On Losing A Doe

Two days before our breeder does are due to give birth, we put in about 2-3 inches thick of shredded newspapers inside their nest box and scatter the rest of the shredded newspapers on the floor. As soon as the nest box is inside the cage, the doe will jump right in and would make a scratching motion as if she is digging for gold and everything would come flying out of the box. Then she would lie down to take a rest and get back with her mission of digging once again. Soon after, all the shredded newspapers strewn all over the floor would be gathered by using her lips and she would bring these back inside the nest box. Huh? Doesn't make sense but that's how it is and that's how it's always been with them. They arrange their nest according to their own design. So their next job is to pull some furs from their dewlap and put these in with the shredded newspapers inside their nest box. Then once they are content with their work, then they do what they do best, give birth to their litters. 

We usually breed our does by twos or by threes or sometimes even by four does at a time. The advantage of this system is that the does with a fewer litter could foster the kits of the other does with a bigger litter. So anyway, we were expecting these two does to give birth that night. The next morning, my sister-in-law Emy was wondering why one of the expectant does did not come out of her nest box whereas the other doe was already out and about. So Emy looked inside the box and found this Chinchilla doe stretched to her full length inside the nest box and was already dead. The doe was doing fine just last night when we fed her and we were expecting her to give birth that night.We do not know what caused her death and this is our first time to lose a doe in giving birth. There was no injury on any part of her body so we just assumed that she may have had a difficult time in giving birth last night. So we were all saddened by this loss. She was a very good breeder and we wanted to honor her life so we buried her in the flower beds in the garden.

Malocclusion Problem

We encountered a malocclusion or misaligned teeth problem with just 1 kit from among the 1st and 2nd litters of my original stock of Chinchilla doe. The kit could hardly eat because of its protruding teeth, then it got thinner and thinner until we had to destroy it. The thing is, we did not notice this problem at first until the kit was about 3-4 months old. I told my neighbor Johnny ( he's the source of my breeding stocks) about this and he traced the parentage of my original Chinchilla doe but unfortunately, he already slaughtered the mother and father of my breeding stock and said that he did not encounter any of this malocclusion problem with his rabbits before. He advised me not to keep this doe with this malocclusion problem because it might show up again in the future. It's just that I did not want to destroy this Chinchilla doe because she is a good mother and I like her big sized body. Besides, I am only raising rabbits for meat and not for show rabbits so I decided to keep her. The third time that she gave birth, I did not see any of the malocclusion problem among her kits so I kept one of them as replacement doe. I also encountered this malocclusion problem with 2 kits from the first litter of the New Zealand rabbit. When I re-bred her again the second time, I did not see it in her second litter which happened to be just one kit. I was not able to take pictures of the rabbits that were afflicted with this malocclusion problem but I did find some free images on the net to show you what it looks like.

 

First Generation Replacement Doe # 1: 2nd Litter

On April 20,2012, I bred-back the first generation replacement doe with the broken-back Chinchilla buck. Six weeks or 1 1/2 month after giving birth to her first litter, she was bred-back again. She could still nurse her babies for one week before her milk dries up and by that time, her kits would be on their own. As usual, we took her out of her cage and brought her to the buck's cage for mating. They do their own dance of merry-go-round until one of them gets tired and that's when the male could perform his deed. We have to see to it that every time we mate them, the doe will be serviced twice by the buck just to increase her chance of getting pregnant. We usually do our breeding in the evening when the day is not so hot so as not to stress the rabbits and they can perform better this way. If the doe is not ready to mate, she will show an aggressive behavior towards the buck. If this happens, just take out the doe from the cage then try and put her back into the buck's cage again after an hour. If this doesn't work, then do the mating early the next morning when the doe is more receptive to the buck's advances. You'd know if the doe "got it" if during their mating, the buck makes a grunt and tumbles down on its side. It's really comical to watch them but while they're mating but it's necessary if you want to make sure that the buck really gave the doe his semen. Anyway, these are the 8 kits from the second litter of replacement Doe # 1, they were born on May 21, 2012.

The baby rabbits are out of the nest box

First Generation Replacement Doe # 1 with her 2nd set of litter

I'm wondering why the kits are outside and the doe is inside the nest box?

