Читать книгу Rabbit Production - James I McNitt - Страница 63

Litters may be weaned as early as 28 days of age. Milk production is declining by then, and the young are consuming solid feed well. Feed is used more efficiently if it is eaten directly by the fryers rather than eaten by the doe and converted to milk. There is a stress at weaning, which may cause the fryers to go off feed and lose weight for a few days.

Be sure that the weaned rabbits know how to drink. If, after the first day of weaning, they have not eaten much, it may be a water problem. Put in a water crock; if they rush to it to drink, then you know they haven’t learned to drink from the automatic waterers. Put a toothpick in the valve or loosen the valve to make it drip slightly. This should quickly teach them to drink. Another method is to put in one or two older fryers to teach the newly weaned litter how to use the water valve. Weaning at an older age reduces this problem.