*Lazenby Stud

Exhibitor and Breeder of Black and Tan Hares & Polish Dwarfs.

Agouti Netherland Dwarfs owned and shown by Brian Hood

Care

Belgian Hares like plenty of room to stretch, they need to be kept in a large roomy hutch.

We clean our hutches every day (the poo corners) and a good allover clean once a week in the winter twice in the summer. We put fly screens up all year round.

We feed Bunny Munch Ultra by albion made by Badminton horse feeds. It has a good mix of foods and makes their coats gleam. The rabbits have had no gut problems . i feed twice a day in the morning and evening, if they are out in the garden they will happily be picked up as they know they are about to be fed. They have fresh veg, hay and clean water every day. If you do put your rabbits outside in runs, its important to remember to give them water there too.

Belgian Hares can be a bit skittish especially when you first bring one home. They are not suitable for young children as pets , although i have had hares that are very laid back and let my 2 yr old pick them up in the garden.(with supervision)

The Belgian needs quite a bit of room I would recommend a 5ft + hutch. Mine are in slightly smaller hutches because they have access to a sheltered run all year round.


This care sheet is just a guide to help you for the first few days of owning your Belgian Hare.

I follow these guide lines and all my hares are healthy and happy.


Belgians like routine so stick to feeding times and exercise patterns. I feed once in the morning Dry food and hay, greens and carrots midday and another dry feed in the evening. Make sure they always have a good supply of hay or Straw and water at all times.


Handle your Hare everyday , check his bum for sticky pooh or diahorrea . Make sure he isn't sneezing or have runny eyes or nose, check he isn't losing weight and make sure there is fresh pooh in his toilet corner. If you keep a good eye on your hare and deal with any problems quickly, then he will have a long and happy life.


Hares like to play so give them plenty of exercise in a run or garden, if the weather is too bad, give them toys and balls to play with in the hutch.


Buy a good pro biotic to add to water if your hare is off colour and try not to change his brand of food, if you have to then do it gradually as a sudden change will upset his stomach and can lead to other problems like bloat.

If your Hare should become off colour give him a bowl to drink water from and plenty of his favourite green stuff, it is important to keep him eating and drinking even if its only a little.


If your hare is exercised regularly then his nails will not need trimming. Check them regularly


DO NOT pick your hare up by the scruff of their neck.



 

Badminton feeds 01425 658450

www.badmintonfeeds.co.uk

 Contact them for the nearest stockists

Keeping rabbit cool

As the weather gets warmer i put a dozen or more ceramic tiles in the freezer with the same amount of plastic bottles filled with water. leave them till frozen and place them in the hutches.

The rabbits will choose to lay on or nearby the bottles or tiles, and hopefully keep them cooler.during the day keep swapping the bottles/tiles so it stays cool.

Keeping rabbits warm

If you have a similar set up to mine then you will just need to keep topping up the bedding

If you have a fairly clean rabbit, dont worry about disturbing his bed when you clean him out, just do the poo corner..it keeps the hutch drier and so keeping him warmer. Also saves you money on the materials. I re-use wood shavings that havent been soiled, in the same hutch.

If the weather is really freezing i put a piece of cardboard on one half of the hutch for extra warmth. i wouldnt do it to an outside hutch as it would get wet and make the hutch colder.

If your rabbit is in an outside hutch , cover with a hutch hugger or use an old blanket and cover it with tarpaulin . If the  hutch backs on to your house it sometimes will benefit from central heating if the radiator is on the same wall. Pack out the bed area with hay and straw.

 

If it gets extra cold or windy, as well as using a cover, turn the hutch to face the wall.

 

Put a couple of socks over water bottles to stop them freezing and cover that with packing tape to stop them getting wet.

 

Coccidiosis  (Copied from a forum posted by Hampton Stud)

Coccidiosis in Rabbits - lets get talking about it

What is coccidiosis?
Coccidiosis is an internal parasite which most rabbits carry, in normal conditions the rabbits immune system keeps the parasite in controllable numbers and the host rabbit could well live a long and fruitful life with no problems at all

However when the immune system falters due to stress of weaning, change of environment, change of feed, temperature fluctuations etc the parasites may reproduce in large numbers and the hosts immune system is unable to control the massive parasitic increase and may start to show external signs of a problem some of which are listed here

loss of appetite
Weight loss
Unthriftiness
Diarrhea
Bloody diarrhea
Weakness
Bloated Stomach

It is rare in conditions of bloat caused by other sources ie blockage that the rabbit will have diarrhea and distended stomach at the same time, usually with bloaty conditions once a rabbit starts to produce faeces the distended stomach will reduce and the rabbit will start eating again - this is not generally the case with coxi as a rabbit can have both at the same time.

The general rule of thumb is that if a parent has coxi then the kits will also get it, while the doe is nursing the kits they are naturally protected by her strong immune system, once they come off mums milk and start feeding on hard feed and are developing their own immune systems between 4/6 weeks they are at their most vunerable to coxi.

