Wednesday 31 August 2011

Two-Weeks Old First Generation Rabbits



One- week old litter of Cinnamon doe








One- week old litter of Chinchilla


Two-weeks old

The kits were out of their nests today and were trying to get their first taste of their mother's food, yummy. The cute little furry things had a good time exploring their surroundings. It's really amazing how fast they have grown since they were born 13 days ago. The children at home spent a few hours with the rabbits just watching them play in their pen. Thank God they are all safe and sound in the backyard rabbitry even after the bad storm that we just had. I was a little bit worried there when the wind was so strong that it broke some branches on the trees. Luckily, the rabbitry was not blown away because where it is presently located in the south west, that's where the wind  comes in which is why we did not put any windows on that wall. Rabbits can survive the cold better than the heat and the wind is not coming directly at them so they should be fine.













Tuesday 30 August 2011

Ventilation in the Rabbitry

We have an on-going storm that is lashing out the city right now with strong winds and heavy rains. I went to check on my rabbits earlier to see how they were coping with the weather and so far so good, they are all sheltered from the storm in their home. The rabbitry house is rain-proof and dry inside. I just had to cover up some of the back part and the sides underneath the rabbit hutches with plastic sacks that were cut in half to protect them from any down draft that may come in from the windows. You see, the windows in the rabbitry has no window glass panes on them, just the 1 x 1 inch wire mesh that we used to take the place of the glass panes. The awning on the roof that covers the windows kept the rains from going inside the rabbitry. There was no smell of amonia build up inside the rabbitry when I opened the door. Thanks to the simple screen windows that allows fresh air to get in and circulate inside the rabbitry.


I cleaned the hutches and fed the rabbits with their daily ration of rabbit pellets and gave them their portion of vegetables. We were feeding them some sweet potato vines and leaves but they finished those greens the other day. We have some chayote or sayote vines and leaves that were gathered yesterday just before the storm came and this is what we gave to them for their greens yesterday and today. We still have some other cut grasses stored for their greens tomorrow and then we will have to gather some more for the next day or so. It's just that with this on-going storm, it is dangerous to get out of the house because you never know what is flying around that could hurt anybody. So I'm hoping and praying that the storm will leave us tomorrow so we could go out and get some greens for our rabbits. The litters are still sleeping snugly in their nest boxes when I last checked on them and they are no longer pinkish because they have grown some furs on their bodies now. I was tempted to get them out and handle them individually but I thought better of it because they looked so contented and happy sleeping in their nest so I left them well alone.

Friday 19 August 2011

Original Stock Cinnamon/Chinchilla Doe: First Litter



These are the first litter of our Cinnamon doe that were born yesterday, August 18, 2011. They're just 1 day old today and we took this picture just this afternoon around 2 PM. They're so cute and wiggly but they're still hairless of course. We gave some greens to the mother first and then took the nest box near the cage's door and uncovered the pups as they were all covered with their mother's fur. As you can see in the picture, we used some old cut-up newspapers as their litter. We can always change the litter should they get wet since we have plenty of old newspapers. This will give us a good excuse to bring out the nest box and check on the babies while changing the litter ha-ha-ha.   


These are the first litter of our Chinchilla doe, born on the same day and perhaps the same time as the Cinnamon litter. I bred the two does on the same day with the same buck. I read on the Internet that the advantage of having two does giving birth at the same time is that you can foster the litter of the other to the doe with a smaller litter. The Cinnamon gave birth to 6 pups but the Chinchilla which is actually bigger in size has more pups like 8 or 9 perhaps. I tried to move the fur that was covering them so I could count their number but they were all wiggling and were piled on top of each other so I was not able to do a real count. I was too afraid of touching them yet just in case I do any harm. In a few more days, I'd be able to do a real count. I am just satisfied and happy that they are all alive and looking good. Oh and by the way, I noticed that when the Chinchilla made a pee, there was some speck of blood mixed in with it. I hope that was just part of her birthing process. Both of the mother does are eating well.



Tuesday 16 August 2011

Expectant Does

               The Chinchilla doe is resting after overhauling the newspapers in her nest box.

