Rabbit trouble

Discussion in 'The Green Patch' started by Recon24, Jan 27, 2015.


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  1. Recon24

    Recon24 Monkey

    I have three doe rabbits who kindled recently. After four weeks, all eight kits from the first litter suddenly died within 24 hours. They had seemed perfectly healthy up to that point. It's never happened before. Plenty of grass hay and fresh water. Rabbit pellets in moderation. Any ideas?
    The other two litters seem perfectly healthy.
     
  2. techsar

    techsar Monkey+++

    Is this the first litter from that doe? Some does just are not well suited for breeding - no real rhyme or reason.

    What breed?
     
  3. Recon24

    Recon24 Monkey

    New Zealand (reds). Other than this event, she was great. All grew quickly, looked healthy, very active, etc.
     
  4. azrancher

    azrancher Monkey +++

    Anti-biotic for the rest, quick.
     
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  5. VisuTrac

    VisuTrac Ваша мать носит военные ботинки Site Supporter+++

    was this the first batch of babies she has thrown in the winter? Baby bunnies in nature aren't normally born this time of year.
    only takes momma away from the babes for a little while and it's gonna be to late for them to survive w/o human intervention.
     
  6. ditch witch

    ditch witch I do stupid crap, so you don't have to

    That's just weird. I'm guessing you have all the rabbits in the same location so if the other litters are fine that'd rule out freezing to death, and an 8 kit litter at 4 weeks is fine without mom as far as staying warm goes. Does don't really hang out with their kits much anyway, especially not that age. Generally when you have sudden death in kits, there's diarrhea involved, and they can die in hours. It can come from weaning too soon, e coli, and coccidia. You also see it crop up in kits who are just starting to eat pellets, they get bacterial enteritis and die pretty fast.
     
  7. Cruisin Sloth

    Cruisin Sloth Special & Slow

    Northern Hem ? low sun count makes the Egg weak in Ducks / Chickens etc. REAL unmodified / GM birds / rabbits don't have off spring in the winter .Neither do our [domestic bunnies , I leave them for the BIG Birds ](not in yellow) .
    Your raptor's,owl's , ravens do kill , but mostly do cleanup on route 51 from road kill .
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2015
  8. Recon24

    Recon24 Monkey

    Thanks for the advice. Do you recommend one antibiotic in particular? How adminstered--oral or injection?
     
  9. azrancher

    azrancher Monkey +++

    I don't raise rabbits, but most feed stores will know what to give you, most carry Tetracycline power to be mixed in water, or better is Gallimycin which is Ethromycin some will carry injectable penicillin

    Or if you're a prepper.... fishmox
     
  10. ditch witch

    ditch witch I do stupid crap, so you don't have to

    If it's enterotoxemia it's tough to treat. Broad spectrum antibiotics like oxytetracycline can help but often it comes back as soon as you stop treatment. Entertoxemia has been seen to appear AFTER treatment with antibiotics, specifically lincomycin, clindamycin and erythromycin, so treatment with penicillians and cephalosporins not a good idea if this is suspected to be the case. Generally the best preventative/treatment is unlimited hay and stop the pellets until they're older and their digestive tract is better able to handle new bacteria.

    Colibacillosis can hit kits at 1-2 weeks old and wipe out an entire litter overnight. It also hits newly weaned kits around 4-6 weeks old, but death can take a week or more. Treatment is a high fiber diet, culling infected rabbits, and going over your entire rabbitry with bleach or some other antibacterial cleaner.

    Most common antibiotics for intestinal issues in rabbits are the sulfas, given orally. The safety of Amoxicillin in rabbits is disputed but only adminster as an injection, not orally, at 15mg/kg sub-q or IM, every other day. Give it to them orally and you can kill them. Gentamycin is also not advised for use in rabbits and has been seen to cause nephrotoxcicity in young ones.

