What to feed baby rabbits at home

How to feed baby rabbits without a mother rabbit?

Regardless of the reasons why the mother cannot feed the cubs, they urgently need breast milk. There are several ways to help rabbits:

• place newborns with another rabbit;
• force-feed;
• resort to artificial feeding.

Moving in with another female

You can feed newborn rabbits with the help of another lactating female, if one is available. To do this, the female rabbit is removed from the cage, and the foundlings are rubbed with down taken from her nest. Foster babies are placed directly in the center of the queen cell between the native rabbits

It is important to wear gloves before the procedure. After 30–40 minutes, the female is returned to the cage

Attention! You can place foster rabbits with a lactating female if she gave birth at about the same time as her natural mother. Babies should have a slight age difference (3–6 days)

Force feeding

This method is applicable when the female rabbit is healthy and does not show aggression towards children. It is worth enlisting the support of another person for the procedure to be successful.

The female is laid on her side, and the babies are brought to the nipples one by one. A sign of satiety is a bloated tummy. Rabbits are applied several times a day for 2–3 days. During this time, an inexperienced mother usually gets used to her new role.

Artificial feeding

Rabbit milk is fatty and nutritious; there is no complete substitute for it. Newborn rabbits are fed:

• goat milk;
• mixture for puppies and kittens;
• baby food.

Attention! Cow's milk is not suitable for feeding rabbits; it is not fat enough and contains a small range of nutrients necessary for the normal development of rodents. The mixture in powder form for puppies and kittens is diluted according to the instructions, and the one intended for children is made more concentrated

The liquid is drawn into a syringe without a needle; a pipette is placed on the tip, making several holes in it. It looks like a bottle

The mixture in powder form for puppies and kittens is diluted according to the instructions, and the one intended for children is made more concentrated. The liquid is drawn into a syringe without a needle; a pipette is placed on the tip, making several holes in it. It looks like a bottle.

Artificial feeding of baby rabbits

Newborn rabbits eat 1–2 ml of milk per day. At the age of 5–7 days, the amount of food is gradually increased. Before each feeding, babies' tummies are massaged with a fingertip so that they can defecate.

Tips for bottle feeding

In cases where the rabbit has died or refuses to feed the babies, you should begin this responsible mission yourself.

Self-feeding baby rabbits

Selecting milk

The only thing better than mother's milk is mother's milk! Unfortunately, children are not always given the opportunity to fully enjoy its most valuable nutritional properties. In cases where this is not possible, you can try to select milk that is similar in composition.

The closest approximation in structure is deer milk

Comparison of the nutritional properties of milk from different animals

It is also saturated with proteins and fats, but getting it seems problematic. Based on these data, it can be seen that deer milk is optimally close in structure to rabbit milk.

So popular all over the world, cow's milk, due to its characteristics, is not entirely suitable for feeding eared animals. An insufficiently high percentage of protein content removes it from the list of potential breast milk substitutes. Next after deer milk in terms of reliability is dog milk.

Feeding rules

In the process of self-feeding babies, you should follow simple rules:

• buy dog ​​milk powder at the pet store;
• dilute it with water, following the recommendations specified in the instructions, and bring the liquid to a temperature of 360C;
• It is necessary to feed babies only from a pipette or a special insulin syringe in which the needle has been previously removed;

When self-feeding, use a thin pipette

• it is necessary to pour in the milk with extreme caution: it is very important to avoid getting liquid into the nose, otherwise the baby may choke;

Be careful not to get any liquid into your nose during feeding.

• Overeating should not be allowed: you can determine the baby’s level of satiety by his even, smooth tummy.

The degree of saturation of the baby rabbit with food can be determined by its smooth tummy

In nature, there are cases where responsible and caring cats fed rabbits at will, but such situations are quite rare.

The nuances of keeping bottle-fed rabbits

In the first hours of life, rabbits deprived of maternal care, as a rule, die. If you respond to the situation quickly, you can save the babies and raise them healthy.

Rabbits should be placed in a warm place under a lamp.

