CA2314567A1 - Method of raising rabbits and apparatus for implementing the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to farming and is useful for raising rabbits on domestic and/or commercial scale. A method for raising rabbits includes feeding and watering, arranging mating for at least one doe by controlling independent contacts with a male rabbit while the doe is being kept in a cage having a set of gates. The cages are grouped in blocks so that a four-compartment cage with male rabbits at mating occupies the central position and interfaces four mother compartments of the doe cages disposed in two parallel rows, to control independent contacts of the male rabbits with the does. An apparatus for implementing the method of raising rabbits comprises at least one cage having drinking bowls, feeders and a mother compartment communicating via a penetration hole and a gate with a nest which communicates through a similar penetration hole and a gate with a young rabbit section separated by movable rotating partitions into several compartments for fattening and maturing young rabbits. An end compartment has an end opening wall. Beneath the floor of the cage there is disposed an inclined net with a tray disposed above the net at an angle and a distance to pass feces, a second tray being disposed under the net below the plane of the first tray. The mother compartment has an entry hole with a gate which registers during mating with a similar hole with a gate in the male rabbit cage having at least one compartment and adapted to move along the doe cage. The male rabbit cage may be installed on a cart, or a feed dispensing conveyor, or another moving means, and comprises several male compartments. The employment of the invention ensures the optimal arrangement and intensification of the rabbit raising process at farms, the employment of contemporary equipment for dispensing feed, watering and collecting excreta on the basis of the principle of colonial existence of rabbits in natural inhabitance conditions, and the reduction in cost and labor.

