To start rearing rabbits, is as easy as getting a female (doe) and a buck (male), once they start kindling they multiply rapidly. But that could not happen easily to Karanja, first; Rabbits in the community were a preserve of young boys, who kept them as pets for pleasure. ‘‘I started backyard rabbits keeping four yeas ago, without prior knowledge nor interest in the matter. Neither was my attention focused on the small animals’’ said Karanja, a rabbits farmer from Sipili in Laikipia county.
Karanja’s younger son bought one female rabbit and borrowed a male one from a friend; his father took care of them when the boy goes to school. Since then, rabbits started to multiply and there was a ready source of meat for the family. Little by little and Karanja was learning a new trick of solving a problem in the family! Though initially it never occurred to him that one day he will venture into rabbits keeping as an enterprise.
‘‘Whenever I don’t have money and the family wanted to eat meat, we can just pick one mature rabbit and slaughter’’ he quipped. The meat is big enough for the whole family to eat as compared to a kilo from the butcher, which is expensive.
Rabbits keeping don’t require specialized knowledge.
Karanja have many reasons for rearing Rabbits; it is a ready source of meat, which is as tasty as chickens, and he no longer has to bear expense of buying meat from the butcher his family. To start rabbits keeping the initial capital outlay is low, the hutch can be easily constructed using available material like sunflower stalk, bamboo reeds or scrap wood, the roofing can be grass thatched if the owner wants to avoid the cost of iron sheets.
Rabbit’ farming requires little efforts; it can be done by little children and women unlike large animals. Rabbit’s manure can be used in the garden; therefore adding value by enriching garden leaves to be used in organic farming. Incase of diseases loses are not heavy and can be recovered easily unlike if a cow dies.
Source of income: - Mr. Karanja have found out that Rabbits acts as a source of ‘‘small monies’’; it acts as a saving bank where little cash can easily be found by selling a few of them. Feeding rabbits can be cheap, just need to collect the weeds while weeding, little food concentrates and grains are bought to make them grow faster.
Some difficulties in rabbits farming; The venture is however not without hiccups, Rabbits diseases medicines are not as common, unlike for chicken, farmers may have little to do incase the animals are infected, though in rare occasions. People are reluctant to start something new because there is no ready market, unlike poultry. Keeping many rabbits will certainly require a good allocation of time maybe two to three hours a day. The notion that rearing rabbits is a preserve for young boys is a hindrance driving rabbits away from the option-list of many would be keepers.
General husbandry and handling
Rabbits require proper care. One should keep a close eye on them before going to sleep and during the day. One should be able to learn whether the animal will be sick, whether the doe would make a nest and kindle. They need the best quality food, clean water and clean hutches.
Animals that are needed for further breeding should be given identification and a close watch on their performance. You should not kill the fast growers but use them for further upgrading. Separate the males and females that you want to keep at early time, before they become sexually active at approximately (Females 4 months, males 2 months later). To prevent fighting, it is good not to put litters together in one hutch. After mating, you should give the young doe’s separate hutches and then the whole cycle starts again.
Which are the breeds kept?
There are some factors to consider when selecting animals breeding stock
Health Signs: - Smooth skin, standing ears, clear eyes, quiet breathing, no mange (scabies) forming crusts around the nose, eyes, at the edges of the ears or inside the ears as a dirty mass. Should have regular legs inspected by letting them jump on the ground.
The abdomen should feel soft but smooth; a spongy feeling indicates some intestinal troubles. Watch for sneezing rabbits. Dirty front legs and dirty nose may indicate a coughing disease called pasteurellose, because animals ‘wash’ their nose with their front legs.
Reproduction age
The male: - The proper age for the first mating depends on the breed and individual development. For small breeds it is 4-5 months, for large breeds 9-12 months. One male can handle up to 10 or more Does, but this depends on mating intensity, heat, stress, age of the male, nutrition and so on.
The female: - Like the males the proper age for the first mating depends on the breed and individual development. Mate females (does) when they reach 75-80% of mature body weight (4-5 months of age for the lighter breeds, 7-9 months for heavy breeds). Does mature faster than bucks.
Kindling and mother care:- When the doe is almost ready for kindling (about 4 weeks after mating) you can put a nest box in the maternity cage for kindling to take place here. All she needs is rest and feed. A scared doe may eat her young. Cannibalism may occur for other reasons too, such as no drinking water, lack of minerals and sometimes for no apparent reason. However, unrest is likely to be the main cause. Killing the doe eliminates cannibalism.
Consideration when building a rabbit’s hutch.
The following factors should be taken into account:
A favorable microclimate, Protection from predators, Doors, hinges and feeding troughs
Sizes of hutches, Hygiene and building materials, Maternity hutch and the nest box.
Practical remarks in feeding rabbits
I. Do not change feed suddenly
II. Do not get desperate if animals don’t like seemingly good feed at first glance. Try it for a few days; if necessary starve them a little. The rabbit is notorious for its likes and dislikes which are difficult to predict.
III. Greens should not be too wet, because it will upset the stomach and cause trouble, diarrhea and death.
IV. Do not feed more than they will eat; remove old feeds.
V. A good feeding method is to give concentrate (rice bran, corn, roots) during the day and feed greens overnight. It avoids attracting rats during nighttime.
VI. Rabbit’s practices coprophagy or pseudo-rumination: consumption of feaces and thus the rabbit recirculates a part of the feed through the body. During the night the rabbit produces a soft faecal pellet, not like the well-known small dry ‘marbles’, but more like a longer shaped wet sausage. The rabbit eats these again but will not touch the dryer pellets. Coprophagy occurs also with other animals to a lesser or a greater extent (e.g. monkeys)
Sick animals: - The main causes of mortality in rabbits are probably intestinal problems and respiratory organs complications. Problems of skin parasites are bothersome but hardly ever fatal and are easily cured.
Prevention of diseases: - Try to avoid buying at the marketplace where many unknown germs come together. Try to buy from respected breeders, or farmers with clean housing and healthy looking animals. Inspect them and after bringing them home keep them separated from your animals (quarantine) for at least 2 weeks.
Make routine checks on the health of your animals on the following points:
a. Check nose, eyelids, ear edges for mange (little crust), inside the ear for ear mite.
b. Check the manure is it dry or somewhat pasty.
c. Check for the smell in the hutch, diarrhoea/enteritis often causes a dirty smell. When the doe is lactating she is under stress and more liable to suffer an attack from intestinal germs (always present) such as coccidiosis. The nest box needs cleaning.
d. Clean the hutches every day and keep them dry. Disinfect?
e. Keep animals away from their manure; slatted floors and no (deep) litter are to be preferred
f. Separate animals you suspect are ill so they do not infect healthy animals
g. Do not let visitors get close, have a bath disinfectant at the doorstep and add your own variations on this road to 100% infection prevention.
h. Clean to freshen the air. Strong manure smell is not good.
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