    I show rabbits. I have to know this stuff because they almost always come home with some icky crap whenever I take them to a coop show because of the stress and exposure to other animals.
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2015
  11. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    I never breed mine in the winter as I have had issues in the past. I am breeding New Zealand whites and have for decades. I have never treated any rabbits for anything except skin issues like mites or rash. I just helped my best Buck get over a rash he had on his back by using a mix of Alcohol and Vinegar after a bath in mild dog shampoo(sno show) where I removed the crusty stuff and hair that was coming off. After treating the area with the Alvin I used coconut oil to treat the area and he has completely recovered. I have lost litters and parts of litters but will not give antibiotics as I feel I need to be able to cope with the problems without modern medicine. When I get a sick rabbit I Isolate it from the others until it dies or recovers. I have lost a few over the years to diarrhea. Most recently had this problem which came out of nowhere to kill one of my best breeding does. One day she was fine the next day she had crapped herself to death. I have no Idea what caused it but none of my other does which were right next to her had any trouble. Very weird. I keep their claws trimmed and keep them clean. I find this helps in long term keeping of rabbits. Dont let crud build up around a bucks testicles or he will get infections. I give my Bucks two baths per year and it has helped a lot with them being comfortable. I also give each rabbit a flat board to sit on so they dont get sores on their hocks. I dont take rabbits to the vet or have any animal doctors treat my rabbits at all. If I lose one or two It is an acceptable loss as they dont cost anything to replace. That may sound a little harsh but they are raised for food not pets. I cant afford medical costs in our chickens or rabbits.
     
  12. ditch witch

    ditch witch I do stupid crap, so you don't have to

    I'm pretty much the same as Kingfish... rabbits really are not worth the expense of doctoring. I have one I'm treating now for snuffles, but only because I had her brought in from Maryland, cooped at Nationals for a week, and she's got an excuse. She's worth the headache. For the rest of the crew if they get sick, they get culled, and that goes double for my snake food breeders and anything destined for freezer camp. Kits don't get access to pellets until they're 6 weeks, just hay and sticks and other roughage... have had them fill up on that stuff then not nurse enough, and their gut goes bad, they die before you can blink.

    With rabbits, clean surroundings, good airflow (flow, not draft) and access to plenty of water and roughage is the ounce of prevention that's worth a thousand pounds of cure.
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2015
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  13. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    P1010033.JPG P1010034.JPG P1010035.JPG Mine love poplar branches as chew toys. I have so much of that soft wet wood here I just cut saplings into short pieces and keep thewm in chew toys it keeps them from eating their shelters. I keep mine well shaded in the summer and protected from high winds and snow in the winter. Other then that they are outside in Michigan and are doing great. Here are three pics of my set up. We just finished it this fall and moved ours from the barn. They love the outside and lack of urine smells. Very easy to remove the manure as the whole thing is built into a hill side. I just bring my cart down the path and shovel it in.
     
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  14. ditch witch

    ditch witch I do stupid crap, so you don't have to

    That is an awesome setup! :)
     
  15. kellory

    kellory An unemployed Jester, is nobody's fool. Banned

    very nice, indeed. only thing i might add would be a gutter to collect run off.
     
  16. tedrow42

    tedrow42 Monkey+

    think its time for the pooper scooper @Kingfish
     
  17. Recon24

    Recon24 Monkey

    Nice looking set-up. Might just have to try to replicate it.
     
  18. ghrit

    ghrit Bad company Administrator Founding Member

    Agree, nice. If you do replicate it, slope the roof the other way to keep the precip off your neck while servicing the bays.
     
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  19. Kingfish

    Kingfish Self Reliant

    Thanks guys, Ill be shoveling out the manure in a month or so when my snow is gone, Most of what you see is straw and hay. The roof over them and the shade trees really are the best feature. Another cool thing is each pen section is comprised of 3 pens and is removable for repairs. Even with good quality wire the floors only last about 5 years before the corners start rusting away. I just remove two screws and the entire section pulls out. Flip it over pull and replace the floor and slide it back in. The roof is corrugated asphalt roofing sheets. They are guaranteed for 25 years. It was a task setting the six 4 by 6 posts in concrete and getting them all plum and spaced right. Ill be sheeting the sides and back in with t-11 wood siding next summer. Then ill have a tarp to cover the front in the event of severe winds and cold from the east. My Rabbits are very happy in this set up . They were wallowing in urine smell in the barn during summer months and it was also ruining my barn.

    I like the Idea of a gutter to catch rain water but at this time Im not concerned about water as we are on a small private lake. Water is not scarce here. It is a good Idea however for this type of set up. You could run drain lines right into holding tanks alongside both ends. I still might do this just for ease of watering.

    I can ramp up to about 200 butcher rabbits a year with the breeding stock I keep on hand if I need to. I have a hay field below down on the lake that I can feed the rabbits with in the event the feed mill closes and or I cant get the good alfalfa hay Im gett ing now. I get 30 bales just for helping haul hay for two days. It is high quality alfalfa and timothy. They can live on this mix real well. I add in Pellets and my rabbits are real fat and healthy. I grow a 5 pound fryer in 16 weeks . Ghrit, that slope is a problem and we should have set it the other way. Live and learn.
     
  20. Ive never had this problem with my does even when they breed in winter
     
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