Although kits are born coxi free - if the parent has it then the kits will more than likely pick it up from the oocysts (spores) when nibbling the does faecal matter

Does my stud have coccidiosis?
If you have more than one rabbit then the answer is very likely to be yes – this does not mean however, that you have a coccidiosis problem, as your rabbits may naturally have strong enough immune systems to keep the parasite in check.

If your youngsters at four/five weeks bloat for no apparent reason then there is a chance that coccidiosis may be the cause.

Remember though you are not alone, most rabbit studs have coxi - any place where there are a large number of rabbits is extremely likely to have the parasites.

It is very easy to carry coxi oocysts from rabbit to rabbit - they can be carried on hands, clothes in hair, bedding, faecal matter, cleaning out implements, so the chances are that if one rabbit has a coxi parasite in a stud - they all will.




How can I be sure if I do have it?
Should you want your stud tested for it - save three days faecal samples from a suspected case and take them to your vet and ask them to analyse them for coxi - this only costs about £20

Having proof that your rabbits have coxi merely means you could start to use a preventative product twice a year

it does not mean you should replace your stock - as the stock you buy in could well also have it



More Coccidiosis facts

The spores can harbour in the wood of the hutches for up to a year, do you have a “hutch of death” that seems to kill any youngsters that go into it, then the spores may be living in the wood – if the weather has been humid, not frosty cold or swelteringly hot, then coxi spores can happily survive in the wood and indeed the ground for up to a year just waiting for the perfect humid temperature to hatch them.

Note, Virkon and Trigene do not kill the spores – a strong jeyes fluid solution scrubbed well into the wood or a spell outside on a sweltering day or a very frosty night, will.

Coxi tends to be managed rather than totally eradicated however – as adults can carry the parasites and tend not to express it as their immune systems are stronger – so a hutch which has been out in the frost all winter could easily be reinfected by a carrier rabbits faeces in the damp of the following spring. Plus we must remember that the practicalities of total eradication are almost impossible - how many of us handle rabbits at shows and then go on to handle another without washing our hands or changing our stewarding coats? Oocysts in the fur can be passed on that easily.

What can I use to help prevent a problem reoccurring?
Coxi can be kept in check with twice yearly medications - most breeders use a pigeon product called Coxoid, which is widely available on the web, its generally used twice a year, in the Spring and Autumn - this will help rabbits stave off the parasites over humid months

Coxoid is not expensive and a bottle of 112ml or 500ml will treat many rabbits for the seven day water bottle treatment which is initially required.

Coxoid does not totally eradicate the parasite – it merely knocks back the parasitic growth rate thus allowing the rabbits natural immunity to keep it at a bay.

Another way to help a youngster’s immune system prepare for battle is to add a pro biotic solution like avi pro plus or entracare aqua to the hutch water when the kits are about four weeks old - this will give their immune system a real boost.



PREVENTATIVE TREATMENT - COXOID
coxoid can be bought from online sites at about £13.75 for 500ml

DOSAGE FOR COXOID 6 mil coxoid to 1 litre of water
mix into a jug and distribute about three inches of made up solution for each rabbit wait for this to be drunk then refill the bottle with normal drinking water.

It should be given for seven consecutive days

If you know you have a coxi problem then wait seven days and dose all bottles again for a further seven days using only half the amount of coxoid liquid to water so 3 mil for 1 litre and again give each animal about three inches to drink.

It is assumed that some stock will drink more of the product and some will drink less so dont worry if one seems to be getting more than the others

If you have a bloated animal that isnt drinking just syringe feed a few mil of the pre mixed solution orally roughly four times a day

Vaccinations

Myxomatosis is a very distressing viral disease sread by bloodsucking insects such as mosquitos or fleas . The disease causes puffy swellings around the eyes usually leading to blindness.Affected animals become very ill, often suffering from pneumonia, and even with medication and nursing most will die as a result of the disease.

Viral Haemorrhagic Disease (VHD) is a very contagious viral disease, spread easily between rabbits or via contaminated hutches, bedding or food. It can also be inadvertently transported by people or birds. Affected rabbits may show a range of symptoms including loss of appetite, lethargy and nose bleeds. Sadly most will die.

BRC rings

The ringing of exhibition rabbits has been a very satisfactory system for more than 60 years.

But in rare cases harm can be caused by lack of attention to the rings.

All rings should be checked every few days to ensure that forein matter is not caught up in any ring and that each ring can be easily turned.

Rabbits that become over large for the breed (and hence the ring) should not be ringed, or the ring should be removed.

Please check all rings on your stock whenever you handle them and certainly each week.

If you buy a rabbit that has a BRC ring and you do not intend to show or breed, them please ask for it to be removed. Most breeders remove the rings if they are selling to a pet home.