Rabbit

Rabbit Feeding

A rabbit must have enough grass and water at its disposal One rabbit can consume 2 to 2.5 kg of grass per day which is put in a rack near the litter Flour based feeds are highly nutritive for rabbits if the farmer can afford them:

• From weaning time to one month after weaning: 50 gr. per day and per rabbit
• At 2 months after weaning: 75gr. per day and per rabbit;
• At 3 months after weaning: 100 gr. per day and per rabbit;
•  Rabbit in age of being covered : 100 gr. per day
• Nursing rabbit 300-400 gr. per day (according to number of young rabbits).

Output

• Rabbits fed on grass weighs 2 kg at the age of 5 months (improved breed)
• If it is fed on concentrate feed, it reaches the same weight at 3.5-4 month of age;
• A local breed rabbit fed on grass only reaches the same weight within 7 months, but where it is fed on concentrate feed, it reaches the same weight at 4.5-5 months.
• The output of a slaughtered rabbit is 60% of its weight.

Diseases and control measures (Rabbit)

Diseases	Categories of affected animals	Symptoms	Control measure
1. Coccidiosis	Younger animals are most affected	Abundant diarrhoea leading in dehydration short run and death in case of intestinal coccidiosis. Bloat in case of hepatic coccidiosis	anti-coccidiosis Treatment, Amprolium Ferazolidone Sanitary prophylaxis
2. Auricular scabies	All ages	Falling ears on the affected side , presence of vesicles , scabs in internal auditory canal	Remove scabs by applying warm soapy water or by oily impregnation associated with acaricide and cresyl oil with Benzyl Benzoate
3. Mange	Young and adult	This disease is caused by the infestation of lice and it affects the skin.	It can be controlled by providing a good housing management and dust affected rabbits with powder.

Rabbit Reproduction

• The first covering takes place at 7 months,
• The buck can be sexually active early, but it is best for it to start at 8 months;
• One buck is enough to cover 10 females, but cannot cover more than 3 times per week.
• For the rabbit, the gestation lasts for 30-32 days;
• Three days before the dropping, a case should be installed in the cage of the pregnant rabbit to enable it to prepare its nest (or a nest box) measuring 45x30x30 cm. A few days before the dropping, pregnant rabbit pulls up hairs from its body and prepares a bed for its young kids
• Young kids open eyes at 12 days of age. They start to eat at 18 days; suckling takes place once per day and lasts only 3 to 5minutes
• Weaning takes place at two months in case of grass-based feeding. In such a case, three droppings per year and per rabbit are possible. If the feeding of mother rabbit includes concentrated feeds (during gestation and suckling periods), the weaning may take place at 35-42 days. This allows 5 droppings and 30 weaned young rabbits per year.
• One week before weaning, the box shall be removed to accustom the young rabbits to do without it
• Mother rabbit should be reformed at the age of 2.5-3 years; since, at this age, the mother rabbit is obviously old ;
• Other reasons can justify the reforming: if the rabbit drops less than 4 young rabbits per pregnancy, or has many stillborns.

Record keeping (Rabbit)

Record Keeping for Rabbit Farm

An ideal rabbitry always progresses with good record for all the aspects.

A. Breeding Records

1. Rabbit’s number

2. Number of rabbit to which this rabbit was bred

3. Date bred

4. Date kindled

5. Number of bunnies born

7. Number of bunnies weaned

8. Weight of bunnies at weaning time

B. Feed Records: concentrate as well as greens consumpion

C. Medication records: drug used, dosage, period of treatment

You can use the attached forms for rabbit record  keeping.

Breeds

In Rwanda, we have  three rabbit breeds: the local, Californian and New Zealand breeds.

1. Local rabbit: the local rabbit ha various colors: white, black or a mixture of the two. it is small and can hardly reach 3 kg of weight. However, it resists to diseases.

Californian rabbit

Californian rabbit has a black color on ears, tale and mouth while the remaining body parts are white. An adult Californian rabbit can weight 3.6 kgs on average.

New Zealand rabbit

New Zealand rabbit  is a white rabbit with an average weight of 4-5 kg of weight, which cares for its kids. It kindles 6-7 kids and weans about 6 of them.