Making a mother liquor for rabbits with your own hands: drawings and recommendations. How to make a do-it-yourself queen box for a rabbit: optimal sizes and drawings Hanging queen box for rabbits

To protect the newborns from external influences and the calm state of the pregnant female, special shelters are built - queen cells. How to make a queen cell for rabbits with your own hands, drawings for them, as well as how to choose the right materials, we tell in the presented article.

One of the most important conditions is the presence of a nesting site that is insulated and heated in winter. He also developed the design of the mother liquor, which satisfies the conditions for reliable teaching of okrol at any time of the year.

Purpose of the mother liquor

It is necessary to understand the difference between a mother liquor and a nest:

The add-on mother body consists of a separate wooden case with an inserted socket. He joins the cage during childbirth.
A nest is a box that can be inserted into a cage to a female.

Premises for keeping livestock queens. Some farmers are of the opinion that this facility is required by female rabbit only in winter, late autumn and early spring.

However, this statement has absolutely nothing to do with the truth. The construction of queen cells is an attempt by rabbit breeders to bring the conditions for the birth of offspring in captivity closer to natural conditions. Rabbits instinctively hide their children from prying eyes.

Do not buy used cages, no one knows what their previous inhabitants were sick with. When there is no other option, disinfect thoroughly.

The broodstock is a special design in which the rabbit gives birth to offspring and is engaged in feeding them. The rabbits live in it until they get stronger. Then they can be transplanted into individual cells.

Industrial cages are modular in design, making them mobile. Such a cage takes into account the stages of breeding rabbits, therefore, they provide for the addition of compartments. Their dimensions are as follows: 200 × 200 × 100 × 700 cm. 10 uterine compartments (40 × 92 cm) are equipped for them.

Types and designs

The standard size for the medium breed is 56 cm long, 30 cm high and 35 cm wide.

But do not forget to change the litter and remove waste, the female will feel uncomfortable on wet straw and will go back to the common cage.

It is best for effective farming that a mother cell is suitable, designed like a sandwich, since this variety involves a special insulation technology, which then works like a thermos, perfectly maintaining the temperature inside the room, in particular in winter conditions.

The mother liquors are made in two versions:

Mother and nest - one box that fits into the cage. The built-in structure is difficult to clean without disturbing its occupants.
The mother liquor is a portable box with a nest. It joins the side of the cell 5-7 days before delivery. A hole is cut in the side wall for the rabbit. Removable designs are preferred as they are much easier to clean.

A large queen cell is required for large breed rabbits, Flanders and Giants, the rest will be comfortable in a standard design. The Californian, Dutch and Black-brown rabbit will feel comfortable in a larger structure. The length and width should be increased by 0.05 m, the height - by 0.1 m.

Rabbit breeders divide breeds into 4 types conditionally, depending on body length and weight:

Size table of the mother liquor for different breeds:

Required materials and tools

Before preparing materials, it is necessary to determine the dimensions of the future structure and make a drawing of it. As noted above, the size of the structure is selected depending on the breed of animals.

Important! The female feeds the babies on bent legs. The height of the box must be at least 30 cm.

The design, made with your own hands, has a number of advantages over production counterparts, as it differs in mobility (manufacturers usually make queen cells already built into the cage) and meets the needs and sizes of your animals. The mother liquor is made of various solid materials and can be heated or unheated.

It is not necessary to lay straw inside with your own hands. Just place it so that the female can walk up to it, and she herself drags it into the box. This will be even better, since instinct allows the animal to equip the nest in the most convenient way.

For the base of the box, wood is ideal: chipboard or plywood. It is desirable that the surface is natural, not processed chemical materials, as rabbits are very sensitive to strong odors and may refuse to give birth to offspring in such a place.

The best option would be to use plywood. If the assembly and materials were of high quality, then such a structure with constant operation will last about 2 years.

Important! In order not to overheat the rabbits, the minimum power of heating devices must be set in the mother liquor, and it should be in the range from 100 W to 150 W per sq. meter.

