What are the preventive measures for difficult kindling in doe rabbits?

Timely mating for first-time kindling

The age for a doe rabbit's first mating is around 5.5 months, with a body weight of around 2.75 kg. If the age or body weight at first kindling is too high or too heavy, the rate of difficult kindling in first-time doe rabbits tends to increase, so preparations should be made in advance.

Provide appropriate nutrition during the doe rabbit's pregnancy

Some rabbit farmers have a misconception: they believe that once a rabbit is pregnant, the more it is fed the better, and the higher the feed nutrition the better. In fact, according to findings by the Rabbit Breeding Research Laboratory of the Institute of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine, Shanxi Academy of Agricultural Sciences, during research on the topic "Rex Rabbit Feeding Standards and Premixes," for pregnant doe rabbits, using a feeding approach with a low energy level (10.47 MJ/kg), a medium protein level (crude protein 17.5%), and restricted feeding (170 g/day) produced the highest litter size, with no cases of difficult kindling observed. However, using high energy and high protein nutritional levels reduced litter size and resulted in a higher incidence of delivery obstruction. This is because high energy and high protein cause oversized fetuses, which occupy uterine space and lead to an increase in stillbirths, and at the same time oversized fetuses increase the risk of difficult kindling. But if a pregnant doe rabbit's body condition is too weak, insufficient labor force can also easily cause difficult kindling. Therefore, in production, adjust the feeding amount according to the doe rabbit's body condition, and maintaining a body condition of 7 to 8 tenths of fatness is sufficient. After kindling, gradually increase the feeding amount.

Abnormal fetal position

Difficult kindling may also be caused by abnormal fetal position, fetal presentation, or fetal posture.