Advice from experienced farmers on caring for bottle-fed rabbits:

• it is always necessary to breed several females at the same time: if one of them abandons the offspring, the babies should be placed in the nests of other rabbits;
• if a suitable mother is not found, it is recommended to put the babies in a warm place, preferably under a lamp: make sure that the lamp does not burn the fragile bodies of the baby rabbits;
• Since at this age the long-eared animals have not yet learned to empty themselves, it is necessary to massage their tummies: massage should be done only in one direction - from the navel to the hind limbs.

Be sure to massage the belly several times a day: this will help the rabbits to empty their bowels.

Treat your babies with the utmost responsibility and check their condition every few hours.

What to feed a fledged female?

The body of a female who has given birth constantly needs nutrients. After all, she spent a lot of energy on the birth and gestation. And continues to spend them in the process of feeding the cubs.

So, a rabbit’s diet should include:

• bran/oats (nutrition basis changes every week);
• crude protein;
• mineral supplements;
• greens and corn;
• in winter - dry stems and leaves of legumes, boiled potatoes,
• in summer - nutritious greens (clover, alfalfa).

If the owner opts for concentrated feed, it should contain bran, oats and peas. A nursing mother is given about 200 grams in addition to the main food. hay, 50 gr. cake and meat and bone meal as a source of calcium.

House for a mother rabbit and her babies

The approximate amount of food for a nursing mother depends on the age of the rabbits. It is presented in the table below.

Table 1. Approximate daily amount of food for a nursing rabbit

How many babies can a mother rabbit feed?

If the litter is not the first, and the mother constantly feeds the cubs, she can simultaneously provide food for 8 rabbits. With increased milk content, the figure can increase to 11, with decreased milk production it can drop to 6.

The feeding process is characterized by the following factors:

1. An ordinary female has 8 nipples, so the same number of babies can suckle at the same time.
2. If there are more than 8 cubs, the most agile ones will feed fully. It’s good if the mother produces a lot of milk, then after the first eight the remaining rabbits will eat.
3. Stronger individuals in the fight for the mother's breast can trample weak brothers. And the rabbit herself is capable of accidentally crushing them. Therefore, the farmer needs to remove them from the nest in time and move them to a nursing rabbit with fewer offspring.

How often do babies eat?

After birth, each baby rabbit begins to eat 5 ml of milk per day. The owner must ensure that the kids eat at least 2-3 times daily. Ideally, they should be applied to the mother's breast 5 times a day. In this situation, each baby eats 1 ml of milk in one go.

Typically, a nursing female produces from 50 to 170 grams. nutritious milk depending on the number of rabbits. The first 2 decades of lactation account for 61% of all milk that appears during the entire feeding period. Therefore, at this time, babies should eat as intensely as possible.

Well-fed rabbits immediately fall asleep

How can you tell if baby rabbits are eating?

Usually the female feeds the babies in the dark or when no one is looking, so it is extremely difficult to notice the feeding process itself. The caring owner begins to worry about whether all the rabbits are getting enough to eat.

You can check if the kids are full as follows:

Inspect the tummies. Under the thin pink skin, you can easily see the belly and even see the crowns. In well-fed babies, the skin on the stomach is taut and there are no folds. Hungry people have sunken bellies and wrinkled skin. Weigh baby rabbits periodically. If babies do not gain weight for several days in a row, they clearly do not have enough milk

At the beginning of life, rabbits should regularly gain weight

Pay attention to behavior. Well-fed rabbits fall asleep immediately after eating, sleep soundly, do not twitch their paws or jump up.

Hungry animals look exhausted and lethargic, and constantly squeak.

See where the cubs are lying. The babies, who are constantly lying outside the nest, in most cases tried to find their mother. They never found her and remained hungry.

If the offspring is clearly larger than what the female rabbit can feed, several cubs are transferred to another female. They must be cleaned of their mother's down in advance and rubbed with down from the new nest so that they acquire the smell of a second home. This is the only way the new mother will accept them.

Little rabbit

Monthly pets

By this age, little rabbits are already able to drink from a bowl on their own. The dairy menu is only for babies up to one month old.

Now babies can be given:

• carrot
• compound feed
• hay

Feed mixtures should be given a little at a time. You cannot allow the product to sour. It is not recommended to give cabbage leaves. They can lead to bloating and death.