To build a mother liquor with your own hands, you will need:

plywood sheets, no more than 5 mm thick, 2 pcs. on each side - 4 pcs. with dimensions of 30x50 cm for the front and rear walls; 4 things. with dimensions 35x50 cm for the bottom and the lid and 4 pcs. with dimensions 30x35 cm for side walls
wooden slats 2–2.5 cm thick;
pressed sawdust
wooden boards up to 3 cm thick
conventional or circular saw
hammer, nails or screws, saw
galvanized sheet
tape measure, pencil
two loops
awnings;
insulation;

Alternative substitutes for sawdust insulation

Step-by-step instruction

Step number 1 - preparing tools and materials
Step # 2 - cut out the details.
Step number 3 - we connect the blanks.
Step number 4 - install the mother cell inside the rabbit cage

Blanks for the frame of each side of the mother liquor are cut from wooden blocks. Frames are knocked down from them, on one side they are sheathed with plywood. It is imperative to ensure that there are no cracks and gaps at the joints. Otherwise, the sawdust will spill out through the holes, and the rabbits can eat them and die. This is how all the parts of the mother liquor are prepared, with the exception of the wall with the future hole for the rabbit.

Advice! There is no need to make bumpers in front of the side door in the rabbit queen cell, since a lot of dirt accumulates under them, and it is difficult to rake out such corners.

Insulation is placed in the resulting space, which must be tamped well for greater effect. After that, the blank with insulation is sheathed with plywood on the other side to obtain a solid piece of the required size.

Important! Sheathing the floor with galvanized sheet is needed in order to prevent surface decay.

A wall with a manhole for a rabbit is made as a prefab: a part should consist of solid boards, in which a hole will then be cut. The rest of the space is formed by a frame made of bars. Everything together is sheathed with plywood on one side and filled with insulation, then the plywood is reinforced on the other side.

Advice! Make the bottom slope from the inlet to the back wall with a drop of 5 cm. Rabbits have the instinct to take the lowest position in the burrow. They will always gather at the back wall and will not creep along the box in different directions.

Saw out the hole. From any side. The location depends on the future placement of the mother liquor in the cage. Collect all the parts, except for the top one, in the form of a box. For quick installation Provide hooks during the litter box, so it is easier to control the litter, the development of the offspring, and then to clean and disinfect the mother. The holes in the cage and in the drawer must match.

The main condition is a completely closed nest from prying eyes, the absence of drafts and insulation for the withdrawal of young stock in the winter.

Use the proposed option indoors. In fact, any side can be folded, not just the lid. It all depends on the subsequent ease of use and the individual characteristics of the existing cage.

The rabbit brood is an essential item for breeders who breed rabbits. It simplifies work with both offspring and mom. The comfort, coziness and safety that are characteristic of the mother house determine the survival of more rabbits. The health of babies born in the mother liquor is initially stronger than that of their relatives born outside this device. In the mother liquor under their mother's supervision, the rabbits grow faster, gain body weight better. It is important that this device is easy to make with your own hands.

Basic requirements for the mother liquor

Do-it-yourself queen bee

It's not difficult to build a queen cell for rabbits with your own hands. Before starting work, you need to "arm" the following materials and tools:

plywood sheets (3 mm thick);
boards (2.5 mm thick);
tape measure or ruler;
pencil;
a screwdriver or screwdriver;
slats with a section of 2.5 cm by 2.5 (or 3);
saw;
hammer;
nails;
self-tapping screws;
insulation (for example, wood shavings);
galvanized sheet;
loops.

The step-by-step procedure is as follows:

As you can see, making a nest for a rabbit with your own hands is not so difficult.

Features of using the mother liquor in winter

Unlike normal adult rabbits, which can live in a cage without insulation, a pregnant rabbit needs special conditions a habitat. It is unnecessary to emphasize what is maximum.

The nest, in which the "eared" family will be for twenty days after delivery, must be insulated. The structure is insulated during construction. Insulation is placed inside the double walls, floor and roof. In this capacity, wood sawdust or any other materials with low thermal conductivity can act.

Exactly how the insulation is placed in the walls is described above in the nest manufacturing manual. In the process of warming, sawdust must be carefully tamped. They fall asleep only in dry form.

If for some reason the use of sawdust is not suitable, you can sheathe the walls with foam plastic as an alternative insulation option.

In the presence of too low temperatures around the cage where rabbits are kept, the structure of the mother liquor must be equipped with additional heating. You can buy a special rabbit nest heater in pet stores. The temperature in such devices is regulated. One of the most common devices for heating a rabbit stock is a special rug that runs on electricity. It is placed on the floor of the nest and covered on top with a bedding familiar to rabbits - straw, cloth, etc.