We purposefully made the nest box of the Chinchilla doe slightly bigger because she is bigger in size than the Cinnamon doe. We put in the nest box inside the cage on the 28th day after breeding and that is today, the 16th of August. Knowing this, we made some preparations for the delivery and we cut up a lot of old newspapers into 1/2 inch strips and used these as a litter to line up the bottom of the nest boxes. The litter came up to about four inches from the wire bottom. Then we cut up a cardboard box that would fit outside the wire bottom of the next boxes. This will serve as a cover against any down draft coming from the floor of the all-wire cages. It would be easy to change the cardboard at the bottom of the wire box once it gets dirty. All we need to do is to lift up the nest box and change the cardboard underneath where it was sitting on since the cardboard is not attached to the bottom. When everything was ready, we put each nest box inside their individual cages. The two does didn't know what to make of their nest box at first and they started chewing on the wood. Then they got inside their individual nest box and started to dig in and brought everything out! What are we going to do now?

                       This is the Cinnamon doe resting after she re-arranged her nest box.

We were observing them as this is our first time to raise rabbits. When they got tired of jumping in and out of their nest box, they would take a rest and would stretch out to their full length on the wire floor right next to their iced-water bottle. Then after a few minutes, they would go back inside the nest box again and would bury themselves in the newspaper cuttings and they would continue to dig. After some time, they came out of their nest box and we noticed that they were gathering the newspapers in their mouth that were strewn all over and they were putting them back inside the nest box! They were rearranging the newspapers in the nest box the way they wanted it done! So don't try to rearrange their nest, just let them do as they please because they know best what they want and how they want their beds done. To us newbies, we thought that was really amazing because we've never seen rabbits making their nest before. The size of the nest box that we gave them was really perfect for each of them. They can turn around inside and they could get in and out of it easily as well. So now it’s just a wait and see because they can give birth within two days after putting in the nest box or any day and anytime from now. 


Wednesday 10 August 2011

Making the Rabbit Nest Boxes

Since we do not have any scrap wood materials around the house, we had to buy some new ones to make the rabbit's nest boxes. We bought two pieces of 1x8x8 rough wooden boards and it costs us 651.00 pesos ( six hundred fifty one pesos in Philippine money). Since we were able to make three nest boxes out of these materials, the cost of one nest box is only 217.00 pesos. It would have cost us more if I had gone to a wood shop and have them made the nest boxes as I had originally intended to do. We used a 1/2 x 1/2 hole wire materials with gauge # 14 for the bottom of the cages. These wires are actually left over materials from the all-wire hanging cages that my brother Joe made so they were all put to good use, nothing wasted.

My brother Joe making the sides of the nest box out of a 1/2 inch x 8 inches wide by 10 feet long board.

Assembling the sides of the nest box.

Four sides done.

Now he's putting the top part of the nest box.

The rabbit can use the top part of the nest box if she wants to get away from her kits.

We used 1-inch finishing nails to join the boards together. 

Now comes the bottom part with the left over 1/2 x 1/2 inch wire floor.

The left over wire floor is attached to the bottom with no. 1 staple wires. 

The all-wire bottom will be covered with plywood underneath to make a double bottom.

All done!

Showing the top part of the nest box.

Making the second nest box a little smaller for the Cinnamon doe as she is smaller than the Chinchillia doe.

Same all-wire bottom but shorter in length.

Showing the three nest boxes with all-wire bottoms. 

One 18- inches long and two 16- inches long nest boxes all done.







Tuesday 9 August 2011

Rabbit's Drinking Bottle, Feeding Cups


This is a medium size drinking bottle that I give to the bucks. It has a drinking nozzle at the end and the rabbits learned that if they lick on the nipple, water will come out and they can suck it up. It's a sanitary way of giving them clean water.  The bottle is attached to the side of the walls by a piece of string and the height is adjusted according to the size of the rabbits.



This is a large drinking water bottle that I give to the pregnant does. Knowing that the does are pregnant, I bought a large drinking water bottle for them so they could share it with their litters. It is also kept in place by an adjustable spring wire.We clean out all the bottles and the feeding bowls with Zonrox to disinfect them.



