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Rabbit Production and Management
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Zoological Classification:
Class: Mammalia
Super order: Glires
Order: Lagomorpha
Family: Leporidae (Hares, Rabbits)
Genus: Oryctolagus
Species: Cuniculus
All domestic rabbits originated from the European wild rabbits.
Today Europe accounts for 85% of total world output. China comes
next.
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Common terms related to rabbits:
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Doe: - A mature female rabbit used for breeding.
Buck: - A mature male rabbit used for breeding.
Kit: - A young rabbit whose eyes are not yet opened.
Bunny: - A young rabbit below 20 weeks of age.
Fryer: - 10 to 12 weeks old rabbit ready for market.
Roaster: - Culled rabbit.
Kindling: - Act of parturition.
Litter: - Kits born in a single kindling.
Weaner: - A newly weaned rabbit.
Fur: - Wool.
Pelt: - Skin.
Rabbitry: - Place where domesticated rabbits are kept.
Caecotrophy/Capropargy: - Consumption of own feceal matter.
Broiler: - Rabbits which grow very fast for meat purpose (2kg body
wt. In just 12 weeks). drprofessionals.in
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Fostering: - Transfer of bunny/bunnies to another doe for nursing
usually due to death of original doe or abandoning of young rabbit.
Tattooing: - Identification marks put in the ear of rabbit with tattoo
ink and punch.
Cannibalism: - Eating of own bunnies by mother doe after kindling,
noted usually due to inadequate water supply to pregnant doe.
Nest box: - A wooden box to be kept in the cage of pregnant doe, 5-6
days prior to kindling.
Shearing: - Cutting wool from rabbit at an interval of 85-90 days.
When it grows to the length 4-6 cm.
Matting: - If shearing is not done in time, staple get entangled with
each other, which is called as matting.
Rabbits are chiefly nocturnal, although they are sometimes seen in
the day time. They have acute senses of smell & hearing. They feed
on wide variety of vegetation.
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Rabbit production system: -
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It differs from country to country but there are 3 main systems of
production:
The backyard small scale rabbitry: A few female and one or two
male rabbits are kept in a house built rabbitry and are fed on greens,
weeds and vegetables kitchen scraps. It provides enough meat to
supplement the family need.
The small commercial rabbitry: It may have the 10-50 breeding
does in a purpose built rabbitry. The aim of this type of rabbit
production is to sell rabbit meat for profit. Rabbits are usually fed on
concentrate as well as bulky leafy vegetables.
Large commercial rabbitry: This type is more common in Europe &
U.S. there are some examples of large rabbit units in the tropics, but to
support such rabbitry it is necessary to have reliable market outlets for
the carcasses, source of good quality commercial feed and expert
veterinary services.
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Breeds of rabbits:
There are many breeds of domestic rabbits in the world and all have
different qualities. There are 38 breeds and 87 varieties of rabbits
which are recognised and well established worldwide. These
breeds/varieties vary in colour, size, type of hair coat and other
characteristics.
For wool production: - Angora rabbit is reared for wool production.
It is usually white & albino but some coloured varieties have been
developed for the utilization of colour wool. Normally the main
demand of Angora wool is of white colour and long staple of uniform
dying & processing.
The following strains/breeds of Angora rabbit are
commonly being reared by Indian farms-
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1. German Angora: - Origin Germany, wool yield 700-
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1000gm/year, white fine quality, 2-4% guard hair, adult body
weight 3-4kg.
2. British Angora: - origin U.K., wool yield 400-600gm/year, white
lustrous fine quality, guard hair 2-4%, adult body weight 2.5-
4.5kg.
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3. Russian Angora: - Origin Russia, 300-400gm/year, white,
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medium fine wool, 10-20% guard hair, body wt. 3.5-5.5kg.
4. Crossbred Angora: - Origin India, well adapted to Indian
conditions, wool yield 500-600gm/year, wool is white, medium
fine, guard hair is of 4-8%, adult body wt. 3-5kg.