Another option for heating is film matter, into which heating elements are mounted, whose power is equal to 100 watts. This film is fixed on a kind of corset made of slats and placed under the nest structure. This arrangement leads to the formation of an air gap, due to which heat is retained and heats the bottom of the structure.

When installing an electric heater, it is important to take care of masking the wires. If they are in the public domain, the animal will definitely try to gnaw it, and this is life-threatening for the "eared".

If you do not want to mess with electrical appliances, heating the nest can be provided in a safe way - this is an ordinary heating pad or bottles of warm water. The method is simple but troublesome.

With any heating, it is important not to overdo it - at the end of the cold weather, it must be removed immediately.

It is worth noting a number of subtleties that are important in the construction of a structure. Only deciduous trees are used for the construction of the nest. The material made from softwood smells too strong and harsh. This will scare Mom away from the structure, and, naturally, she will not give birth there.

Before proceeding directly to the construction, it is worth not just calculating required dimensions, but also to make drawings of the future nest. This will protect against errors in the calculations and structure of the structure.

Glass wool is not suitable for nest insulation. Having penetrated inside the structure, it will harm the health of the rabbits. Its possible replacements are modern counterparts that are characterized by increased environmental friendliness. The nest is also not insulated with straw. It belongs to perishable materials, which means that it will start to rot very quickly. The straw is used only for bedding and is changed frequently (bedding should always be dry).

The manhole opening should be located at a height of 10-15 cm from the floor. This arrangement will not give the rabbits the opportunity to scatter throughout the cage, but will allow them to look at the "world" around.

For more convenience in cleaning the nest, during the construction of the structure, the floor can be made tilted at a slight angle.

In addition to the construction features, it is necessary to take into account the placement requirements. It is necessary to install and remove the queen cell from the cage in rabbits in a timely manner. It is placed in the cage five days before the expected delivery. There is no need to rush the rabbit family to leave the "shelter" - they will do it on their own. The rabbits leave the queen cell into the cage when they grow up and get stronger; this happens twenty days after delivery. It is necessary to remove the queen cell from the rabbit from the cage only when the mother and her offspring finally move to the main dwelling.

Making a queen cell with your own hands is easier than it might seem at first glance. This does not require special costs - neither material nor physical. A well-made nest is an integral part of caring for the eared mommy and her babies.

Igor Nikolaev

Reading time: 5 minutes

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The fertility of rabbits is known to everyone. One healthy adult rabbit is able to give birth to offspring five to six times in one year. And here the problem of the survival of the cubs is not the first plan. The vitality of newborn rabbits directly depends not only on genetic qualities, but also on the conditions of keeping created by the owner. This is especially true in winter, when the ambient temperature can greatly affect the offspring.

We want to devote this article to such a topic as the correct arrangement of the mother liquor and the process of making it with our own hands.

Each rabbit breeder equips his own rabbitry to his taste.

The mother is special place, in which the rabbit gives birth and subsequently feeds her cubs.

It is placed in the cage, which is the habitat of the female. Its design is extremely simple: most often it is just a wooden box with an opening for the entrance. In most cases, ordinary plywood is used to make the mother liquor.

There are two types of such a box - insulated and without additional insulation.

Why use a queen cell? Its main purpose is to protect young rabbits from low temperatures, as well as to give their mother a feeling of complete safety and comfort. In other words, a warm broiler at home for rabbits is the same as a burrow in the wild.

The female, as a rule, is engaged in arranging her nest herself, carrying straw and hay there, as well as laying down the fluff torn from her own body. In the mother liquor, the rabbits are usually kept for about 20 days with their mother. Then they gradually get stronger, and begin to independently get out of the nest box.

Many rabbit breeders believe that the queen cell needs to be installed and equipped only during winter roundings, when environment unfavorable for offspring. We will not argue with this. Of course, in the summer, the offspring is able to survive at ambient temperatures, but for such shy animals like rabbits, a sense of security is no less important. Especially nursing rabbits. Therefore, even without special insulation, such a box will not be superfluous in the summer.