This is a stainless steel bowl that I use as a feeding cup for the rabbits. It can be easily hooked up by its holder on the wall of the cage at any height and it is detachable. It is easy to just lift up the cup from its holder and the holder will remain hooked on the walls. Initially, I bought several plastic feeding cups with a wide base at the bottom but the rabbits would sometimes tip the cups over together with the feeds. So when I found these stainless steel cups in a pet shop, I bought some of them.


This is another hard plastic feeder that I use with the does. It has a screw outside the cage and the cup is detachable from its base. Just turn the cup a little bit and it would come out from its base while the base remains screwed on the wall. I like this best because it is sturdy and they could not tip it over. I actually ordered 10 pieces of these feeding cups at ACE Hardware store at SM mall here in Baguio as that is where I bought the two that I am using now. I placed my order in sometime in May and the saleslady who assisted me said that it would take two weeks at most so I said okay. June, July and now it is August and my order is yet to come. I kept following it up with the saleslady every time that we go to the store to buy something but she always tells me the same thing, that nothing has arrived yet although she already placed my order. Maybe one of these days I will eventually get it.


Monday 8 August 2011

Rabbit Manure Worm Bin


Behind the door in the rabbitry is a black plastic compost bin with a white cover. This is where we put the strained rabbit manure. Once it is half way full, we put the earthworms inside and continue to fill it up until it is 3/4th full then we take the bin out and put a new plastic bin in its place.


The manure bin in the picture above is almost full but not quite yet.  Around the four sides near the top, we drilled many small holes to serve as ventilation for the earthworms. We also drilled many small holes on the white cover for additional ventilation purposes. I cut up some old newspapers and soaked these in a bucket with water for a few minutes. Then I squeezed out the excess water and spread the newspapers at the bottom of the box to serve as lining. Then everyday, we put the strained rabbit manure in the box. We used a black plastic box for composting the rabbit manure because the earthworms thrives best in darkness.    



The pink strainer (not shown in picture) is just on the left side but it is near the worm bin. This is why we placed the worm bin under the window behind the doorway as it is easy for us to take the drained manure and flip over the contents into the worm bin in one smooth single flow. It simplifies the work of emptying the pink strainer with the manure.


Sunday 7 August 2011

Cleaning the Rabbitry


By extending 2 feet of the suspended cages towards the chicken coop, this allowed us to have a 3-feet walkway between the left wall cages and the middle cages as seen in the picture above. The red stool in the middle is used by yours truly because I am a short woman and this helps me to reach for any rabbits at the upper levels. Underneath the left wall cages are several plastic containers, this is where we keep the rabbit pellets. The 1-litter bottles on the floor are filled with water and this is what we use when we clean the linoleum floor under the cages. A stick broom and a dustpan is also on the floor near the bottles.


These are the cleaning utensils that we use in the rabbitry which includes a sponge, a hand towel, a hair brush for grooming the rabbit's hairs, 3 different kinds of brushes, a scraper and a handy blue torch with a small can of propane gas that we use to burn off the stray hairs that often clings on the wire walls. This is an easy way of cleaning the all-wire cages of hair and parasites by burning them with a handy blue torch.  

   
Since the floor under the cages were made to slant to a certain degree at an angle, this allows the free flow of urine and manure to fall into the linoleum and down to the half cut orange PVC pipes which serves as gutters as shown in the picture above. These orange gutters are then inserted into the cut that was made on the black PVC pipe. The upright black PVC pipe is another scrap material that we have kept in the old pigsty over the years knowing that it would come in handy someday and it did.  


This shot was taken from the doorway of the rabbitry showing the back of the upright black PVC pipe that is tied with a wire on the steel frame. This black PVC pipe is where the urine and the manure drains and these are deposited into the plastic at the bottom. The plastic at the bottom is actually a 1-galloon plastic water bottle and we just cut off the top part so this serves as a wastes bucket.   



The bucket that contains urine, manure and cleaning water is then poured into this pink plastic strainer with another 1-gallon plastic water bottle at the bottom. We cut off the bottom part of this plastic bottle and turned it upside down and the mouth of the bottle is then inserted into a 2-inch diameter hole on the floor. This hole on the floor has a 2 inches PVC pipe that is buried into the concrete floor and this is where the waste water and urine is drained. So only the manure is left into the pink strainer and once it is dry, we put them into a bin with a cover.
   


