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The California rabbit is a meat breed. The breed was bred in the US state of California. Three people took part in the creation of the Californian breed: rabbit breeds: chinchilla, Russian ermine and New Zealand white. The purpose of breeding the Californian breed was to obtain a broiler breed of rabbits that quickly gain weight and are adapted to industrial rearing on mesh floors of cages on industrial rabbit farms.
The subtlety here is that rabbits living on a grid often injure their feet on the wires, getting so-called “corns” or pododermatitis. Thick fur on the feet of rabbits can protect against pododermatitis.
The Californian rabbit has a disadvantage, apparently common to all breeds that are called broilers: the Californian breed is demanding on temperature conditions and is not suitable for keeping outdoors, which is often practiced in Russia.
California breed standard
Like any broiler breeds rabbits The Californian breed should produce maximum meat yield and minimum bone quantity. Therefore, with an overall strong constitution, representatives of the Californian breed have light, thin bones.
The maximum amount of meat in rabbits is on the hind legs; accordingly, Californian rabbits have an extended sacrolumbar region and well-muscled hind legs. And the body, on which there is little meat, is compact.
Broiler breeds do not need long legs, and California rabbits also have short legs.
The head is small and light. The length of the ears does not exceed 10.5 cm.
The weight of an adult animal of the Californian breed is 4-5 kg.
Features of the color and quality of the skin of the Californian breed
Since the Californian rabbit was bred using three breeds, he took the best from them: delicious meat from the chinchilla; from the New Zealand white the ability to grow rapidly; from Russian ermine color and quality of skin.
The color of the Californian rabbit breed is so similar to the color of the Russian ermine that they can easily be confused. Although, of course, there are differences. The photo below is of the Californian breed.
And in this photo there is a Russian ermine rabbit.
The ermine's markings are larger and darker.Although in reality it will be very difficult to distinguish between these two breeds of rabbits, since the size and richness of the marks depends on the air temperature.
Rabbits of these breeds are born white, the markings appear later. Moreover, the lower the air temperature at the time when the marks appear, the more saturated and larger these dark areas are.
Photo of another rabbit breed, similar in color to the Californian.
This is a butterfly rabbit. This breed can really only be confused with the Californian due to inexperience. The butterfly breed is distinguished by the presence of black spots on the body and the absence of dark marks on the paws. But at a young age, rabbits can be similar. To accurately determine the breed, just look into the eyes of the rabbits. California rabbits have red eyes, while butterfly rabbits have dark eyes.
Features of the Californian breed
Although the Californian is an industrial breed, keeping Californian rabbits by private owners is also not particularly difficult. Perhaps the animals will grow a little slower, but this is usually not important for private owners, since private owners do not have enough rabbits to suffer serious losses, but they usually do not have enough time for slaughter.
The Californian breed has a calm disposition, which is why rabbits of this breed are increasingly kept as pets. And here the next details of rabbit organisms become clear: although the Californian is advertised as a breed that can live on mesh floors, in fact such floors are harmful to any breed of rabbit.If possible, animals should be provided with a smooth floor to avoid pododermatitis.
This is impossible on a rabbit farm, since productivity comes first. You can equip your rabbit with a comfortable cage in your apartment. Cleaning up after one animal is not difficult.
Private owners who keep several rabbits, depending on their ingenuity, find a variety of options: from a galvanized sheet of iron with holes punched in it for urine drainage to keeping animals in pits.
Differences between methods of keeping rabbits
There are three methods of keeping rabbits: in a cage, in an enclosure and in a pit.
Aviary
Experienced rabbit breeders have long abandoned aviaries, since an aviary is a plot of land fenced with a net, open from the sky. The enclosure net is usually deepened half a meter into the ground so that rabbits cannot dig a passage under it to freedom. Boxes are placed in the enclosure as shelter for the animals. But the economic losses of rabbit breeders with this method of keeping are very high.
Firstly, the rabbits fight among themselves, and it is impossible to get a high-quality skin with such care. Secondly, the rabbits do not know that they cannot undermine the mesh, so they periodically undermine it and run away. Thirdly, predators, feathered and four-legged, are unfamiliar with the concept of “other people's property” and are happy to catch defenseless animals.
Pit
Some people believe that this method is most consistent with the natural way of life of rabbits. They suggest making a hole 1 m deep, cementing the bottom to prevent feces from getting into the ground and “leaving the rabbits to their fate.” According to the idea, the rabbits themselves will dig holes in the side walls of the pit, which will then need to be equipped with shutters. You can start digging holes yourself.The rabbits will continue.
In theory, it is believed that animals will not get out of the hole, since they dig passages either horizontally or with a downward slope. At the same time, for some reason, no one thinks about where in this case in nature rabbits get their second and third exits from the hole. And since the rabbits themselves know very well that they also dig tunnels that go up to the surface, from time to time rabbit breeders who raise animals in a hole are forced to pour concrete into such passages to freedom and artificially dig a proper hole for the rabbits nearby.
