What are the features of the Gray Giant rabbit breed

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For ordinary people far from animal husbandry, rabbits are cute small creatures that can be easily picked up and stroked. But in real life, these animals are completely different: from decorative pets to giant rabbits. For example, the Gray Giant rabbit in some cases can weigh more than 8 kg. How do you like this fluffy?

Rabbit Gray Giant

The breed was bred at the Petrovsky state farm (Ukraine). The Gray Giant Rabbit is the result of a successful merger of Flandre and a rabbit of unknown origin. From the first, the eared ears inherited a weighty body, large dimensions and colors. In addition, giants around the world are famous for their excellent fertility and unpretentiousness. They are able to adapt to any climate. The very first article about this breed of rodents made a splash among fur farms.

External features of the breed

The color may differ, there are individuals:

• iron gray;
• gray;
• dark gray;
• white;
• black color.

But there are also special features in rodents. The Gray Giant is a breed of rabbits, if you look at the photo, it has a reddish-gray color, the inner side of the hair on the paws and belly is white.

Other most popular varieties of giants:

• white,
• blue,
• German,
• Belgian.

As you can see, the name of the breed indicates either the color of the rabbits, or the place of their breeding. Descriptions in most moments are similar for all giants, except for one thing: the Belgian Giant is only similar in size to the rest of the breed.

The Belgian giant rabbit is an amazing creature. It was he who was one of the founders of the Giants. A distinctive feature of the Belgians is the interesting shape of the ears: they are not long and straight, like everyone else's, but spherical. These pussies are the only giants that require special care and are very picky in their choice of food, and since they have a huge appetite, it is not easy for breeders.

If we consider the representative of the Gray Giant rabbit breed in the photo, you can notice a number of characteristic features of his appearance. These rabbits differ in:

• strong body and massive torso,
• a round head of a rough shape,
• ears of impressive length and thickness with a characteristic rounding at the end,
• wide chest and no less wide long back,
• leather fold on the dewlap (females only),
• long legs,
• thick woolen cover,
• wide round groats.

Thoroughbred rabbits Gray Giant are immune to almost all existing diseases, an adult gray rabbit Giant on average reaches 6 kg, sometimes more, with a body length of 59-65 cm and a chest girth of 35-40 cm. The number of cubs from one litter is 7-8 pieces.

The qualities that distinguish the Gray Giant rabbit breed from the rest:

• rapid maturation,
• good killer exit,
• delicious dietary meat.

In addition, the Gray Rabbit Giant is, first of all, a very large skin. In some cases, its area reaches 0.3 square meters. m.

Features of breeding rabbits

Females, if it is a purebred Gray Rabbit Giant, have high fertility rates, and there is enough milk for all babies. Females of the Giant Gray Rabbit bring 7-8 cubs at a time, there have been cases when 13 rabbits were born from one mother.

When preparing animals for mating, one should take into account the age, condition of the coat and the weight of each individual. Females of the Giant Gray Rabbit reach sexual maturity at six months of age. It is at this moment that their first mating should take place, a long postponement of mating will lead to obesity. Males mature several months later.

You should start preparing animals for mating in advance. After about 3 weeks, you need to make sure that the individuals are completely healthy and at a normal weight. If any problems are identified, you need to take measures to correct them, for example, begin to intensively feed thin rabbits or, conversely, cut back on the diet of the eared ears suffering from excess weight.

Especially carefully it is required to check the condition of the genitals of the Gray Giant rabbits, which will be responsible for breeding. If their nipples are still poorly developed, animals should not be allowed to mate.

The setting of the mating schedule should take place, depending on the time of the sexual estrus. Rabbits are ready for this almost all year round, but still there are some periods of decline in sexual activity. If mating at this time, the female will bring no more than 4 rabbits.

Before mating begins, water and food must be removed from the compartment in which the male lives, and only then the female must be placed there. It is undesirable to add a rabbit to a rabbit, since males need time to adapt to new conditions of detention.

As soon as the first mating is completed, you can take the female from the cage for several hours, and then return it back again. If you have a lot of rabbits, you can divide them into pairs and mark each with a special tag so that you do not get confused later.

Important!!! It is impossible to happen the Gray Giant with a blood relative, otherwise the offspring will be weak and sick.

The mass of a newborn baby is about 80 g. If you immediately provide it with semi-concentrated feed, after 2 months the size will increase significantly, and the weight will reach 1.5 kg, in another month - 2, at 4 months of age the calf will weigh 2 , 5 kg.

If you introduce a protein-rich feed into the diet of rabbits from the first day of life, growth will occur in a slightly different scenario:

• 2 months - 1.7 kg,
• 3 months - 2.3 kg,
• for slaughter - maximum 4-5 kg.

Rabbit Gray Giant in the video looks more like a giant rodent from movies and fairy tales. If you do not know about the existence of such a breed the first time, you may not believe that this is a rabbit.

How to care for rabbits

For the first time, the variety was bred in a mild climate, so it is under such environmental conditions that rabbits feel as comfortable as possible and reproduce as many times as possible. But, despite this, the breeding of giants mainly occurs in the northern regions. This proves once again that rabbits of the Gray Giant breed perfectly adapt to any terrain and do not need special care and overly insulated living conditions.