In general, rabbits tolerate low temperatures quite well, but this applies to adults. For the newly born young, comfort and warmth are extremely important, since young rabbits do not yet have sufficient immunity and tolerate frosty weather much worse. In winter, no one doubts the need for a mother liquor.

What should be the queen cell? Let's say right away - no special skills and abilities are required for this. The design of the mother liquor is so simple that any person can make it with their own hands.

As we said above, it is an ordinary wooden box with a hole cut through it.

The main thing is to be careful and make such a box correctly, taking into account our further recommendations.

First, you need to prepare the materials that we need to make the uterine box. The most popular material for such a construction is plywood, since it is inexpensive and very easy to work with.

Common list necessary materials looks like that:

sheet plywood;
wooden slats;
wooden plank;
door hinges;
insulation (for example, ordinary sawdust);
regular nails;
self-tapping screws;
hammer;
small hacksaw;
measuring instrument (tape measure);
a pencil for marking.

As you can see, absolutely nothing supernatural.

Before you buy material and start work, it will not be superfluous to sketch out a simple drawing.

This, firstly, will help you in manufacturing, and secondly, it will allow you to accurately calculate required amount materials.

It is not necessary to lay straw inside with your own hands. Just place it so that the female can walk up to it, and she herself drags it into the box. This will be even better, since instinct allows the animal to equip the nest in the most convenient way.

The above dimensions of the mother liquor are average. Despite the fact that such a box should not be excessively large, its dimensions depend primarily on the size of the rabbit. Too spacious or, conversely, a very cramped queen cell will cause discomfort in the female. She should feel as if she has dug her own cozy burrow.

Actually, the female does not go to the toilet inside the nest. The rabbit shits either in the tray or in another chosen place, but there are exceptions. So that the plywood sheets on the floor do not rot from the feces of the rabbit and cubs, it is best to cover them with a galvanized sheet, and pour a layer of thick straw on top.

Attention! The litter should always be dry and clean and should be changed regularly.

Fresh thyrsa is not suitable as a heater, since it has a strong and pungent odor, which can lead to the fact that the female simply refuses to give birth in such a mother liquor.

It is not difficult to wean a female from shitting in a mother liquor. Rabbits are clean animals, and a litter-trained rabbit will not defecate in a crate. But the kids are very capable of making shit. In the first days of babies' life, their natural functions are insignificant, so the bedding can be changed every other day at this time. However, after a week it will need to be done daily, sometimes several times a day.

When creating cages for growing rabbits, they must provide for a space where the rabbit will bring offspring. Rabbit mothers are made in different ways. They are chosen depending on the technology of the content.

In 1978 I.N. Mikhailov (Leningrad rabbit breeder, author of accelerated rabbit breeding technology) proposed a method of raising rabbits, which takes into account all natural requirements for keeping conditions. One of the most important conditions is the presence of a nesting site that is insulated and heated in winter. He also developed the design of the mother liquor, which satisfies the conditions for reliable teaching of okrol at any time of the year.

Along with the Mikhailov method, there are also traditional technologies in which cells of simplified growing of fluffy animals are used. Many rabbit breeders do not dare to resort to winter spawning, since there is no reliable device where you can raise young animals without fear of losing them on frosty days. Rabbit breeders are confused by a number of circumstances that do not allow to guarantee the stable preservation of offspring.

Over the past hundred years, several hundred designs of cages for keeping and raising rabbits have been invented. In 1938, NIIZPK offered its product, in which many rabbits are still raised today. Simplicity and reliability have been proven by several decades of application of the development of the Institute of Animal Fur Rabbit Breeding. It has only a place reserved for the birth of rabbits. But the sacrament of birth is possible only in a special queen cell for rabbits.

Along with the traditional cage, professional rabbit breeders have developed promising comfortable cages. They can be versatile, where animals of different breeds are excellently raised. There are also developments in which you can raise rabbits for specialized purposes:

Day-old rabbits are purchased by hospitals, where they conduct research activities to develop new promising drugs. It is these organizations that buy hundreds of young rabbits taken from the rabbit every day. Breeds with light fur are used: White giant, New Zealand white, Californian, Russian white and others;
fur direction, in which preference is given to rabbits, which acquire commercial fur at the age of 2 months. It is not profitable to keep them longer, since it is at this time that the first molt ends, and the skin satisfies the consumer in its quality. Here, preference is given to Rex, Black-Fire, Veil-Silver and others;

the broiler direction provides for the cultivation of fast-growing animals: California white, New Zealand White, New Zealand red and others. Broilers are usually slaughtered at 3 months of age. They don't care much about the skin;
meat and skin production is the most widespread direction in rabbit breeding. All major breeds are represented here;
growing dwarf rabbits, sold to the population for home keeping in people's living quarters.