Saturday 6 August 2011

Rabbit Housing: Cages on the Left Wall


These are the suspended cages on the left wall of the rabbitry. There are two cages on the upper level. Each cage is divided into two so this gives us four individual cages. The size dimension of each individual cage is 2 feet wide by 2 feet long by 18 inches tall. These will be used for our replacement does in the future. There are two cages on the lower level with a size dimension of 2 feet by 4 feet by 18 inches tall. These will be used as grow-out cages for the litters. The back part of this left wall in the rabbitry is covered with a 1/2 x 1/2 inch wire mesh material from the ceiling down to the floor of the suspended cages because on the other side is already the chicken coop area. The wire mesh material prevents the chickens from entering the rabbitry and it still allows for the free flow of fresh air all around the entire building.




The suspended cages on the left wall are actually protruding by 2 feet towards the chicken coop as shown in the two pictures above with the chicken door open. Underneath these protruding cages is a space of 2 1/2 feet, so the chickens actually can still use the bottom space. 


In my research on the Internet about raising rabbits, I found out that rabbits do not like sudden movements. Since all of our cages are made out of all-wire materials, and the wall division between the chicken coop and the rabbitry is also of wire mesh material, this means that any activities that the chickens would be doing while they're inside the coop could be seen by the rabbits. So we covered 3/4 of the height of these suspended cages at the back with linoleum material as seen in the picture above. This will screen off the activities of the chickens in their coop and the rabbits will not be able to see them from their suspended cages. The remaining 1/4 space of the height of the suspended cages are not covered so there is still a free flow of air in and around the whole rabbitry and the chicken coop.

Friday 5 August 2011

Rabbit Housing: Middle Cages


This is the front part of the middle cages with the steel frame. There are four all-wire suspended cages in this steel frame which will serve as my breeding cages. These four cages are all of the same size at 2 1/2 feet wide x 3 feet long x 18 inches high. Based on my Internet research, this is the recommended size for a medium sized pregnant doe until kindling time as it is sufficient in space to accommodate a nest box. The litters can stay with their mom in this same cage until weaning time of which I intend to do when they reach 6 weeks of age. At the moment, I have two does in the lower cages and the buck that I used to mate with the two does at the upper cage although I will be moving him out of there eventually. We only put them there temporarily while my brother was finishing all the rest of the all-wire cages.


This is the back part of the steel frame with the four suspended cages that is at the middle of the rabbitry. The side where the bright light is coming is the wall from across the doorway. We covered the wall with green plastic material to admit more light into the rabbitry. That side is where most of the wind an rain come from which is why we had to cover it but it still allows the afternoon sun to shine through the plastic material. The yellow plastic materials that are rolled up at the back of the cages are actually feed sacks. We ripped open the feed sacks and used these to cover the back part of the cages at night and roll them up again in the morning. This is to protect the rabbits from the downdraft that may come in from the windows at night. We did not put any glass panes on the windows, just screen materials to allow fresh air to come in continously even at night and this also keeps out the birds during the daytime. There is 6 inches of space at the back between the all-wire cages and the floor under the cages. This allows us to reach out at the back during cleaning time.






 

 



 

Thursday 4 August 2011

Rabbit Housing: Cages on the Right Wall


My brother Joe just finished making the last two pieces of our all-wire rabbit cages this afternoon and he already hanged these on the right side wall of the rabbitry. The size dimension of the upper cages are 2 feet wide by 3 1/2 feet long by 18 inches in height. The bottom cages are 2 feet wide by 3 feet long by 17 inches in height to fit the space because of the half-post in the corner. Just above the cages on the right wall is a long window without any window frame. It is only 8 inches high by 8 feet long. This serves as a ventilation outlet which is why it is located high up near the roof to allow the hot/warm air to get out. The overhang from the roof protects this outlet from the rain and we covered this with a 1 x 1 inch wire mesh gauge # 16 to keep out the birds.

I lifted up the linoleum to show you the scrap GI sheet materials that we used in making the floor under the rabbit cages. My brother Joe, used a rivetter to join together the small pieces of scrap GI sheet materials to make the necessary size for the floor that would go under the cages. I bought some
cheap linoleum to cover and protect the GI sheet floor under the cages from being corroded by the rabbit's urine. We kept all these scrap materials in the old pigsty knowing that they would come in handy someday and they did when we built this rabbitry. It has helped us a lot in cutting down our cost. All of our all-wire cages are made of wire gauge no. 16 for the top and the sides and we used gauge no. 14 for the floor. My brother Joe made all of the cages with a lot of patience even if he sustained some cuts because the wires are hard and strong.  
  