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For meat/Fur skin production: - The most common breeds for this
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purpose are New Zealand white, White Californian, Soviet Chinchilla,
Grey Giant, White Giant, Black Brown, Dutch, Argente Champagne
etc. The adult body weight of these breeds ranges from 3-6kg in
females & 2.5-5.5kg in males.
Black Brown
New Zealand white White Californian Soviet Chinchilla
Grey Giant White Giant Black Brown
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Dutch Argente Champagne
• The Rex and Satin breeds of rabbit are mainly raised for quality fur
skin and meat production. In our country, at the CSWRI, Garsa
(Kullu) the following meat breeds were experimented for meat & fur
skin production.
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I. New Zealand White- Imported from UK.
II. Soviet Chinchilla- Imported from Russia.
III.White Giant- Imported from Russia.
IV.Grey Giant- Imported from Russia.
• These breeds after adaptation and production performance were
sent for various research and development purposes in southern,
western & eastern states of A.P, Karnataka, T.N, Kerala,
Maharashtra, Nagaland, Meghalaya and Assam.
• For biological research and Laboratory purposes: - New
Zealand White, Californian, Dutch, Black Brown breeds are
primarily being used.
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For fancy/hobby purposes: - The most important breeds under this
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class are Polish, Palmino, Havana, Beveren, New Zealand Red,
English Spot white, Dutch etc. These animals are lighter in weight
and very fancy to look.
Polish Palmino Havana
Beveren New Zealand Red English Spot white
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Commercial characters of
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rabbits producers producers
Young born per Litter 4-9 6-12
Young reared per litter 3-5 6-8
No. Of litter per Doe per year 3-4 5-8
No. Of young reared per Doe 9-20 30-60
per year
Weaning weight per litter at 8 3-6 kg 9-14 kg
weeks
Live wt. Gain (No. Of weeks to 12-24 weeks 8-10 weeks
reach 2kg body wt.)
Feed conversion ratio 5:1 to 4:1 4:1 to 3:1
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Housing:
The success of rabbit production depends on suitable site & design of
houses. Rabbit needs housing for protection and preventing them from
running away. Rabbit is burrowing animal and has sharp reflexes.
Housing premises should provide adequate shade of trees &
peaceful environment free of strong winds.
Shelter must provide protection from inclement weather and
predators like dogs, cats, snakes, bats etc.
Rabbits can be housed in several ways depending on finance
availability and climate. Rabbits are reared individually or in colonies.
An enclosed shed with hutches kept on racks or cages hung from
ceiling with wires are elaborate housing.
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A hutch is small built up structure of wood and chicken mesh.
The floor of hutch may be made up of stronger mesh or solid sheets
bedded with straw otherwise locally available materials like tree
twinges and woven splits bamboo.
The roof of hutch should be sloping made of asbestos sheet/grass
thatch. Gunny bags or mats should be kept hanging on sides of
hutches without affecting ventilation to provide protection from
rain, wind and sun.
Wire mesh floor is preferred over solid bedding materials as the
droppings falls down and it keeps cage clean, free from ammonia
odour and fly.
➢ Rabbits can also be housed in thatch roofed mud huts with hard
mud floor attached with small yard.
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In colony raising, usually 10 or more in colony hutches or on floor
in deep litter are reared.
The floor can be wire mesh or hard floor with bedding materials.
The floor space is 1.5-2.0sqft. or 0.45-0.65sq.m./adult rabbit.
However, advanced pregnant does, usually from 1 week prior to
kindling until weaning of bunnies should be isolated from flocks.
Major problem of colony raising specially on deep litter is higher
risk of coccidiosis and maintenance of hygiene.
In western countries cages or hutches are fabricated with wire
netting.
They are installed in single, two or three tier system.
They are costly but space saving.
Such cages are usually in commercial rabbitary.