It should be remembered that too much food is bad for the animal. Adequate nutrition is three percent of an individual’s weight.

Caring for newborn fur babies

The rabbits are kept in a separate cage (another enclosure allocated for the entire herd) until they get stronger. Maintain the temperature in the rabbitry at up to 18°C. Regardless of what time of year the female gives birth, it is necessary to maintain the temperature in the enclosure. Rabbits that develop fever and fever are kept in a cool cage.

The cub will survive the coldest winters and hot summers with a caring mother if the farmer provides all the necessary conditions:

The nest is checked at least once a day. If there are several rabbits in a separate cage, it is necessary to inspect all rodents. If your baby is gaining weight worse, you should increase the amount of vitamins in complementary foods. There is no need to rush to plant young animals. For the first couple of days, the young animals are protected from any draft or hypothermia. Due to the low temperatures in the enclosure, the young animals' ears and paws get frostbitten. With the mother of rabbits, things are even worse: a healthy mother of fluffies develops diseases that impair the functioning of internal organs

Protecting the rabbit is the primary task of a farmer who cares about his own farm. The mother should be treated with caution, because from the first days after giving birth, the rabbit behaves aggressively towards humans. There is no point in disturbing the female again. If you frighten a female rabbit, you can harm both the female and the young

How quickly the rabbits begin to grow and get stronger depends on the farmer’s first steps.

As soon as its eyes open (in the first 7-10 days), the little rabbit takes a closer look at the world around it, studies the space in which it will have to live. A female who has recently given birth needs special conditions without harsh sounds or noise. You can pick up rabbits that have managed to grow up. There is no point in disturbing the rabbit again. A rodent's good sense of smell helps the mother sense foreign odors from a person's hand. How often can a cage with young animals be cleaned?

It is possible and necessary to clean the enclosure and ventilate the place where furry rodents live, but not more than once a day. To completely clean the cage, the young animals and the female should be removed. This human behavior brings a lot of stress to the rabbit. If you can avoid unnecessary irritability of animals, then there will be no problems with young animals. At any age, rodents need care and attention from the farmer.

At what age should you start taking supplements?

How to feed baby rabbits without a mother rabbit

Rabbits continue to feed on their mother's milk until they are two weeks old. The addition of bait takes place gradually. The transition to feeding occurs starting from the second week. At this point, the offspring's teeth are already strong enough to withstand tough food.

Newborn rabbits

At this age, feeding dry mixtures based on dried grass is allowed. Juicy food is not advisable at this time.

Monitoring food sufficiency

It is necessary to constantly monitor whether the rabbit has enough food on offer. A good indicator for this is a full belly. A dense and rounded belly indicates that the rabbit was well fed. A well-fed cub is active and calm; lethargy or irritation indicates an insufficient diet. A sign of malnutrition is a baby rabbit's poor sleep at night.

Discharge should be regular; normally, rabbit feces should have a greenish color; if digestion is impaired, they will be brown.

It is best to start the first complementary feeding with finely grated fresh carrots and chopped hay. Artificially fed rabbits should be able to eat all types of food at 30 days, and drink from a drinking bowl on their own after 45 days.

It is quite difficult to feed baby rabbits that have given up without their mother on your own - it will require a lot of effort and time. The goal can be achieved by maintaining cleanliness in the keeping of the offspring, sterility when preparing milk formula and mandatory massage of the cubs' tummy at each feeding.

What should you not give to babies?

Artificial feeding of baby rabbits should be as similar as possible to what they had in the wild. It is necessary to exclude sweets, baked goods (especially flour), spicy and fried foods, and cattle meat. The listed products can harm even adult rabbits, let alone fragile organisms. Trimmings from rotten fruits, vegetables, and mushrooms are also contraindicated.

Due to the weak microflora, it is not recommended to give the following herbs to young animals: yarrow, chamomile, St. John's wort. Even a small portion can completely ruin the intestines.

Acceptable age

Up to 2 weeks, the rabbits are completely under the supervision of their mother and feed exclusively on milk. From the age of 17 days their teeth change. Young animals are characterized by a collective instinct, therefore, imitating the mother rabbit, the cubs try the food that is given to the adult animal. They chew grass stems, eat carrots and mixed feed.

