Feeding and management techniques of lactating female rabbits

It takes about 40 to 45 days from birth to weaning, which is called lactation.

Baby rabbits mainly rely on breast milk to maintain life and growth, so the growth of baby rabbits depends on the quality and quantity of mother and child rabbit milk. In order to ensure the healthy growth and development of young rabbits, it is necessary to strengthen the feeding management of nursing female rabbits. After the female rabbit gives birth, because lactation needs, the food intake is relatively large, therefore, to gradually increase the amount of feed, can increase the original food intake of 2/3 to more than double. In addition to giving more fresh green feed, the amount of concentrate should also be increased, such as soybeans, bean cakes, wheat bran, bean dregs, etc. And add fish meal, bone meal, eggshell powder and auxin, so that the female rabbit's physique greatly enhanced to ensure the good development of young rabbits.

In order to improve the survival rate of young rabbits and make the growth and development of young rabbits in each litter uniform, the method of adjusting young rabbits and sending milk can be adopted. Rabbits in the same litter are strong and weak, large and small. Big and strong snatch milk fast, suck strong, weak and small snatch milk slow, suck weak. Therefore, it is necessary to adjust the litter rabbits born within 3 days according to the size of the baby rabbits and the lactation ability of the female rabbits. Each female rabbit can be fixed with 4~6 young rabbits. If the female rabbits have more babies, they can send the more young rabbits to the female rabbits with fewer babies or use other female rabbits to substitute milk. In order to prevent the mother rabbit from biting the peculiar smell of the baby rabbit, the adjustment of the baby rabbit can be carried out after the mother rabbit feeds, so that the smell of the baby rabbit is adjusted through the smell of the original litter, so that the next time the mother rabbit feeds, it cannot be identified.

In order to prevent rodents and animals from biting baby rabbits, the baby rabbits born together with the birth box can be taken out of the mother rabbit cage and stored separately. The nest box is marked with the ear number, cage number and farrowing time of the female rabbit, which will be returned when feeding. If the feed is well matched, the female rabbit has a normal appetite, and the lactation situation is generally very good, but there are also individual female rabbits who have little or no milk after giving birth, and can use "prolactin tablets" to promote milk, once a day, 2 tablets each time, and even feed for 3 to 4 days. Or use dandelion as feed. If the first two methods are ineffective, the female rabbit can be injected intramuscularly. Oxytocin ", 0.5 ml each time, 1~2 times that effect. If 0.5 g sulfathiazole (ST) and soda tablets were given to female rabbits within 3 days after delivery, mastitis, septic sepsis and inflammation of reproductive system of female rabbits could be reduced.

If the female rabbit milk obstruction occurs, can be used earthworms through milk. The method is to first soak live earthworms in boiling water into white, and then cut them up and mix them with sugar to feed the female rabbits. The first postpartum female rabbit nipple such as purple or black purple, this is the early stage of mastitis, some people call "milk cover top", to be treated immediately. Female rabbits can be injected intramuscularly with sulfadiazine sodium injection, 2 ml each time, twice a day for 3 to 5 consecutive days. For the mother rabbit milk too strong, the baby rabbit can not finish eating and form milk block, can be used towel dipped in hot saline, each time 20~30 minutes, and then let the larger baby rabbit suck. Milk less female rabbits can be fed juicy feed or soy milk, rice soup, brown sugar water. When milk is too full, cold salt water can be drunk, while reducing the amount of concentrate and green feed to reduce milk secretion.

In addition, it is necessary to regularly observe whether the feces and urine of young rabbits are normal. Such as baby rabbit polyuria, indicating that the female rabbit drinking water or eating green feed too much, milk thin. Young rabbits oliguria, indicating that the mother rabbit milk is too thick, too little water. Therefore, according to the actual situation, appropriate adjustment of female rabbit feed.