Wednesday 3 August 2011

Rabbit Food


We usually give some pellets and greens to the rabbits in the mornings but we give them more feeds and greens in the late afternoon so they can eat to their heart's content even during the night. I bought a 50-kilo sack of PDP ( Pullet Development Pellets) which is actually feeds for chickens and this is what we give as feeds to the rabbits. The breeder whom I bought the rabbits from uses this kind of PDP feeds for his own rabbits. He recommended this feed because of its higher level of protein content which is at 16% as compared to the other brands of pellets. There is no feed store here in Baguio City Philippines that sells feeds specifically made for rabbits only, I have yet to find one anyway. Since our rabbits do not eat the powdered left over feeds in their feeding cup, I just throw this into the feed trough inside the chicken coop and the chickens would eat it with gusto. The feeds that I give to the rabbits are the same feeds that I give to the chickens so nothing is really wasted. The chickens are already 3 and 4 months old so it's okay to give them this PDP feeds. Of course I will have to switch to layer feeds for the young pullets once they start laying eggs. The only hen that we have has stopped laying eggs because she is molting. She just stays in her nest all day and all night and would only come out to eat some pellets and drink water then its back to the nest again. We just let her be to do as she wants, she's earned it. 

Feeding the rabbits with greens is pretty easy and economical especially if you have a source where you can get their greens. We have plenty of gumamela shrubs that we use as fencing material around our property. I gather the tender shoots and leaves of the gumamela plants and feed these to the rabbits. If I notice that they are tired of the gumamela plants, then I switch to some grass or dandelions that I cut from our small garden. My younger sister who tends to our bigger garden up on the hillside would sometimes come home with some sweet potato vines and leaves and we also feed these to the rabbits. If the greens are wet, we spread them out on a big basin to dry them out or spread them inside the empty hanging cages to dry first before we feed them to the rabbits. I understand that if rabbits are fed with wet greens, they could get diarrhea so we are very careful on giving them the greens. I would like to try feeding the rabbits with sunflower leaves. We have plenty of these native sunflowers in our hillside garden. If they eat it, well and good but if not, then I can always use it as addition to the compost bin. I tried feeding them with banana leaves and they like it. We also give them chopped sayote/chayote fruits when it is available. I usually buy 5 kilos of carrots in the market at whole sale price and we feed these to the rabbits one piece at a time, not everyday because of its sugar content which is not good for rabbits.We also make sure that before we close the rabbitry for the night, that they have sufficient feed and water in their bottles that would last them until feeding time the next morning.  



Tuesday 2 August 2011

Rabbit Breeding


These two does of Chinchilla mix breed are the only surviving does that are left in my breeding stock after I lost two New Zealand does. I had these  two remaining does mated with the Cinnamon/Chinchilla mix breed buck at the same time around 9 AM of July 18, 2011. I first took one doe and brought it to the buck's cage. What happened next was very funny because it was the doe that was mounting the buck! She was really ready for mating and she kept chasing and mounting the buck who was getting away from her. After a few minutes, the buck started to smell the doe and was going around her in circles. Then all of a sudden he mounted the doe and then fell over on his back! It happened so fast I don't think it even lasted for a few seconds. We were all watching this mating episode out of curiosity because this is our first time to breed our rabbits. After the buck has rested for a few minutes, the does started to mount the buck again. So we let the buck do his job twice and then we took off the doe and put her back in her cage. Then we got the other doe and put it inside the bucks cage. She just went running around while the buck was trying to get near her. After a few minutes of "getting to know you" scenario, the buck finally mounted her but we were not sure if it really went through. She wasn't cooperating as the other doe. Finally, we took her out and put her back in her cage to calm her down.