Description

APPARATUS FOR IMPLEMENTING THE SAME
Field of the invention.
The present invention generally relates to farming, and more specifically is concerned with raising rabbits on domestic and/or commercial scale.
Background of the Invention.
1o Conventional methods of raising rabbits in cages involve feeding and watering, arranging mating and giving birth for does, fattening young rabbits and realizing thes rabbits for reproduction, flesh and skin (see Minin I.S. How to Raise Rabbits, Moscow, "Kolos" Publishing House, 1972; Rabbit-Raising/Manuel for Farm Manager, Moscow, "Gosizdat t5 selkhosliteratury" Publishing House, 1955, pages 94-116; Encyclopedia of Farming, Moscow, "Sovetskaya Encyclopedia" Publishing House, 1973, Vol.4, pages 1245-1248).
In the conventional methods good conditions for keeping the animals are provided at the cost of great labor consumption which is 2o associated with consider;~ble portion of manual labor in the process of looking after the rabbits, this, in turn, prohibiting intensification in the development of rabbit rai:>ing as a branch of farming.
Most close 1:o the method in accordance with the present invention is a method of raiising rabbits involving feeding and watering, arranging 25 mating and giving birth for does, fattening young rabbits and realizing the rabbits for reproduction, flesh and skin (RF Patent No. 2027355, Int.Cl.
A 01 K 1 /02, 1995 ).
According to this method, on reaching a predetermined age young rabbits are moved to a rnaturing compartment which is separated by a 3o partition into two sections. In this case, like the aforementioned methods, all operations aimed at separation of young rabbits and carrying them to the maturing section are performed manually which may result in various traumas and diseases. The young rabbits are removed from the cage in the same fashion.
Multiple apparatuses for raising rabbits, are known both from the aforementioned references, and from the following documents: SU
Inventor's Certificate No.782773, Int.Cl. AOIK 1/02, (980; RF patents Nos. : 2097967, l nt. Cl. AO I K 1 /02, 1997; 21 14528, Int. Cl. AO 1 K I /02, July 10, 1998; 21422:?4, Int.Cl. AO1K 1/02, December 10, 1999;
Zhyvchikov N.I. et al., Small Mechanization for a Homestead, Moscow, Agropromizdat Publishing House, 1986, pages 109-113.
o Most close: to an apparatus in accordance with the present invention is an apparatus disclosed in RF Patent No.2027355, Int.Cl.
AO I K 1 /02, 1995 .
The conventional apparatus comprises a multilevel cage structure wherein, in order to make the conditions for looking after the rabbits t5 easier for the personal, there are provided various capacity feeders for grass, hay, concentrate, <ind filling drinking bowls. Urine and excreta are collected into a collection vessel having natural airing and disposed beneath the cage floor in order to collect dung. A nest compartment is stationary and communicates with the cage through a gate. The prior art 2o structure of the tvvo-level cage for rabbits, however, suffers the following problems.
The gate in the nest compartment of the prior apparatus is used to separate a male rabbit from a doe, or a doe from young rabbits so that the personal can subsequently catch them and carry to another 25 compartments, which requires considerable manual labor and causes stress conditions in the animals.
The urine and excreta collection device used in the prior art apparatus does not allow the maintenance of technological effectiveness of the rabbit dung stemming from the fact that it has a moisture load of 30 12-15%, since being mixed with urine the dung turns to manure having a high moisture content. This entails the problems of its transportation, storage and utilization. The problem is aggravated still more when the dung is removed from the collection vessel in the cold temperature conditions since it unavoidably freezes not only in the collection vessel, but also on the walls thereof so that great manual labor is needed. It should be also noted that a number of countries have already placed strict constraints on the: usage of manure as a soil fertilizer.
s In the light of the foregoing it can be concluded that the above prior art structure does not go beyond the scope of traditional methods of keeping rabbits, and preserving the extensive dynamics of rabbit raising development it prohibits the introduction of contemporary farming technology and eq~,uipment into raising rabbits.
lU
Summary of the Invention.
It is an object of the present invention to provide intensification of rabbit raising, as well as to reduce cost and labor consumed when raising rabbits on the commercial!. scale.
W The aforementioned object is attained in a method for raising rabbits including 1-'eeding and watering, arranging mating and giving birth for at least one doe by controlling independent contacts with a male rabbit while the doe is being kept in a cage having penetration holes with gates, moving the doe after mating to a nest compartment for giving birth 2o and subsequently keeping the doe with young rabbits until the latter reach the age of fifteen days, isolating the young rabbits in the nest compartment in t:he nest, while the doe is being provided to mating, separating the young rabbits from the doe at the thirtieth day after the birth and moving to a maturing compartment using movable rotating 25 partitions, and removing; the young rabbits which have reached an appropriate realization as;e from the cage through an opening external end wall in the maturing compartment.
An apparatus for raising rabbits comprises at least one cage including a mother compartment, a nest compartment and a young 3o maturing ,_compartment including at least two sections separated by a movable rotating partition, said mother compartment, nest compartment and young maturiing compartment being disposed in succession and separated from each other:;

An apparatus for r;~ising rabbits comprises a second cage for a male rabbit, comprisinf; at least one compartment and movable along said cage, a wall of said second cafe and a wall of said mother compartment, which face each other, having penetration holes adapted to be registered and having gates, an external end wall of said young maturing compartment being adapted to be opened. , Each of said movable rotating partitions is mounted in a longitudinal slot made in a ceiling of said cage with the aid of a spherical joint, a retainer and an arm.
to Each of said movable rotating partitions is mounted in slots made in side walls with the aid of a spherical joint, a retainer and an arm.
An inclined net is disposed beneath a floor of said cage with a tray mounted above the net at an angle and a distance, a second tray being mounted beneath the net Ibelow the plane of the first tray.
~5 The said cage for .a male rabbit is installed either on a cart, or a feed dispensing ca~nveyor.
The said external end wall of the young maturing compartment is adapted to be opened downward, or upward, or sideward.
The said mother compartment, nest and young maturing 2o compartment have process doors, the process doors in the mother compartment and the young rabbit compartment being provided in the back part of the cage.
Description of the drawings.
25 These and other advantages and peculiarities of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the detailed description of the preferred embodiment with reference to the drawings attached, wherein Fig. 1 shows a top view of a cage for keeping rabbits in accordance 3o with the invention;
Fig.2 is a side view of the same;
Fig.3 is a view of the cage as seen from the side of the end compartment.