The wire mesh of 12.5x12.5mm size of 16 or 14 gauge specifically
used for bottom of cages. drprofessionals.in
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Colony cage specification
No. Of rabbits raised Cage specification Total floor area (m2)
together
10 2x2 4
15 2x3 6
20 2x4 8
25 2x5 10
30 2x6 12
Breeding cages specification for rabbits
Size of rabbits Specification of cages (cm)
Small (2.5-4.5kg) Breeding cage (pair) Single doe/buck cage
Medium (4.5-5.5kg) Length Width Height Length Width Height
Large (5.5 & above)
100 80 55 85 60 55
125 80 60 105 60 60
145 80 65 125 60 65
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Waterers: - Earthen ware, concrete, glass & plastic pots are
commonly used waterers in backyard rabbitries.
In modern commercial rearing inverted water bottles of
polypropylene materials are more popular.
The water bottle is big enough to fulfil 24 to 48 hrs of water supply.
Feeders: - Normally L or J shape feeders with bottom mesh are used
which eliminate dust in the feed.
These feeders are called self cleaning feeders & used for feed
concentrate in the form of pellets.
Feeders are raised from bottom of cage to avoid spoilage & wastage
of food.
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Environmental requirement of rabbit:
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Temperature: - The comfortable zone of temperature for maximum
production is 10° to 26°C if temperature is more than 28°C and above
decreases feed consumption and increases water intake. Due to which-
Growth rate slowed down in growers.
Productive efficiency in females adversely affected with
reduced fertility and temporary sterility in males.
Humidity: - Rabbits are sensitive to low humidity. Comfortable
humidity ranges from 55 to 70%.
Ventilation: - Ventilation requirement depends upon weather, cage
type and population density. Free movement of air is always needed in
rabbitary especially in hot weathers. Air must be free from dust and
smoke.
Light: - About 8hrs in males and 16hrs in females exposure to light is
must for sexually active and fertile. For growing rabbits, 1-2 hrs
additional artificial light is sufficient. drprofessionals.in
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Sanitation for disease prevention:
Sanitation is the most important management to prevent disease
incidence.
Daily cleaning of cages/hutches, feeders & waters should be done to
ensure sanitary conditions.
Water supplied should be treated with common sanitizers to reduce
microbe load.
Removal of manure, soiled bedding, contaminated food or feed and
supplying contamination free roughage/feed reduce disease
emergence in rabbitry.
Isolation of sick animals and treatments is also equally important.
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Breeding:
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Selection of rabbits for breeding: -
Selection of Buck: - Buck selection is important or rather more
important than doe because it mates with no. Of does and its character
will be inherited to many off springs. Apart from individual selection
bucks should be selected whose sibs and collateral relatives have good
commercial characters.
A buck should be in good physical conditions with well
developed testes and health.
Its growth must be good & should not be fatty.
Best time to select a buck is when they weight 2.8 to 3.0kg.
Selection of doe: - young does are to be selected to replace aged does.
A breeding doe should have minimum 8 teats.
It should be in good physical condition, healthy & well grown.
She should have good commercial characters.
They can be best selected when their body weight is around 2 to
3 kg.
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Breeding: - Inbreeding should be avoided by purchasing/exchanging
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bucks from other herds. Mating of bucks and doe from different
breeds is adopted to improve commercial character of herd.
Patterns of breeding: - There are 3 basic patterns of breeding
depending upon the frequency of mating of does and bucks.
1. Extensive breeding: -
In this system backyard rabbitary farmers aim to produce about 4
litter/doe/year.
In this system weaning is carried out at 7 week and mating is done
in the week immediately after weaning.
This breeding cycle takes about 85 to 90 days.
2. Semi intensive breeding: -
Rabbits keepers in this system aim to get 5 to 6 litter/doe/year.
Weaning is done at 5 weeks and breeding cycle is completed
within 65 to 70 days.
This system is suitable for small commercial rabbitary.
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3. Intensive breeding: -
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Large commercial rabbitries follows this breeding systems.