Also, the disadvantages of the pit include:
- the difficulty of catching extra individuals;
- spoiled skins;
- possible compacted births of female rabbits due to free access of rabbits to females;
- impossibility of providing rabbits with an individual diet.
A plus could be that, according to allegations, rabbits in a pit cease to be afraid of rats. But the rats themselves may not know what is written about them on the Internet, but they are well aware of how to dig tunnels in the ground. And leftover food will certainly attract rats.
This relates to the question of whether there are rats in the pits. Only rats and rabbits can answer this question accurately.
Considering that Californians are a heat-loving breed, living in a pit may not be suitable for them.
Cell
A well-made cage is guaranteed to protect rabbits and their young from rats, and keeping each animal in a separate cage will preserve its skin and allow the animals to be given individual diets.
An insulated cage allows you to keep rabbits outside even in winter.If the cage is additionally equipped with a heated queen cell and a heated drinking bowl, then down to -10 degrees the rabbit has nothing more to wish for. In severe frosts, it is better to bring cages with animals indoors.
Feeding
There are two points of view regarding the rabbit diet.
The first originates from the domestication of rabbits. It is believed that animals need carrots, grass, cabbage, silage and other succulent food in addition to hay and grain mixtures.
The second appeared with the development of industrial rabbit breeding and the advent of complete pellets, designed specifically for the fastest possible raising of rabbits in industrial conditions.
Considering that California rabbits were bred for industrial farms, the second food option is more suitable for them. It is also less labor-intensive for owners. In addition, succulent food often causes bloating in rabbits.
Rabbit diseases
The Californian breed does not have any specific diseases unique to this breed. Californian rabbits suffer from all the same diseases as other rabbits.
Two of them are especially dangerous and can destroy the entire population of animals on the farm. This rabbit viral hemorrhagic disease and myxomatosis.
VGBK
The virus is transmitted through the feces of recovered animals, through contact of a healthy rabbit with a sick one, through equipment and clothing of service personnel. Even in skins taken from sick animals, the virus persists for up to 3 months.
The incubation period of the disease lasts from 2 to 5 days. In the case of the fulminant form of the disease in the morning, apparently healthy rabbits are already dead by the evening.
The disease does not last longer than 4 days, and the mortality rate reaches 100%.
To prevent VGBV disease, animals are vaccinated every six months, starting with the third vaccination. The first and second are done at 45 and 105 days.
Myxomatosis
The disease is transmitted by blood-sucking insects and through direct contact with a sick animal. Moreover, the virus in the bloodsucker can remain active for six months.
The mortality rate, depending on the form of the disease with myxomatosis, ranges from 30 to 70%.
For a long time, a rabbit that has recovered from the disease remains a carrier of the myxomatosis virus.
During an outbreak of myxomatosis on a farm, the entire population of rabbits is slaughtered, since even “recovered” animals will serve as a source of infection for newly purchased rabbits, and the disease will break out again.
Rabbits are vaccinated against myxomatosis at different times, which depend on the type of vaccine.
Since rabbits that have been ill once do not suffer from this disease again, you can vaccinate a baby rabbit at the age of 30 days with a single dose of a monovalent vaccine. The vaccine against myxomatosis is injected twice only in regions unfavorable for the disease.
Other rabbit diseases
Pasteurosis and coccidiosis (eimeriosis) are also quite dangerous and contagious diseases. A vaccine can be given against pasteurosis. There is no vaccine for coccidiosis, as it is an invasive disease. But in this case, prevention can be carried out.
Among the non-contagious, but very dangerous diseases for a particular animal, we can distinguish the so-called bloating, which is actually not a disease, but only a symptom of the disease.The only case when an animal’s swollen belly indicates an infection is with coccidiosis. In all other cases, bloating is usually caused by fermentation in the intestines and the formation of intestinal gases after eating wet grass, fresh cabbage, sour silage and other feed with a tendency to ferment.
Often, with bloating, the animal dies within a few hours either from suffocation when the lungs are compressed by the stomach, or when the intestinal walls rupture and the further development of peritonitis.
To avoid problems with bloated bellies, it is recommended to feed rabbits only hay and complete pellets.
Reviews and videos about Californian rabbits
On the Internet you can find quite a lot of reviews and videos about the Californian breed.
A kind of advertising video about a Californian from the owners of the Moryak private farm, engaged in breeding European rabbits:
Expert assessment of the Californian breed:
Reviews from California rabbit owners
Conclusion
The California breed may not be very suitable for beginners, but if a rabbit breeder already has experience raising rabbits and wants to try the transition to raising meat rabbits for sale, then the California breed is one of the best options to choose.