For any growing technology, the place where the rabbits will be born is important. Therefore, it is relevant to choose the most suitable design of the mother liquor.

Types and designs

Most Internet users can find the simplest design of the box, which has an opening wall and a round opening for the rabbit to pass. Everyone seemed to be going to redraw the NIIZPK product of the 1938 model again. A mother of such a design can work well for raising rabbits. But it is far from ideal.

Creating the Minifarm, I.N. Mikhailov developed a whole tier for the rabbit, in which a nesting department was envisaged. For the period of okrol, as well as until the rabbits reach the age of 20 days, it was proposed to install a mother cell of a different design. Here the author provided for a number of innovations:

a special place, covered with a lid, in which small residents can hide from being trampled on the first day after the okrol, when their mother comes into a state of hunting;
heating, carried out by a heating pad, which helps to raise young animals on the coldest days and achieve maximum survival of rabbits;
removable bottom, simplifying maintenance of the mother liquor, it is removed and replaced with another while the first is sent to the sink;
a special design of the nest and mother liquor, allowing the breeder to block the entrance to the nest, as well as to inspect the born rabbits.

In the designs of the modular cage proposed by I.A. and Kuzmin S.F. (Komov-Kuzmin's cage, as it is called by experts), a removable module is provided in which the mother cell is located. The design itself is thought out no worse than that of Mikhailov. Such a cage is much easier to maintain. Therefore, many rabbit breeders have taken it as a basis in their farms. The removable compartment has a full set of options that allows the rabbit to bring offspring, and the young rabbits themselves grow up healthy.

Rabbit breeder E. Maklyakov (cages "Maklyak") creatively approached the development of predecessors and created his own version, which is now being adopted by many manufacturers of cages for rabbits. Here, too, a removable mother tank is used, hung only during the rounding period. The design has repeatedly received approval from many users for its high functionality and ease of use.

In the cells of N.I. Zolotukhin. it is also provided for the installation of a removable mother liquor only for the period of nesting and primary rearing of young stock. As the experience of the rabbit breeder shows, this approach in creating conditions for obtaining rabbits brings its enormous benefits. In a limited area, it is possible to raise a large number of rabbits.

Non-removable

A non-removable mother-bed for rabbits is installed by rabbit breeders who have little experience in working with a fluffy farm. It is difficult to maintain, for any action inside the cage, the pets inside experience some stress. It is sometimes difficult for the breeder himself to carry out the operations of cleaning and cleaning the premises for spawning and primary rearing of young stock.

Some install non-removable mother liquors, fixing them with self-tapping screws using a screwdriver. With this use, it is only fixed against possible movements inside the cell. At the end of the period of use, the screws are turned off, and the temporarily non-removable mother liquor is removed. It will not be needed here soon, but for now the entire area is provided to the rabbit and her children.

Portable

The transfer mother is used in cages, where it is used only for a limited time. The presence of such miniature rooms makes it possible to expand the functionality of the rabbit cages themselves. Instead of a removable mother liquor, an attached room is installed that increases the floor area. This expansion of space makes it possible to raise large breeds of rabbits that grow quite intensively.

There are a lot of portable structures. For modular cages, they are made so that it is convenient to install or replace with other equipment. In the cells of N.I. Zolotukhin. the portable nests are replaced with a small removable wall. The functionality in this case is limited.

Heated

The most in a simple way heating, the use of an electric heating pad installed under the bottom of the mother liquor is recognized. But this is not the only way to create a microclimate for rabbits. Several studies have suggested other ways to maintain optimal conditions:

heating with infrared lamps, this method is practiced in a number of industrial rabbit farms, infrared lamps locally heat a small area inside the cage where the rabbit brings offspring. With this method, it was noticed that the females cease to tear out the fur and cover the bottom of the mother liquor with it;
heating with a water heater is used in large fur farms. There, warm water with a temperature of 36 ... 40 ° C is supplied from the boiler inside the cells, on cold days it can be slightly increased in order to compensate for the loss of heat when delivered to the inhabitants of the cells.
Additionally, the walls of the mother liquor are insulated. The result is a water heating system similar to that used in residential buildings. Practice shows that such devices are quite effective (they are widely used in Germany and Finland);
electric heating with local floor heaters. A similar design was developed and proposed at one time by Professor D.I.Netkachev, later many followers developed it creatively, now they are used everywhere. Film and ceramic heaters heat only a small part of the mother liquor floor, creating a microclimate in a limited area.