From 24 days, rabbits no longer need the same volume of milk; its amount is halved. The body is able to digest other foods. From this time on, rabbits are given green, succulent and protein foods, carbohydrates and minerals, but limit food with a lot of fiber so as not to cause bloating. The state of the digestive system is assessed by stool; it should be green. Physiologically, young animals are already able to exist separately, but the body is not yet strong enough. Jigging will negatively affect their immunity and development.

By 30 days, the share of milk secreted in a female rabbit is 10%; in young animals, an obligate microflora has been formed in the intestines. The average weight of a baby rabbit already reaches 500 - 700 g, babies feed on their own, freely consume mixed feed, concentrated feed, and grass. Therefore, they will be able to be without a mother without harming their development, but their condition must be closely monitored.

Young animals are allowed to be removed at a minimum age of 28-30 days, provided that the cubs are healthy and developing well.

Each farm adheres to its own planting dates, the time is determined by the intensity of reproduction, the characteristics of cultivation and the season.

• In case of compacted births (mating on the 2nd day after birth), the rabbits are separated from the female rabbit at 28 days. The female is already carrying new offspring and is given days to recover before giving birth.
• With semi-condensed breeding, when mating is carried out on the 10th day or two weeks after birth, the young are kept near the mother for up to 35 days.
• The gentle method involves jigging for 35 or 40 days; such litter is hardy and has good weight gain. In this case, the young animals will be ready for slaughter for meat at the age of 115 days.
• Broiler hatching involves weaning from the mother at 2 months or 70 days. Used in growing large and hybrid breeds.

The timing of weaning of young animals during the cold period has its own peculiarities. Adult rabbits tolerate temperature drops down to -5 degrees. It is more difficult for rabbits to cope with negative temperatures; in cold weather they die. In winter, they require maternal warmth, nutritious milk and energy feeds: fresh hay, grain, mineral supplements, fish oil. Due to the energy required to stay warm, weight does not increase as quickly. Litter born in winter is moved into a separate cage no earlier than two months of age.

There are several jigging options.

• Whole. In this case, the entire litter is removed from the female, distributed among cages taking into account development and weight.
• Temporary. The rabbits are separated, but the female rabbit is allowed near them for a while. The method allows the cubs to be transferred to separate housing gradually, without causing a negative reaction to a sudden change in diet. Reduces the likelihood of hardening of the mammary glands in the female.
• Sorting. Only the largest rabbits are removed, leaving the smaller ones, giving them the opportunity to spend time with their mother and get stronger, and it is easier for the female to feed a smaller number of cubs.

The latter method is suitable for queens who have excess milk, which reduces the likelihood of developing mastitis.

Causes of death of baby rabbits due to poor nutrition

There are situations when babies die for no apparent reason. Sometimes you should look for the culprits of death in an incorrectly formulated diet.

Common causes of death in animals associated with nutritional errors:

• Upon reaching 1.5 months, the rabbits are taken away from their mothers, but by this time their digestive system is not yet strong enough. A sudden transition to a new “culinary” level can be fraught with serious consequences for the health of children, including death;
• stale moldy grain, the degree of deterioration of which can be determined both by appearance and by its musty smell, can cause serious disruptions in the intestines of long-eared animals;

You should not feed moldy grain to your rabbits.

• Sprouted potatoes can also cause diseases in rabbits, especially if the potatoes are rotten or old.

You should refrain from feeding your babies sprouted potatoes.

The health of cute and cute rabbits is not only the responsibility of their mothers, but also falls entirely on the strong shoulders of the owners. By following simple feeding rules and taking care of the fragile bodies of babies, you can raise them strong, strong and healthy, not to mention the economic benefits of such an enterprise.

With a properly designed feeding schedule, babies will grow healthy and strong.

If you decide to start breeding eared animals at home, you will definitely think about whether it is possible to give milk to a rabbit. It would seem that these animals are mammals and are fed by their mother. However, this product is not always useful for eared animals. There are not just a number of restrictions on its use, but there is also a dependence on who owns it. Thoughtless introduction of liquid food into the diet can have negative consequences and lead to the death of the pet.

