Rosemary , I used to be the membership secretary of the British Commercial Rabbit Association . I spent three years researching rabbits and commercial meat production .
Blacks Scientific books used to do a good book on the subject . Cambridge university libraries were also a good source of info.
I also attended several veterinary orientated seminars about keeping rabbits healthy & was taken under the wing of a learned professor ( John Snowden??? ) who in the late 1960's was the UK's foremost authority on artificial insemination of commercial meat rabbits and show stock ( he's been dead for about 18 years ) and using rabbits for the at the time normal method of human being pregnancy testing.
Rabbits are diurnal they function happily inn the day or night . The stress easily and often die from stress related occasioned sicknesses.
I ran rabbits commercially for a while on thick gauge 3/4 inch electro galve mesh floored cages that were 2 x 2 x 18 inches tall , I didn't feel happy at putting my stock through the discomfort and cramped conditions. So I moved over as soon as I could afford it special home made 4 foot x 4 foot x 3 foot tall wire cages with slatted wooden floors ( 1/4 of an inch between the 2 inch wide slat platform with ( cleaned out weekly) barley straw on the platforms . Each doe also had a 15 x 15 x 15 inch cube nest box filled with a four inch layer of soft clean dry hay that had a 7 inch round hole four inches from the floor as this stops the suckling kits being dragged out the nest if the doe is startled or decided to come out the nest for food or drink .
When ready to kindle the doe strips fur off her reachable parts to line the basic nest so having a bald chested doe is not some thing to fear.
The does do not have normal fertile cycles like most mammals they have what is known as an oestrous which is basically that they get so excited by being in the presence of a randy buck & his rather energetic mating that the eggs in her become available for fertilization . A doe can reabsorb her pregnancy till about the 18th day if memory serves me correct . She can be post partum mated ( that's what happens in the wild ) and is highly fertile for three days after giving birth .
Post partum mating in herds or the domestic situation will shorten her productive life to about reasonable 9 litters after that pregnancies become a bit of hit and miss and frequently only issue one to three kits ..quite often when she is 14 month or older the last one on the way out will be so big it blocks her birth channel , it dies and she dies of blood ]poisoning .
The does usually only feed their young once a day and that tends to be in the early hours of the morning when they have digested their evening meal .
Things have drastically changed , you'll need to check out the RSPCA's " five freedoms " in farming stock to understand a few things about keeping live stock even for just keeping domestic food rabbits lest some person form a protection agency notices you .
Think carefully about how you will give them water especially in very hot or below minus 10 oC conditions.
I used to add a liquid vitamin to the drinker header tanks every three days because artificially feeding & watering rabbits does tend to leave out vital to health enhancing trace elements in their diets and water .
Do ignore the old wives tale about that says , " Rabbits don't need water " ... in the wild they get a lot of it from fresh greens and they also lick rain off plants or go quite often to the waters edge and take a drink at night .
Feeding .. what will you feed them ? Especially in winter when the grasses & other vegetation have lost the vast majority of their goodness & nutrients .
I use to feed a balanced chemist checked mix of rolled corns , chopped alfalfa , chopped hay soybean , biscuit and flaked peas .
When the company the company that made the formula up for me ceased trading I resorted to using Roger rabbit food in three tonne loads ,.which was a wee bit expensive but far better than a wasteful and unpalatable dry pelleted feed soaked in oils with added vitamins to keep the rabbits healthy .
The cages will need to be big enough to accommodate a large commercial doe which is say 2 feet long and able to reach up to 2 foot six tall when hopping or stretching .
So to my mind nowadays you'll be looking at a cage at least 4 foot by four foot by three foot six tall for the does and likely followers average number say seven kits till they are weanable at 7 or 8 weeks old . Then you'll need caging for M or F sexed groups of weaners .
By the time these weaners are 16 weeks or so old they, will not only be eating you out of house and home they will start feeling sexual urges and may well start fighting and biting amongst themselves. So it's best to have some provision for the fatteners & fryers in individual caging .
Rabbits are now supposed by animal welfare rules to be able to see their fellow kind and be able to communicate visually and audibly , so housing them in a common shed where they can see & hear each other can be useful. it also helps keep the rabbits warm and dry which in turn means that they have a far better food to meat conversion rate . Wet or damp rabbits suffer tremendous heat loss and are prone to sickness which is often fatal or easily spread through the rest of the stock .
Lights in the shed are useful during winter , though don't put them on auto dusk switches for that instantly attracts mozzies and other biting insects. I had a sealable two door walk through porch on each of our sheds with a large triple tube Insect-o -cuter fly killer just inside the main shed ( had to empty it about every five days )
I also vaccinated against Myxi for not only were does going to be a loss if I got struck with bit my stock bucks worth several thousand of pounds would have also been wiped out.
Your cages will need to be quite large and definitely fox proof if out doors as well as protected at all times from gnats & midges as these spread calci virus / Residual Hemaroghaic ( sp?) Disease via their bites , along with Myxi .
Rabbit fleas from wild rabbits or rabbit fleas off cats also spread the diseases so keep any moggies away from the rabbits.
Run the rabbits on deep bed barley straw if you can get it . Don't keep the two does in the same cage for they tend to take false pregnancies and also start fighting due to frustration at not being mated especially if they can smell the buck .... who pees all over the place and rubs his face in it to show how manly he is to his ladies.
There is a lot more I can add , I've put a lot inn the rabbits sub section a long while ago ,I have to stop now for I'm on notice to go out on the school run.
Let me know what you think of what I've put Rosemary .
Anyone else ..... Please feel free to give me some feed back so I can bring my mind a bit closer to the subject once again.
Topic: Learning about rabbits (Read 7625 times)