Examples of Implementing of the Invention.
Referring now to the drawings in detail, an apparatus for raising rabbits comprises a cafe I which includes several compartments. A
mother compartment 2 is destined for a doe, and a compartment 3 is destined for a ne:;t (a nest compartment). The cage comprises a maturing compartment 3a including sections 4, 5 and 6 for accommodating young rabbits as they a:re aging. The compartments 2, 3 and 3a communicate with each other through holes with gates 7 and 8. The compartment 2 and to the compartment 3 have process doors 9 and 10. Movable rotating partitions 11 and 12 are provided between the sections 4, 5 and 6, and the section 6 comprises an end drop wall 13.
Volume of the sections 4, 5 and 6 can be regulated by longitudinally moving thE: partitions 11 and 12 up to the drop wall 13.
This procedure is possible owing to the availability of a mechanism (a spherical joint with retainers and arms) which secures the partitions in the slot 14 made in the ceiling 15 of the cage I from the nest 3 to the end wall 13. Side wallfs may .also be provided with a slot, and the partitions I 1 and 12 may be mounted therein using a joint (for example, horizontal), 2o a retainer and an arm. A net 17 is mounted beneath the floor 16 of the cage 1 at an angle: to the floor, the lower portion of the net being solid.
A tray 18 is mounted above the net at about a right angle and at a distance, a second tray 19 being mounted below the plane of the first tray 18. Such an arrangement of the net and the trays ensures the separation of urine from feces. The section 6 may have a somewhat larger volume, in particular, at the cost of the length, than the sections 4 and 5, and a similar movable rotating partition (not shown) may be also mounted there along the longitudinal axis of the cage so that the section 6 is divided into two parts which are needed to keep, for instance, rabbits of different =to sex. In this case, feeders .and drinking bowls are located at the back side of the section 6, vvhile a door or a hole with a gate are provided in the front side.