In this system weaning is done at 2 weeks.
In the third week from kindling doe is mated and within 45 to
50days breeding cycle is completed.
This system can produce more than 7 litters/doe/year.
It should only be practiced by professionals maintaining skills,
quality nutrition and standard management.
Mating: -
The sign of oestrus in doe includes red & swollen vulva, restlessness,
raising of tail and acceptability of buck.
First mating should be done at 20-24 weeks of age.
For mating doe should be taken to buck cage to avoid fighting in
herd.
After successful mating buck falls off to the side with scream.
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Breeding and selection for optimum production: - It depends on the
purpose of production i.e. whether rabbits are kept for meat/fur/wool
production.
Broiler rabbits: -
Broiler rabbits are reared for meat production.
The main important traits considered during selection are growth,
weight, FCR, kindling%, no. Of kindling/year and mortality.
For achieving these objectives maximum weightage is given to
weight gain and less mortality.
Approx rabbits should gain 30 to 35gm/day.
Males: -
He should be from known pedigree record.
They should be active, potent and known for producing large litter
size.
He should not have any genital abnormalities.
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Females: -
They should be prolific, possessing good mothering ability, more
no. Of kindling with more no. Of live bunnies borned.
She should weigh around 2 to 2.5 kg at maturity i.e. in 5 to 6
months.
Bunnies should weigh between 300-350 gm.
She should come into heat soon after furrowing.
Wool rabbits: -
Selection is based on wool quality & quantity.
Important wool parameters are fineness of fibre, staple length,
modulation, true fibre etc.
Angora (German) produces around 700-800 gm of wool/year with
good quality fibre.
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Productive features of rabbitry: -
By analyzing the records of productivity features financial status of
commercial rabbit unit can be known. The important aspects are-
Pre-weaning & post weaning mortality % should be low.
Interval between 2 litters should be less.
Rate of occupancy of breeding cages should be higher because it
indicates fast breeding & production of more litter.
No. Of rabbits produced/ breeding cage /year should be more.
Margin over feed expanse / year should be higher.
Note: - Average achievements of all animals in the unit are more
important than higher performance of some individuals from business
point of view.
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Pregnancy, kindling and care:
Pregnancy: - the gestation period in rabbit is 30-32 days.
Pregnancy diagnosis: -
1. Test mating: It is also called layman’s method in which doe is
subjected to mating and acceptability of buck is tested.
Usually pregnant does will not accept the buck.
2. Palpation: Developing embryos in pregnant doe can be easily felt
after 12 to 14 days of mating.
The embryos beads are around 1 to 2 cm at this stage.
Embryos can be felt by exerting gentle pressure with thumb and fore
fingers on either side of uterus.
Further during late pregnancy i.e. 4th and 5th week, abdomen of doe
gets swollen with teats.
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False pregnancy:
In case doe doesn’t conceive after mating.
Sometimes she may develop false pregnancy.
She will refuse to accept male.
After 15 to 20 days she will start pulling her fur to built nest which
is observed at the stage of 24 to 28 days in actual pregnant doe.
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Management of pregnant doe: -
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pregnant doe should be kept separately in breeding cage to adopt
new housing for kindling.
Before 5 to 6 days of kindling pregnant does should pull some fur
from her rump, sides and around her teats which indicates good
mothering ability.
During last 10 to 15 days of pregnancy feeding of doe must be
gradually increased by 20 to 25 gm additional feed for the growth of
embryos and development of mammary glands.
Proper feeding also helps to increase birth weight of bunnies and
milk production of mother.
Kindling care: -
Naturally kindling usually takes place in the night.
Does become restless, moves to and Fro, jumps and licks the
genitalia.
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After delivery mother licks them & dries.
If bunnies are delivered outside nest box then they should be put
together in the nest to avoid mortality due to cold.
For two kindling and if the vices persists, they should be culled.
Cannibalism: -
In some cases it can be observed that doe, eats her young rabbits,
which is called cannibalism.
