Summer rabbit-raising tips: how to raise rabbits well in hot weather

Summer has high temperatures and high humidity, which easily cause many adverse effects on @#@248@#@ production. Such as heat stress, decreased feed intake, slowed weight gain, reproductive disorders, etc. To minimize the adverse effects, the following measures are recommended:

1. Vigorously focus on heat prevention and cooling. Plant trees, forage grass, or some vine-type plants in the open space in front of the rabbit house; this can both shade and cool and green the environment. If the planting season has been missed, a shade shed 3-4 m high can be built. When the temperature inside the rabbit cage reaches 30°C, sprinkling water on the ground can also be used to cool it down, but when the house is humid, ventilation must be strengthened, and dryness should be maintained as much as possible, because high temperature and high humidity are even more harmful to the rabbit's body.

2. Prevent mosquito and fly bites. Install window screens and hang gauze nets, spray drugs in time. Inside the rabbit house, "Wenyingjing", "Chongbuyao", etc. can be sprayed. In the environment outside the house, especially at wall corners, alleys, open-air manure channels, sewers, and other places, dichlorvos can be sprayed, but it must be far away from the rabbit house, and the dosage should not be too large to prevent rabbit poisoning. Manure should be flushed into a septic tank or transported off-site for piling. The septic tank should be covered to prevent harmful gases from being released and causing air pollution; the manure pile should be promptly sealed and covered with soil for fermentation to prevent rainwater from washing it away and polluting water sources, while also ensuring that pathogenic microorganisms and parasite eggs are killed as soon as possible and preventing the spread of infectious diseases and parasitic diseases.

3. Prevent poisoning. Store feed well; if mold appears, resolutely remove it; compound feed should be mixed and used immediately; when free-range households collect green feed in the wild, they should stay away from cotton fields, tobacco fields, orchards, and other places where pesticides are easily sprayed; do not feed corn seedlings or sorghum seedlings to domestic rabbits, to prevent hydrocyanic acid poisoning.

4. Reasonably match the feed. Wet-mixed mash feed should be mixed and fed immediately to avoid spoilage. Do not feed feed that is covered with mud, has been piled too long and heated, or is moldy and spoiled. Green grass cut after rain and forage with dew should be dried before feeding. In cloudy and rainy weather, green feed with high moisture content should be fed less, and some dry roughage can be fed more. To prevent diarrhea, some garlic, scallions, and a little charcoal powder can be added to the feed.

5. Master the feeding principles. Feed once each in the morning, noon, and evening, and adhere to the principle of feeding well in the morning, feeding less concentrate and more grass at noon, and feeding fully in the evening with added night grass. For supplementary feeding of suckling rabbits and young rabbits, adhere to the principles of fixed time and fixed amount, feeding small amounts frequently, and diversified feed. Especially for newly weaned young rabbits, if the feeding amount is not controlled, diarrhea will occur. First feed the forage that has poorer palatability and is not liked, then feed the forage that has better palatability and is liked.

6. Provide sufficient drinking water. Frequently check whether the drinking water is clean, promptly flush out moss in the water pipes, and ensure water supply. Especially for fast-growing young rabbits, and female rabbits in late pregnancy and lactation, the water supply must be met even more. Drinking water should be clean and hygienic. A 1% salt solution or 0.01% potassium permanganate solution can be provided to prevent heatstroke and digestive tract diseases.

7. Reduce stress through management. In management, cage raising should be adopted, one rabbit per cage. The number of suckling young rabbits and newly weaned young rabbits placed per cage can be determined according to the situation. In the distribution of cage tiers, for three-tier cages, male rabbits are on the bottom layer, female rabbits on the middle layer, and suckling or young rabbits on the top layer; for two-tier cages, lactating female rabbits are on the lower layer and young rabbits on the upper layer. Young rabbits and concentrated areas should use three-tier cage raising. Use environmental cage raising as much as possible. Density should be reduced to decrease the heat dissipated by rabbits' bodies into the environment per unit area, and the number should be reduced by one third compared with winter.

8. Pay attention to hygiene and disinfection. Clean the feed troughs and water troughs every day, remove manure, and frequently disinfect and sterilize with lime.

9. Prevention and treatment of common diseases. To prevent coccidiosis, Sanzi Qiuchong powder can be used, adding 0.4 g per kg of feed and mixing into the feed, or adding 0.2 g per kg of water for drinking, for 3-5 consecutive days; Qiuliling, adding 0.125 g per kg of feed and mixing into the feed, for 3-5 consecutive days. Double the amount for treatment. For Escherichia coli disease, use vaccine for prevention, and for treatment use streptomycin 20 mg per kg body weight, intramuscular injection twice a day, for 3-5 consecutive days; or 2% enrofloxacin injection 2.5 mg per kg body weight, for 3 consecutive days. Frequently feeding moldy, coarse and hard feed or feed lacking vitamin B2 can cause infectious stomatitis. For treatment, apply gentian violet to the oral ulcers, once a day, for 3 consecutive days; rinse the oral cavity with diluted penicillin solution containing 20,000-40,000 international units per mL, twice a day, for 3 consecutive days; take Banlangen granules orally, for 3-5 consecutive days. For rabbits with heatstroke, 3-5 Ren Dan pills or 3-5 drops of Shidishui can be administered by drenching, and Shidishui can also be added to drinking water for prevention. For organophosphorus poisoning in rabbits, intramuscular injection of atropine sulfate 0.25-0.5 g and pralidoxime 2-4 mL; if organic fluorine poisoning occurs, Jiefuling can be used for treatment.