Expert advice

Using the recommendations of experienced rabbit breeders, you can avoid situations where improperly organized feeding can lead to deterioration in health, or even death, of newborn rabbits.

If the female rabbit is thirsty or her food is low in vitamins and minerals, the animal may become aggressive and eat the babies.

Therefore, it is important to give the female a drink immediately after giving birth and make sure that water is available to her, as well as establish adequate nutrition. It happens that there is not enough milk. Then the rabbits can be given to be raised by a female who has no problems with lactation

Newborns need to be placed between the cubs of their eared mother so that they acquire the same smell, and left for a while. Sometimes a mother rabbit may begin to ignore her babies. If this happened due to stress, a feeling of fear (they often put things in order in the cage, take the cubs, disturb the peace and privacy of the animal), it is important to move the female to a secluded comfortable place, lay her on her back, placing the newborns to the nipples. If the reason is a hormonal imbalance, experts advise mating with a male, which will calm the animal.

A female rabbit bears offspring several times throughout the year, so by taking care of her adequate nutrition, you can maximize the conservation of her body’s resources and get healthy offspring.

Prohibited Products

When feeding rabbits, it is necessary to take into account the list of foods that are strictly not recommended for consumption. This includes sweets and flour products that can come from the owner’s table. Also strictly prohibited:

• spicy and fatty foods;
• waste of vegetables and fruits with signs of rotting;
• mushrooms;
• wet hay or grass;
• tops of tomatoes or potatoes;
• poisonous plants.

Mushrooms should not be given to rabbits

Cabbage leaves should not be given to rabbits. Despite the fact that the kids will eat them with pleasure, problems with the digestive system will subsequently arise, which will lead to the death of the young.

Proper feeding of baby rabbits is the key to their rapid development and health. A strong, strong and healthy livestock is a source of pride for a responsible breeder who strictly follows the recommendations of veterinarians and also takes into account his own experience in feeding young animals.

Essential Vitamins and Minerals

As a rule, a lack of vitamins and minerals is observed in rabbits in winter and early spring. There are several vitamin and mineral complexes that are very successfully used by rabbit breeders:

• "Chiktonik" - includes about three dozen vitamins and basic amino acids. The drug is given in five-day courses, every month, at the rate of 1 ml per liter of clean water;
• “Prodevit” is a vitamin complex designed for weakened animals suffering from ulcers, rickets, liver diseases, and pathology of the mucous membranes. The drug is available in injection and oral form;
• “E-Selenium” is a drug intended for the correction of developmental and growth disorders, exacerbation of infectious diseases, treatment of poisoning and other pathologies. Available in injection and oral form.

Mineral supplements represented by mineral stones: “Chika” and Karli have proven themselves very well. You can also use "Bio-iron", supplemented with essential microelements, and the vitamin and mineral supplement "Ushastik".

Introduction of fertilizing

New food is given to rabbits from 3-4 weeks of life. At first these are herbs dried in the sun. At one month of age, rabbits are given grated carrots and pumpkin. Fodder beets, turnips, and cabbage are gradually introduced into the diet. Little by little, rabbits are beginning to be accustomed to cereal crops. First they are given oatmeal. Then grain mixtures are prepared from crushed grains of wheat, barley, corn, and oats. At 45 days of age they are given boiled potatoes and wet steamed grain mash.

Important! To form healthy microflora and normal intestinal function, baby rabbits at 3-4 weeks of life should be given caecotrophs, that is, the morning feces of adult healthy rabbits. Peas (2-3 pieces) are added to hay or grated vegetables.

Composition of a nursing rabbit's diet

The more often an animal eats, the better. It is recommended to feed the female rabbit after giving birth, depending on the time of year. If the birth occurred in the summer, preference is given to green feed (mixtures of oats, forbs, alfalfa, clover, legumes, corn). In winter, the diet is based on good quality hay, boiled potatoes and root vegetables, legumes, bran, and silage. From dry food, it is better to choose cake (sunflower or soybean), oats and peas, as they are rich in protein. The additives used are those that were used during the gestation period.