A second cage 20 is destined for a male rabbit or rabbits and is equipped with at least one gate 21. The cage may be movable either on a cart, or a conveyor 22. Feed is supplied to feeders by the conveyor 22.
Water is provided to animals in watering bowls 24 connected to a conduit 25.
The cages rnay be mounted in parallel rows or blocks with several cages in a row so that to provide a process passage 26 between them to move a cart, or for the conveyor 22. The mother compartment has a gate 27 mounted in a hole.
To clean thE: mother compartment and the nest, the use is made of the process doors 9 and 10, respectively. The sections 4 and 5 are provided with process doors 28 and 29. For cleaning operations, the cage compartments may have opening covers.
The second cage 20 is destined for a male rabbit or several rabbits.
In the practice of raising rabbits it is advisable to have an alternate male rabbit along with '.the maim sire. One male rabbit is selected for four does in mother compartments 2 of the cages 1 in accordance with the mating schedule. To fulfil the schedule, the males may stay among the selected does during a supposed use period, or move directly in one of the four 2o compartments 30 of its cage 20 through the process passage 26 to the other blocks alonf; them. This makes easier the labor consumed by the personnel for inventory and moving the animals, and reduces the stresses endured by rabbits being captured and carried. The method allows the rabbits to independently select the place for mating upon opening the gates 21 and 27 which separate the mother compartment 2 in the cage 1 from the compartment in the cage 20, this corresponding to the largest extent to their biological I>eculiarities.
The method for raising rabbits in accordance with the invention ensures a flexible process scheme at all stages of raising rabbits. First, it 3o should be noted that the nnating of a male rabbit (rabbits) with four does may be accomplished within few hours, while the possibility of moving the second cage 20 with a male rabbit or rabbits along the blocks of cages 1 allows any combinations to be provided by registering, if necessary, four gates 21 disposed at both sides of the moving cage 20 with the gates 27 in four mother compartments 2 of the doe cages 1 in accordance with a mating schedule. Then, upon removing the male the does stay for 30 days in the mother compartments 2 and the nests 3.
s Upon giving; birth <md once the young rabbits have reached 15 days, the second cage ~;0 is again connected through the process., holes with the holes in the mother compartments 2 to provide subsequent mating. When the young rabbits reach the age of 20 days, in addition to the open gate between the mother compartment 2 and the nest compartment 3, a gate 8 o between the nest compartment 3 and the compartment 3a is opened (in this case the first born young rabbits of the first season may move from the nest compartment 3 into the mother compartment 2 and the sections 4 and 5). During this period water and extruded concentrate start to be supplied into drinking bowls 24 and feeders 23 disposed in sections 4 and W 5 so that the young rabbits having baby teeth appearing at this period may eat feed anal thereby adapt gradually, within 10 days, to the conditions of independent inhabitance in the sections.
The two partitions 11 and 12 which separate sections 4 and s are movable and rotating. T'he mechanism for securing and moving these 2o partitions allows their movement along the guide slot 14 in the ceiling 15 made throughout the lenf;th from the nest 3 to the end drop wall 13 of the section 6. They securing mechanism of the movable partitions 1 1 and 12 is designed so that to allow their movement along the space in the sections 4, s and 6 using arms 31, and the rotation and elevation of the 2s lower edge relative to the attachment axis of the upper edge of the partition plane owing to the presence of the joint 32. This, in turn, allows the volume of the sections 4, s and 6 to be changed to form thereby the living space for animals in accordance with the livestock situation.
Thus, in accordance with the invented method when the young 3o rabbits reach they age of 30 days, the gate 7 between the nest compartment 3 and the mother compartment 2 is closed, whereupon the doe being pregnant for 15 days is separated from the young. After 5 days more the partition 8 between the nest compartment 3 and the maturing compartment 3a is closed this giving the possibility to cleanse the nest and after having prepared the nest for the doe to open the gate 7 between the nest compartnnent 3 and the mother compartment 2.
When young rabbits of the second giving birth are born, the first s born rabbits are one and a half month old and reside on the territory of the sections 4 and 5, thc: movable partition 1 1 separating., the sections 4 and S is elevated, being in the plane parallel to the plane of the ceiling 15, the lower edge of the partition 11 is secured at the connection between the cage ceiling and the nest wall. The movable partition 12 is o also in the hori~:ontal position, its lower edge being secured on the separation line between the sections 4 and S.
Once the first born rabbits have reached the age of 65 days, the lower edge of the partition 11 is lowered by moving it with the aid of an arm handle to the boundary of the sections 4 and 5, i.e. to the partition t5 12 secured in this place in the horizontal position. The young rabbits under the action of the moving partition 11 run to the sections 5 and 6, whereupon the lower edge of the partition 12 is lowered and the partition 12, moving in th~~ vertic:al plane close to the partition 11 disposed in parallel therewith, stops at the boundary of the sections 4 and 5, the 2o partition 11 then returns I:o the initial horizontal position.
At this moment, thc: partition between the nest compartment 3 and the maturing compartmeno 3a is opened for the second born young rabbits reached 20 days, and after 10 days more (at the age of one month) the partition is closed and the young rabbits stay in the compartment 3a. At 25 this instant the doe is on the fifteenth day after the third mating, and the first born young rabbits, which are in the sections 5 and 6, are 75 days old. In this period young rabbits can be selected for reproduction among the first born rabbits. According to this invention it is not recommended to sort by sex the rabbits destined to be fattened since this procedure 3o requires considerable labor in the conditions of large rabbit production farms.
When the animals, which were kept in accordance with the invented method and nourished on the basis of the rations balanced in respect of main food elements, reach the age of 3-3.5 months they have a live weight of 4.2-4.5 kg and are ready for slaughter. If the process of removing rabbits from ohe section 6 has failed, the compartment is divided into two parts by the partition mounted therein. The same procedure is used when it is necessary to keep the group of animals up to the age of 120 days and separated by sex. , In accordance with the method in accordance with the invention this may be done in the following manner.
To transport: the rabbits to the slaughter location it is suggested to 1o use transport wire cages having the same lateral dimensions as the cages in the block.
The end walls of the transport cages are made in the form of gates movable in slots in the vertical plane.
End walls of the sections 5 and 6 in the cage block, where the 3-months rabbits destined for realization are located, may be constructed in the same manner. 'the rabbits are removed from the sections 5 and 6 after registering the end walls whereupon the gates are elevated and secured by pins in the end open position. The rabbits run from the sections 5 and 6 into the transport cage under the influence of the movable partition 12 2o which is displaced using an arm (manually). Once all animals have moved to the transport cage, the gates in the ends of the cages in the block and the transport cage are closed, the movable partition 12 is transferred to the horizontal po:;ition and moves up to the stop at the partition 11 disposed vertically and separating the region in the compartment 4 with 25 1.5 month rabbits .and the region of the section 5, then the moving cycle is repeated.
The block of the cages 1 can be fabricated using contemporary process equipment. A disk conveyor 22 is suggested to be used as a dispensing mechanism. Concentrate feeders 23 shown in Fig.1 in the left 3o row of the block in the rabbit inhabitance zone (compartments 2, 4-6) are connected via gravity conduits to the conveyor 22, with shortened feeders being installed in t:he four compartments for does.

