Housing structure of rabbit unit, reproductive performance and managerial practices of rabbit

INTRODUCTION

We visited the rabbit house which belongs to the department of animal science and production of Sokoine University of Agriculture which is located at the department near the poultry housing.
The aim was to observe the housing structure of rabbit, reproductive performance and  of rabbit. Breeds of rabbits kept in rabbit unit include; New Zealand White, California White, German Giant and Chinchilla.

HOUSING

House of rabbits had the following features;

Orientation;

The orientation is North- south which is not recommended. The recommended one is East-West which it minimize the direct effects of strong sun rays that can affects production and reproduction of rabbits.

Design

Wall

The wall of house is semi-solid wall, with blocks at the bottom and wire mesh at the upper part of the wall. Walls are smooth to avoid effect of external parasites to hide such as fleas and mites. The upper part of the wall which is made up of wire mesh allow enough air  circulation.

Roof

The roof of house is made up of corrugated iron sheets, roof is raised at the maximum height to minimize effect of heat to rabbits.

Floor

The floor is made up of concrete, which make easily cleanliness of the house

Available equipment and types

Cages

Cages available were made up by wiremesh and put on the stand to raise them from the floor so that faeces and urine will not be retained in the cage and fall directly on the floor. The main types of the cages available were rearing cages especially for the doe with the young litter and the normal cages for keeping the weaned and growing rabbits.

Boxes

These are wooden boxes designed to simulate the normal kindling environment and provide the doe with the seclusion and privacy during the rearing of the kids. It is normally put in the cage one week before the kindling to give the doe ample time to prepare the nest.

Feeders

There were feed trough in every cage to supply animals with food. They were fixed on the side of the cage and raised from the cage floor to avoid spillage by the animal. There two types of feeders those made up by alluminium (alluminium feeder).

Drinkers

Water trough made by concrete also as the feed  trough were raised and fixed on the side of the cages to avoid spillage and as the means of disease control.

Reproductive performance of the rabbits

Age at first mating	7months female and 8months male
Litter size	6 – 9 kids/doe
Litter frequency	4 – 5 times annually
Breeding period for male and female	5 – 7 years
Kids mortality rate and causes	1 to 2 kids per doe, causes include poor mothering ability and disease
Maximum economic breeding period for both male and female	4 years

1. Management practices that we manage to perform

a. Sexing of young rabbit

Sexes of young rabbit can be done at the third week, we done it by placing the rabbit on its back in the palm of the hand then pressing down the sexual organ so as to expose the reddish mucous membrane which in case of Buck it will look like O-shaped and for Doe it look like V-shaped

b. Pregnancy diagnosis

This is done in 12-14 days after mating, during this visit there were no rabbit with pregnancy(according to technician) but we manage to perform the demonstration by palpation on the underside (abdomen)