about what was good for them and what was not. And for the winter they prepared hay and other feed, which were mentioned above.

Caring for rabbits

Conditions are a very serious factor in obtaining high-quality and cheap rabbit products. The cages in which rabbits are kept must be spacious and comfortable for the animals and maintenance - feeding, inspection, cleaning.

You can make a bunker tray under the slatted floor, through which you can easily empty the cage of rabbit feces. The bunker in the middle should end with a round hole under which a bucket is placed. It is recommended: do not pour food on the floor of the cage, do not place drinking bowls with water on the floor, there is no place for food in the room where rabbits live, do not keep rabbits together with other animals.

Rabbits need bedding: one rabbit needs 20 kg of bedding per year.

Rabbits cannot breathe through their mouths. Therefore, you need to make sure that the food is not dusty. Dust gets on the mucous membrane and swells, as a result of which the animal can suffocate.

The owner should not emit an unpleasant odor (tobacco, alcohol, cologne) when interacting with rabbits. Rabbits are very sensitive to smells. They react to them with stress.

And one more observation from experienced rabbit breeders: any housing for rabbits should be built with love. It should also be noted that when caring for and feeding rabbits, you need to talk to them affectionately. My grandfather talks to rabbits very affectionately all the time. I often hear the following words: “Good girl. Good girl. The cubs are well cared for. Well done. I'll treat you to a carrot. "Or something like that. And when I take care of the rabbits, just like my grandfather, I talk to them affectionately.

The great Darwin wrote: “The animal, like man, is obviously capable of feeling pleasure, pain, happiness and unhappiness.”