In any season, the animal is fed concentrated feed. Concentrates - mixtures of cake, bran, oats. They are digested almost completely. In order to have more milk, it also makes sense to switch to special ready-made foods that improve lactation,

Another option is mash, which is prepared from crushed products. A nursing rabbit can be treated to the following types:

• Alfalfa and crushed oats (in a ratio of 60 to 40).
• Alfalfa, barley and corn (60:30:10).
• Alfalfa, bran, legumes, wheat (60:10:10:10:10).

Vitamin and mineral complexes are added to such mixtures. You can offer the female diluted powdered or sour milk: fresh milk is not allowed, as it can upset the animal’s digestion. Mixers are used warm and wet; for this purpose, the grain is soaked in water. This food combines both food and drink, has a beneficial effect on lactation, normalizes digestive processes and is especially useful in winter.

Feeding at two months

The rabbit is almost an adult. The basis of the diet is mixed feed, preferably purchased granulated feed. At home, even if you have a granulator and all the components, you won’t be able to make compound feed. Vitamins are destroyed and it is impossible to carry out the final spraying of biologically active substances, which is carried out under production conditions.

Supplement the diet with hay, even in summer. The animal itself determines how much roughage it can eat. As a treat, they give dried green mass and vegetables in the amount that the rabbit consumes in an hour.

Feeding rabbits in winter

Often your pets may experience vitamin deficiencies in winter or early spring. Along with food, rabbits must be given vitamins of the ADE group, and in some cases even B12. All other vitamins will be synthesized in their body. If you give your rabbit good hay, silage or fermented green food in winter or spring, then the rabbit’s body will fully provide itself with vitamin A. If the hay is bad, then feeding rabbits in winter will require you to add vitamin A concentrate-250ME per kilogram to the food. live weight in (mash). Also, a source of vitamins A and D can be fortified fish oil: for young animals - 0.3-0.5 grams, for adults in the non-breeding period - one gram; for pregnant rabbits - two grams, for nursing rabbits - three grams per head per day. If you are looking for a source of carotene for your pets, then look no further than pine and spruce branches.

A rabbit can get a lot of vitamin E from sprouted grains. It is given to adult rabbits per head per day. Baker's yeast is also rich in vitamin E. You can give four to six grams of yeast per rabbit per day for five days, then take a break for three days. Throughout the year, the animals' diet should include table salt. Adults - 1-1.5 grams; for young animals 0.5-1 gram per day per head.

Also use bone meal and fish ash, chalk, and feed phosphate. These products belong to mineral feeds. There should be one to four grams of them in a rabbit’s diet per head per day.

Now let's talk a little about succulent food. You can ferment them for the winter. Chop cabbage, turnips, herbs (preferably legumes). Immerse the carrots in barrels, sprinkle them evenly with table salt at the rate of one or two percent by weight and compact until the juice appears. Then place a wooden circle on top and a weight on it. For an adult rabbit, there should be no more than three hundred grams of such feed per day, for young animals - one hundred grams per head. When feeding silage and fermented succulent food, be sure to give the rabbits chalk at the rate of one to four grams per hundred grams of feed.

How to feed young animals after jigging

In most cases, baby rabbits are separated at 1 month. In some cases, one and a half months. This depends directly on the weight of the rabbit. The first 10 days need to be observed very carefully. If one or two rodents die for some unknown reason, it is necessary to urgently change the diet.

The gastrointestinal tract may be fully functional, but it is not yet strong enough. At this time, animals are most vulnerable to intestinal infections and viruses. Food should be high in calories and easily digestible.

As vitamins, you can use legume-cereal hay, young grass, boiled potatoes and bran. The products need to be crushed, if possible add chalk, fish oil and bone meal. At first, these supplements are required.

After leaving the mother, the rabbits are fed the same food as the female rabbit during lactation. The food needs to be diluted slowly, from week to week, otherwise intestinal problems cannot be avoided. During this period, it is also recommended to add vitamin B to a bowl of water.