The reason may be shortage of water before kindling, improper
bedding or disturbance during kindling. In such cases does can be
watched
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Management of young rabbits: -
Management of bunnies with care is important aspect to reduce pre-
weaning mortality.
Bunnies live & grow for first 2 to 3 weeks only on mother’s milk.
If the baby rabbit are hungry or feeling too hot, they start climbing
the nest with restlessness to come out.
Bunnies open their eyes at 10 to 12 days of age and start crawling.
From 15 to 20 days young rabbits starts chewing grass and eating
concentrate along with suckling.
On an average doe and her litter may drink about 4 to 5 litres of
water/day.
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Fostering: - Taking bunnies to another doe for rearing is fostering.
This is because of following reasons-
1. Real mother of bunnies may die or abandon young ones.
2. In exceptional cases, if litter size is more than 8.
3. Sometimes, two or more does may kindle at the same time with
unequal size of litter.
Proper method may increase chances of success of
fostering with following techniques-
1. Bunnies should be taken to another doe for fostering within a
week.
2. The age of young rabbits to be fostered should be nearly same as
that of foster mother’s own litter with not more than 3 days
difference.
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3. The transfer of young ones to mother’s cage be done in her
absence. Further rub the nesting materials to the young rabbit
from foster mother’s nest to have own litter smell. Leave them for
6 to 8 hrs in her litter in her absence and bring back the foster
mother to her cage. Then darken the cage and let them undisturbed
till next day.
Hand rearing: -
In case of non-acceptance of young rabbits by foster mother.
They can also be reared by feeding cow’s milk.
The protein content of cow’s milk is raised to 10% by adding
calcium casemate with proportion of 1:20.
Bunnies can be fed this warm milk with bottles @ 5ml/day/bunny
during 1st week, 15ml & 25ml in 2nd& 3rd week.
Total quantity should be divided into two times daily.
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Management of breeders: -
For optimum productive performance breeders should be managed
during growing stages after weaning.
Managing breeding bucks: -
The bucks selected as breeding bucks should be housed in separate
hutches/cages to avoid fighting.
Further they should be adequately fed with quality ration to mature
quickly but at the same time fattiness must be checked.
Managing breeding does: -
The does selected for breeding can be reared in groups in large
cages.
They should be separated and housed singly prior one month of
their first mating. This will avoid false pregnancy.
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Managing broiler rabbits: -
Broiler rabbits can be reared in groups in large hutches/colony cages
but males and females should be reared separately to avoid fighting.
Castrations is rarely practiced as it slow down the growth & lowers
carcass quality, which is unique feature in rabbits.
They should be fed quality feed for appropriate growth with quality
meat. Daily feed requirement is 150-200gm.
Managing wool rabbits: -
Wool producing rabbits should be managed to obtain quality wool.
Feed required daily is 100-200gm of concentrate & 200-250gm
greens with 1 litre of water.
Manage to prevent spoilage of wool due to soiled or skin infections
like mange.
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Feeding of rabbits:
Rabbit is real herbivore and continuous eater taking one to two
meals /hour.
It is caprophagious animal.
They produce dry hard pellet faeces during daytime and softer and
small pellets in the night. Feed stuff for rabbits can be classified into
following categories-
1. Roughages: Which includes hay, bamboo leaves, banana leaves,
cesbania leaves and some equal type stuff.
2. Greens: Grasses, vegetables scrap, legumes, Lucerne, Berseem,
Clover etc. tubers sweet potatoes, onion, guinea, Napier, Para
grasses.
3. Concentrate: Most of cereals, animal products and agro industrial
by products.
4. Compounds: usually complete pelleted feed.
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Nutritive requirements: - Rabbit prefer high fibre diet offered as hay
or greens. Around 15% roughage in the form of greens is adequate.