Outdoor raised rabbits are known to get sick less and grow better. Therefore, winter enclosures in heated nests with wall insulation make it possible to significantly increase the efficiency of rabbit breeding.

How to make

The rabbit broodstock is a box, the design of which is created for the cages used. Making it is easy, the main thing is to measure it correctly.

Using the Maklak cage as an example, it will be necessary to use plywood with a thickness of 5 ... 6 mm.

First, the drawing is worked out, and the parameters of the parts that need to be cut out of the plywood sheet are determined.
The elements are connected on a "rail", therefore, sections of the required length are sawn from a 20x20 mm rail.
The assembly is carried out using self-tapping screws, so that cracking of the rail does not occur in the right places, holes with a diameter of 2 mm are drilled, into which the self-tapping screw will be screwed.
The walls are of a complex design; they provide for filling the space with insulation. Many people use foamed materials (foam, it has the highest thermal resistance to heat transfer).
After assembly, staining is performed.
The convenience of hanging removable queen cells for rabbits is checked.
So that the rabbits do not gnaw the mother plant, open places are upholstered with galvanized steel strips.

Instruments

For self-made such a device will be needed:

jigsaw or circular saw, they will help to facilitate cutting out workpieces;
the electric screwdriver will speed up the assembly of the mother liquor;
the knife is useful for cutting out foam insulation;
using metal scissors, it is easy to cut strips to frame the passage;
spray gun to speed up the process of painting the product.

Material

As mentioned above, for the manufacture you will need plywood with a thickness of 5 ... 6 mm, slats 20x20 mm and self-tapping screws for wood with a length of 25 mm.

Assembly

You can collect a queen cell for rabbits and nails. On self-tapping screws, the process is much more technological. If repair is necessary, it is easier to unscrew the screws and replace damaged parts.

Conclusion

The use of queen cells for rabbits makes it possible to carry out okrols in the right place for the breeder. Rabbits do not crawl around the cage. Being in a zone with a given microclimate, they grow up healthy and strong.

Every rabbit breeder, even a beginner, using the simplest set of tools, can independently make a nesting place for rabbits.

For all rabbit breeders, a time comes when the question arises of how and from what to make queen cells for rabbits with their own hands?

This is a special box in which the rabbits are crawled and the rabbits are fed. For a safe culling, a pregnant female needs a quiet, cozy place. In nature, rabbits make their nests in a separate small burrow. Just before giving birth, they bring there bundles of grass, hay and straw, tree bark. To insulate the nest, they pluck their fluff from their chest.

In captivity, felted females are kept in a separate cage, and a mother plant is prepared for them 2-3 days before the date of birth.

Rabbit mothers are built into the cage (stationary) and portable. They can also be closed at the top or without a lid.

Portable queen cells are divided into ventilated (for summer rounding) and insulated (for winter rounding).

In order to make a do-it-yourself mother plant, there are many solutions, however, each rabbit breeder chooses the most optimal option for his farm.

What are the requirements for the mother liquor

Rabbits are born completely helpless: blind and naked. They stay in the mother liquor for up to 18 days without leaving it. Then they start to go out into the cage and try the "adult" food and water. Up to 30 days of age, the main food of rabbits is mother's milk. Therefore, the rabbit's nest should be as convenient as possible for the female and the cubs.