Industrial Applicability.
The use of the present invention ensures the optimal design and intensification of the process of raising rabbits at farms, the employment of contemporary equipmE;nt for dispensing feed, watering and collection of excreta on the basis of the principle of colonial existence of rabbits in natural inhabitance conditions, and the reduction in labor aid cost.

Claims (8)

1. A method for raising rabbits comprising:
feeding and watering, arranging mating and giving birth for at least one doe by controlling independent contacts with a male rabbit while the doe is being kept in a cage having penetration holes with gates, moving the doe after mating to a nest compartment for giving birth and subsequently keeping the doe with young rabbits until the latter reach the age of fifteen days, isolating the young rabbits in the nest compartment in the nest, while the doe is being provided to mating, separating the young rabbits from the doe at the thirtieth day after the birth and moving to a maturing compartment using movable rotating partitions, and removing the young rabbits which have reached an appropriate realization age from the cage through an opening external end wall in the maturing compartment.

2. An apparatus for raising rabbits comprising:
(a) at least one cage including a mother compartment, a nest compartment and a young maturing compartment including at least two sections separated by a movable rotating partition, said mother compartment, nest compartment and young maturing compartment being disposed in succession and separated from each other;
(b) a second cage for a male rabbit, comprising at least one compartment and movable along said cage, a wall of said second cage and a wall of said mother compartment, which face each other, having penetration holes adapted to be registered and having gates, an external end wall of said young maturing compartment being adapted to be opened.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein each of said movable rotating partitions is mounted in a longitudinal slot made in a ceiling of said cage with the aid of a spherical joint, a retainer and an arm.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein each of said movable rotating partitions is mounted in slots made in side walls with the aid of a spherical joint, a retainer and an arm.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein an inclined net is disposed beneath a floor of said cage with a tray mounted above the net at an angle and a distance, a second tray being mounted beneath the net below the plane of the first tray.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said cage for a male rabbit is installed either on a cart, or a feed dispensing conveyor.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said external end wall of the young maturing compartment is adapted to be opened downward, or upward, or sideward.

8. The apparatus according to claim 1 wherein said mother compartment, nest and young maturing compartment have process doors, the process doors in the mother compartment and the young rabbit compartment being provided in the back part of the cage.