The critical period in young animals lasts about 7 days. If throughout the entire period they eat normally and lead an active life, gradually add adult food. At home, the total weight of food in the second month should exceed 100 g. In the third month it should exceed 150 g, and in the fourth month it should exceed 200 g.

Every 100 g should contain approximately 20 g of protein. Active growth ends on average at 5 months of life. At this point, the rabbits can be called adults.

Meals in summer:

• Fresh grass - 40%.
• Special feed - 60%.
• Vitamins and other supplements in the specified daily allowance.

Food in winter:

• Dry hay - 10%.
• Juicy feed - 30%.
• Ordinary feed - 60%.
• Vitamins and other supplements in the specified daily allowance.

Healthy food should be available on a regular basis. There should always be hay or grass in the cage.

Diet of a newborn female

It is necessary to constantly feed the female, since her body spends a lot of energy and nutrients on the production of lactation products. The amount of milk produced reaches 170 g per day. To compensate for protein losses, to feed eight babies, it is necessary to add up to 70 g of crude protein to the female’s diet.

During the lactation period, feed requirements for the female increase several times. It is advisable to change the type of food every week, alternating oats, bran, mineral supplements, corn and greens.

Feeding pattern of a lactating female at different ages of rabbits:

• From the first to the tenth day of feeding - 320 g;
• From 11 to 20 - 440;
• From the beginning of 4 weeks to a month - 560 g;
• Starting from the age of one month of the offspring - 700 g.

Concentrated feeds at any time of the year should include peas, oats, and bran. During lactation, an additional 150-200 g of hay, 50 g of cake, and 10 g of meat and bone meal are given.

Minerals are included in the rabbit’s diet without fail.

Important! Their insufficient quantity leads to a decrease in the amount of milk secreted

Feeding rabbits under the female

The mother rabbit's milk contains all the substances and minerals necessary for the baby rabbits, and if everything is in order, the female regularly feeds her offspring, all the babies have enough nutrition, then there is no need to feed them with anything: the baby rabbits are fed under the uterus only with her milk. Therefore, it is important at this time to focus on proper nutrition of the female herself. In the future, grown-up rabbits, being with their mother, will begin to try her food and thus gradually become accustomed to the diet of adult animals.

Is it possible to feed baby rabbits without a mother rabbit?

The question of the possibility of artificial feeding of rabbits worries any livestock breeder who is faced with the described problem. Of course, it cannot be said that the survival rate of newborn rabbits in the absence of a nursing mother is one hundred percent. Without milk, they quickly weaken, freeze and die. Therefore, it is necessary to quickly make a decision and begin artificial feeding.

The survival rate of born babies depends on many factors, but the age of the rabbits is fundamental. If their mother died immediately after childbirth or during it, then the likelihood that the babies will survive is minimal. They definitely need to receive maternal warmth and nutrients from milk. If this does not happen, then the little rabbits quickly fade away. But if you act quickly and correctly, then newborns can be saved. If some time has passed since birth, it is easier to feed the rabbits.

Another factor influencing survival rate during artificial feeding is the breed of rabbit. It is believed that meat rabbits are easier to feed than decorative ones. In the case of ornamental breeds, the chances of survival are very low.

Any box can fulfill its role. It is better if it is not too spacious so that the kids can snuggle up to each other and thus warm themselves. You need to put a warm thing in the box, you can cover the rabbits on top, but provide air access.

Newborn animals lose their sucking instinct very quickly, so it is necessary to start feeding them as quickly as possible. This must be done within two days, otherwise the rabbits will definitely die.

If you take the right actions and monitor the rabbits, ensuring a constant supply of food, they will certainly get stronger and grow. Practice shows that sometimes artificially fed rabbits look even stronger than those that grew up with their mother. Therefore, you should not worry that the animals will remain weak and will not be able to develop normally.

How to replace rabbit milk

Rabbits are mammals. Therefore, the main food for newborn rabbits after weaning from the female is milk.

When artificially feeding, it is recommended to replace rabbit milk with high-quality analogues. Then the kids will be able to receive valuable and healthy nutrition, and as a result, they will be able to fully grow and develop. A specialized rabbit milk substitute, goat and cow milk, baby formula, and herbal supplements are suitable for replacement.