The main functions of the mother liquor:

Protection of rabbits from drafts and predators.
Security. Rabbit broodstock should be made from non-toxic natural materials and carefully assembled so that the rabbits and their mother do not get hurt.
Strength. The female and the rabbits spend about a month in the nest, so you need to make sure that the details of the structure are not easy to gnaw or break.
Matching the size of the mother liquor to the bred rabbit breed. If the house is too large or small, the bunny may not want to crawl in it. Then she will simply scatter the kids around the cage, and they will die.
The size of the rabbit queen cell should fit into the cage so that there is room for the rabbit to walk in the cage.
Cage exit hole. It should also be of the correct diameter for the female (not too small or too large). If the diameter of the hole is too large, then there is a risk that the rabbit will be able to pull out the rabbit caught on the nipple.
Another important requirement for the nest is the most simplified cleaning, therefore, the structure needs an upper or side door for cleaning it.

Advice! There is no need to make bumpers in front of the side door in the rabbit queen cell, since a lot of dirt accumulates under them, and it is difficult to rake out such corners.

What to make

In the manufacture of a box for a closed and winter-type bordering, plywood or a piece of OSB board, as well as a board, are most often used. Fasten the parts with screws or nails. You will also need wooden slats, insulation, a galvanized tray, awnings, tools for work.

Summer versions of queen cells for rabbits are often made of plastic with holes to improve ventilation, since rabbits do not tolerate extreme heat above 26 degrees.

DIY assembly

First you need to think over the design of the mother liquor. Based on the size and design of the cage, the type is selected that best suits all the requirements.

The "birthing" box for pregnant rabbits is assembled according to the drawing. The size of the mother liquor is selected in accordance with the breed of rabbits. For medium-sized females weighing from 4 to 5 kg, a box size of 50x35x35 is sufficient. The diameter of the hole is 15-16 cm. For large breeds rabbits, the size of the mother liquor is 90x80x40 with a hole diameter of 18-19 cm.

For the manufacture of a portable plywood mother liquor (it is better to take a sheet with a thickness of 5 mm or more). First of all, you should cut the rectangles of all the walls to the desired size. Then cut a hole in the front wall. And then fasten them with screws or nails and strips. Depending on the design, make a door on the side or on top of the drawer.

Advice! It is important that the rabbit hole is at a height of 10-15 cm from the bottom of the box. This is done so that the rabbit does not accidentally carry the baby, sucked to the nipple, into her cage.

If the length of the mother liquor permits, then a shelf 15 cm wide can be made inside the box under the manhole. Such a shelf will be a step for the rabbit. Also, the height of the manhole and the shelf keep curious rabbits from leaving the mother house too early.

To make an insulated box for rabbits (you can take plywood from 3 mm for it), we cut out all rectangles in duplicate. Next, you need to stuff 20 mm thick slats along the edges of the top, bottom and three side plywood sheets. Then you need to fill the resulting frames with insulation and cover them with a second copy of plywood. Fasten these sheets with nails, and then fold the box out of them. A wall with a manhole is most often done in one layer.

Insulation of the nest

Mothers for winter bordering are usually made insulated with double walls, between which a layer of insulation is placed: sawdust, foam or other heat-insulating material.

However, when the air temperature is very low, this insulation is not enough. In such cases, you can use special means: water or heating pads, as well as infrared film for electric floors with a power of 110-120 W per 1 meter. with a width of 50 cm. Such heaters are installed under the box, and to direct the heat upward, they are covered with foil insulation or other available isolate.

Remember! You cannot warm the mother liquors with constant heat, even of low power. For heating pads and infrared warm floors, it is imperative to install a thermostat (an expensive option) or a time relay (a budget option). It is optimal to turn on the heat for 15 minutes every 15-20 minutes.

The mother liquor is placed in the cage so that the hole of the manhole is opposite the trough. They need to equip the cage about a week before the round-up so that the rabbit has time to get used to it. Before giving birth, the females underlie straw, hay or soft sawdust in 2-3 days. It must be remembered that if the bottom in the mother liquor is mesh, then it must be well covered with a compacted bedding or galvanized sheet.

In queen cells of any kind, this metal plate is needed to keep the bottom of the crate free from baby feces and can be easily removed and cleaned; however, in colder weather, add more sawdust and hay so that the rabbits are not cold from the iron.

Processing of the mother liquor

The treatment of birthing boxes for rabbits begins with a thorough cleaning of the walls from the remains of fluff and excrement. If there is a strong odor in the mother liquor, then you can rinse it with running water.

This is followed by mandatory drying and airing. Two weeks before giving birth and after each brood, the mothers are treated with special disinfectants or burned gas burner... This is the most effective ways fight all kinds of infection.

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