Nutrients required as laboratory animal:
Nutrients Composition
Crude protein 12-17%
Fat 3-5%
CHO 45-55%
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Nutrients required as commercial animal:
Nutrients Maintenance Growth/Gestation/L
actation
M.E. (Kcal/kg) 2100 2500
CP (%) 17 21
Fat (%) 2 3-5
CF (%) 14 10-12
Ca (%) 0.7 1.8
P (%) 0.5 0.7
Salt (%) 0.25 0.50
Vitamin A (IU/kg) 7000 7500
Vitamin E (mg/kg) 40 50
Vitamin K (mg/kg) 2 2
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Daily feed and water requirements:
Age (Weeks) Peleted feed/day (Diameter
4mm & 15-28mm) in gm
6-12 60-90
13-24 120-140
25 & above 160-190
Lactating does 300-370
Water:
Adult rabbit: 150-500ml/day (Approx. 10ml/100g body weight)
Lactating Does: 1000-2000ml.
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Feeding care:
1. Any feed, whether concentrate or roughages should always be
fresh to possible extent. Succulent greens should be fed with
minimum gap or delay.
2. Concentrate and hay should be stored in dry and cool environment.
Hay can be stored up to 1 year but concentrate should not be stored
more than 1.5 to 2 months.
3. Feeding should be done in most clean conditions with specific
timing.
4. Wastage should be controlled by filling feeders to the half of their
depth.
5. Feeders should be scrapped and thoroughly cleaned by applying
disinfectant at least once a week.
6. In case of domestic food waste or homemade feed is fed in the wet
form, the feeders must be cleaned daily.
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Health care of rabbit:
For productive & efficient rabbit keeping, health care is one of the
important aspect of rabbit management.
Detection of disease: - To recognise sick individuals the following
conditions should be noted.
1. Animal movement: -Healthy individuals will make easy, free and
pleasant movements. While resting there will be no huddling.
Dullness, difficult breathing and stiffy movements indicate
sickness.
2. Eyes: - Sunken, dull, depressed and discharge from eyes exhibits
illness.
3. Coat: - Patches of hair loss, dull colour, wrinkles, loose folds of
skin are sign of infections.
4. Pulse and temperature: - Elevated or lowered pulse than 140 to
150/min. & body temperature of 38°C and above are important
symptoms of diseases.
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5. Feed and water intake: - Off feed or reduced feed intake is one
of the most important sign of disease. In some serious infections
animals may even stop drinking water also.
6. Faeces: - Pelleted with black colour are normal faeces. More soft,
watery, too hard with change in colour like white, reddish etc.
indicates disease emergence.
7. Discharges: - Any abnormal discharge from eyes, nostril, mouth,
anus, teats and genitals will indicate illness.
8. Growth and weight: - Retarded or slow growth, underweight are
indications of ill health.
9. Swelling and sores: - swelling on body and sores (damages) on
skin are sign of sickness.
Disease prevention: - Effective management for prohibiting disease
emergence involves the following precautions-
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1. Purchasing rabbits from reliable breeder: - fresh stock should
be purchased from known and reliable breeder having good health
history.
2. Follow quarantine schedule: - Quarantine or isolation houses
should be constructed and used for new animals suspected for
infections and contagious diseases to control spread of infections.
3. Standard housing: - The houses must be constructed following
high standards in respect of floor space, ventilation; to avoid old,
dampness draft and insects.
4. Sanitation and hygiene: - Follow appropriate sanitation and
hygiene measures to keep the environment germ free or with
minimum possible low levels of microbes.
5. Immunization and medication programme: - adopt and
advocate required vaccination depending on disease prevalence
along with preventive medication.
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6. Feeding care: - Follow quality, contamination free (microbes,
toxins and anti nutritional factors)feed and adequate feeding
practices.
7. Timely isolation and treatment: - The sick individuals should be
attended immediately to isolate and treat them effectively.
8. Disposal of dead animals: - Dead animals must be immediately
removed and properly disposed off after post mortem and
diagnosis of disease.
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