Pets should be kept in spacious, sturdy, clean cages located on the sunny side. Do not forget that the Gray Giant has impressive dimensions and therefore the cells must be strong. It is extremely important to remember that direct rays are dangerous to rabbits, just like drafts.

Each cell must be equipped with a mother liquor. The lid of the fluffy compartment should be located on top for easier inspection.The floors should be lined with metal sheets so that rodents cannot enter the cage through them. We must not forget to provide rabbits with feeders and drinkers.

Hygiene is essential for the harmonious growth of rabbits. When carrying out maintenance, it must be remembered that giants always need clean drinking water freely available, besides, every centimeter of the cell must be perfectly cleaned and disinfected. Breeding will be successful only if these conditions are met.

Disinfection methods:

• blowtorch firing;
• wall decoration with freshly slaked lime;
• cleaning the room with ten percent chlorine solution.

Cells should be treated especially carefully when:

• newcomers are planned to share;
• an early round-up is expected;
• the animals have picked up a dangerous infection.

How to care for rabbits

The first thing to think about when buying a giant baby is what conditions the rabbit will live in. You should choose comfortable large cages so that the already matured animal can move freely there and, if necessary, have the opportunity to stand on its hind legs (Giants love to while away the time).

There must be some kind of filler on the floor of the cage. For these purposes, straw or sawdust is most often chosen. The main requirement for a filler is a natural composition. Grooming rabbits requires a brush to scratch the fur and scissors to trim the nails.

The giants should be fed from large ceramic dishes. Rabbits are always gnawing something, it is this activity that brings them joy, so it is extremely important to give the pet such an opportunity, for example, to put some twigs in his house, preferably from some kind of fruit tree.

Feeding

When compiling a diet for the Giants, one must not forget that overfeeding has the same negative effect on breeding as underfeeding. Practice shows that fat males are reluctant to mate, which leads to the "looseness of females."

In order to provide rabbits with a properly balanced diet, while keeping them, it is important to adhere to the following rules:

1. The gastrointestinal tract of the Giants has its own peculiarity: each new portion of food frees the intestines from previously received and already processed food, therefore irregular, improperly selected nutrition will lead to serious problems in the digestive system.
2. The nutritional characteristics should be varied. This is the only way to provide the rabbit body with all the necessary vitamins and minerals. The uniformity of the assortment leads to a decrease in productivity, a decrease in immunity, and, consequently, to the occurrence of diseases. Particular attention should be paid to the quality of the food, rotten vegetables and moldy grains are unsuitable. If the diet consists mainly of dry food, care should be taken to ensure that the drinker is always filled with fresh water.
3. You must follow the feeding schedule. Gray Giants are unpretentious animals, they can adapt to any diet, but rabbits should be fed at the same time every day.
4. Pregnant and lactating females of the Gray Giant rabbit breed need increased attention, just like the male producers. Mineral supplements must be present in their diet.
5. It is best to mix fresh food with hay; you need to prepare food immediately in large quantities.
6. You can give absolutely any vegetables to the Giants. The main thing is that they do not have rot and dirt.
7. If you plan to give grain to the rabbits, you must first crush it and prepare a mash. The animals most willingly eat sprouted grains.
8. The switch to a different diet in the spring and autumn periods should be gradual. Little by little, replace a small portion of the old feed with the new one. Continue until the menu is completely transformed. The whole process should take no more than a week.
9. There are ready-made mixed feeds on sale, but if there are a lot of rabbits on the farm, it is economically more profitable to produce them yourself, using an ordinary grain grinder. The characteristics of homemade mixtures are in no way inferior to purchased ones.

Advantages and disadvantages of the breed

The Gray Giant rabbits have many virtues, thanks to which they quickly gained worldwide popularity. The Gray Giant breed is characterized by the following features:

1. Increased fertility and a large amount of milk in females. It is worth noting that the Giantesses are very loyal mothers, they never leave their babies unattended.
2. Fast adaptation to any living conditions. If the cages are well insulated, then the animals are able to give a strong and healthy offspring, even if their maintenance is carried out at an outside air temperature of minus 30 ° C. Provided that the roof will not let through drafts.
3. Unpretentious attitude in food. The only thing that is influenced by the composition of the feed is the rate of weight gain.
4. Very strong nerves and a calm disposition.
5. Increased immunity to many diseases.
6. Large skin sizes.

But before deciding that the Gray Giant rabbit is right for you, read the description of the main disadvantages of this breed:

1. From time to time, rabbits are born with improperly developed limbs (thin, crooked, weak).
2. Due to the large size of the adult and the very slow maturity, rabbits need a lot of food to gain weight.
3. Compared to other large meat species of rabbits, the Giants have a very low slaughter yield.
4. Despite the fact that the skin has a large area, its quality leaves much to be desired.

Due to these significant shortcomings, some livestock breeders leave negative reviews about such fluffs, they believe that the Gray Giants are a relic of the past, which have already been replaced by breeds that have larger sizes, for example, Flandre or Accelerat, therefore it is not economically profitable to raise the rabbits in question. Despite this opinion, many farmers still successfully breed Giants and do not plan to write them off.