Pet Rabbit

 

Some children in our neighborhood likes to drop by our place after school just to see the rabbits and they usually end up buying a pet rabbit from us after badgering their parents endlessly. We make sure that before the rabbits leave our place, we give instructions to the new owners about feeding their pet rabbits the right kind of food so they will stay healthy. We also check first if the new owners have a cage or a hutch ready before we even release the rabbits to the them. Having a pet rabbit to take care of is a good way for the children to learn about taking responsibility. We normally dispose the baby rabbits when they are already 1 1/2 to 2 months old. Some customers prefers to buy the ready-to-breed female rabbit because they want to start breeding right away. The money that we get from the sale of these baby pet rabbits are used to buy their next sack of rabbit pellets. So the rabbits are more or less self-sufficient in this way because they pay for their own keep. We only provide them their vegetables for roughage and water of course. My one and only niece took these pictures of these baby rabbits. I think they're all cute, don't you think so?

 

Sleeping with its legs up in the air!

Advantages in Small Backyard Rabbitry

There are many advantages in having a small backyard rabbitry. One of them is that you could voice out your problems to them and they will not judge you. So if you happen to get into a fight with your hubby, or you lost in an argument, or you had a difference of opinion, just simply walk away and go into the rabbitry. There you can talk to the rabbits until you are blue in the face! Explain your side of the story and omit your hubby's side of the story of course and that should help to make you feel like the winner. 

Seriously, this small backyard rabbitry is just one of my hobbies. We used to be able to raise pigs in the backyard back then when there were only a couple of houses here in the village. Now that the city has grown so fast, the local government has made an ordinance banning the raising of pigs in the city. This is because of the smell and the noise that is associated with a piggery. So if you want to raise some animals in your backyard in the city, go into rabbitry. They don't take up too much space unlike other small ruminants. They can stay confined in a small space but it should be adequate for them of course. They can eat all your vegetable trimmings too, so they are economical to feed as well. If you have a lawn and you are lazy to mow the grass, just release them there and they will do the work for you. If you have shrubberies around the property and you don't know where to throw these, just give it to them and they will solve the problem for you for free, they will eat them all within a matter of minutes. They are that efficient you see. If you have a small garden in the backyard like me, then you need not buy or use those chemical fertilizers because you already got "Green Gold" from the rabbits waste pellets. You can also use the rabbit's waste directly in the garden without burning the plants because these are considered as cold fertilizer and the best thing is, it is organic fertilizer. They are also a good source of protein with their lean white meat which is healthier than other kinds of meat. As long as you keep and maintain the sanitation in the rabbitry, the neighbors have no reason to complain. Since rabbits are not noisy, they can be kept in the backyard and the neighbors will not even know that you are raising them because they are really quiet by nature. They will not demand attention but they will still receive attention gratefully. Here are some pictures of the beauties in my small backyard rabbitry.

Sexing the Rabbits

In the pictures above, these are all Chinchilla male rabbits. When the rabbits are 2 months old, we check their sex organs and separate the males from the females. It's easy to differentiate the males from the females because the male organ protrudes when you open it while the female has a slit.  One reason for the segregation is that by the time that they reach 4 months old, there is a possibility of interbreeding among the siblings and we try to prevent that from happening. So all the males from the same litter are placed in one cage while the females are placed in another cage. Another reason for the segregation is to decongest them so they will have enough space to play inside their cages. They should be able to run around their cages for their exercise.

We usually put 3-4 males or females in one cage but they should all come from the same litter. We do not mix different breeds in one cage so we do not get confused about their lineage because we now have 3 different breeds such as the Chinchilla, Cinnamon and the latest which is the New Zealand. Some children in the neighborhood likes to buy their pet rabbits from us and it's easier for us to pinpoint the lineage of the rabbits so we do not give a pair of siblings to the same customer. In the pictures above, these are all female rabbits from the same mother. What we do before we sell the rabbits to the children in the neighborhood is to ask their parents first if they are amenable to their children having pet rabbits. We also see to it that they must have a cage or a hutch ready before we release the rabbits to them. This is to ensure that the rabbits will have a good home when they leave our place.

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.

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.

 

 

 

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.  

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.