 After 8 hours, we put back the first doe in the buck's cage again for the second time just to make sure that the doe is impregnated. The buck did a good job and we took out the doe back to her own cage. Then we put the second doe in the bucks cage to do the same thing but it seemed that it was not working. Since it was getting late and I had to start my cooking, so we decided to let the doe stay with the buck for the night. When we went inside the rabbitry the next morning, she seemed calm and satisfied because she was laying with her body stretched to its full length. So we took her out and put her back in her own cage. It has been 15 days since we had the does mated and I am afraid of palpating the does just in case I make a mistake. Their tummies are getting big anyway so that should be a good sign that they are pregnant.    


The picture above shows the two bucks that we currently have. I used the white and brown spotted buck to mate with the two does. He was born on December 15, 2011 so he is now 7 months and 3 days old and this is his first time to be used for breeding. He is a mix breed of Cinnamon and Chinchilla. The black buck is a mix breed of Chinchilla and New Zealand and he will be 7 months old by August 02, 2011.

None of these rabbits are brothers or sisters because I personally picked them from different does who have given birth all at the same time. The breeder who happens to be my neighbor has 12 breeding does and several replacement does and bucks in his rabbitry. My plan is to use the black buck to mate with the two Chinchilla does after they give birth to their first litter. I am hoping that I will have some litters from the two does by the 18-19 of August. By that time, the black buck would be 9 months old and the two does would have had 2 weeks of rest after weaning their litters. I plan on weaning their litters at 1 month and two weeks old so the does will have at least two weeks of rest before being mated again.  


Monday 1 August 2011

On losing a rabbit

 Last June, I lost one of my New Zealand doe with the pink eyes for unknown reason, that was her in the forefront. This time, I just lost the other New Zealand doe with the black eyes, that's the one eating at the back. She would have been 5 months old this first week of August. The first thing we noticed with her was that she seemed to have lost her appetite and she would not eat the same quantity of pellets that we used to give her. She would eat the vegetables that we give her although it's not as much like she used to. So I called the breeder whom I bought the rabbits from because he's my neighbor and he came over. He told me that he'd lost some of his rabbits too when he first started and that's when he started to give them antibiotics only as needed. He gave us the name of this antibiotics that he gives to his own rabbits and we bought it. We diluted this powder with water according to the measurement indicated on the literature and gave this as a drink to the sick rabbit. She would drink a little and then she would eat some vegetables but she would not eat her pellets like she used to.

The next day, she was still looking lethargic but she was eating and her stool was normal, no diarrhea. It's just that I was worried for her because I don't want to experience another loss just like what happened to the other New Zealand rabbit last month. So I called the vet's office yesterday morning for a home service and the vet came over after 20 minutes. The first thing he checked was her stool and it was normal, no diarrhea. Then he went through all her ears and body to check for any cuts or mites but she was clean. He said that the rabbit may have eaten something that did not agree with her gut and that she seemed fine except for a slight fever. We told the vet that we have given her the same feed as usual and that we also gave her an antibiotics in her drinking water. He said that we did the right thing but he still wants to give her an injectable antibiotic and vitamins all the same. Since it was subcutaneous injection, it should take effect much faster than the antibiotic in her drink and it should help her get back her appetite. He gave us instructions that we are to give her another drink every after 3 hours and we did just as instructed.  

This morning when my sister-in-law went to feed the rabbits, the rabbit was still eating and nibbling on some vegetables. By 9 AM, she was dead! They woke me up to tell me about it and I was so saddened by the news that I called the breeder again to open up the dead rabbit to see if he could find what was wrong with her. He said he never experienced a grown rabbit to die just like that. Most of his losses were from the small ones who were in their tender age from birth to 1-month old but not 4-5-month old rabbits. Anyway, he saw something in the stool that he has never seen before so he took this together with some stool and kept it in a small jar. He said to ask the vet who came over our house if they can do a deeper analysis on this particular thing. The liver had some tiny white dotted spots on it too. I read somewhere that if the diet consists too much of sugar, it brings about this white thing on the liver. We do not give our rabbits any sugary foods at all. The only sweet that I could think of are the carrots which is given only sometimes as a treat. So anyway, my sister-in-law and her husband brought this bottle with the "thing" to the vet's office and the doctors said that they will have to culture it because they do not know what it is yet. So now, it's a wait and see situation. I would like to know what had caused this death to my rabbits so I can take the necessary precautions the next time this thing happens.