The little rabbits from birth to weaning are baby rabbits. After the baby rabbits are born, because their organs are not yet fully developed, their regulatory functions are poor and their adaptability is poor, they are easy to die. According to the physiological characteristics of the young rabbits, they can be divided into two stages: sleep period and eye-opening period for feeding and management.

Feeding and management of baby rabbits during eye-opening period

The period from the opening of the baby rabbit’s eyes to the weaning period is called the period of opening the eyes. Feeding management at this stage should focus on the following :

1. Feeding

After the eyes are opened, the baby rabbits grow and develop rapidly, and the breast milk has begun to decrease, which is often not enough for the baby rabbits to eat. Therefore, the young rabbits are generally fed from the 18th day of age, and fed with a small amount of easy-to-digest and nutritious feed, such as soy milk, milk, rice soup, and chopped tender grass and vegetable leaves. After 20 days of age, you can add oatmeal, bran or bean dregs, gradually increase the concentrated feed, and feed it in small amounts for multiple times, and feed it 5 to 6 times a day. After 30 days of age, it will gradually transform to feed mainly, supplemented by breast milk. The feed requires clean, fresh, easy-to-digest protein mixed feed and high-quality pasture. It is best to keep the young rabbits in separate cages with female rabbits after they start feeding, and supplement milk once a day, so that the young rabbits can eat evenly and rest quietly. Generally, the weight of newborn rabbits is about 50 grams, the 10-day-old is 130-150 grams, the 20-day-old is 250-300 grams, and the 1-month-old is 450-500 grams.

2. Weaning

The weaning time of the young rabbits should be determined according to their rearing level and the development of the young rabbits. Generally, weaning of young rabbits at 4, 6, and 8 weeks of age has no obvious effect on the weight gain of future young rabbits and the utilization of feed. Therefore, young rabbits are usually weaned at 40 to 45 days old and weighing about 0.75 kg. The key is to do Good feeding and management of weaned rabbits. Weaning method: One-time weaning is generally adopted, that is, the whole litter of young rabbits and female rabbits are separated at one time. Of course, batch weaning can also be used, that is, the well-developed pups are first separated from the female rabbits, and the poorly-developed pups are left behind and then breast-feeding for a period of time. At the time of weaning, care should be taken to remove the female rabbit from the original rabbit cage and keep the young rabbits in the original rabbit cage for a period of time to avoid sudden changes in the environment and adverse stress reactions in the young rabbits.