Coccidiosis

Is coccidia almost a guarantee when you have rabbits in a colony? I haven't studied it a lot, but it seem that everyone who keeps meat rabbits in a colony find white spots on the livers. Is there a way to prevent this other than keeping them on wire?

Should only be an issue in a dirt floor colony. I had mine on concrete and had no problems.

no. It is only a problem if the bedding on the floor gets too wet or in an outside colony there are too many animals (including wild ones) in a given space. We had a problem with it last summer when the temps stayed above 100F for 2months and the humidity built to like 80% plus we were setting ice containers in which sweated water. We just couldn't dry things. Even then the adults and the netherlands were unaffected. We only had bad livers and dead from the 8week old meat rabbits. We butchered everything but the necessary breeders and then hand dosed them with amprolium for a month while scraping all the bedding out of the colonies. This year we have had a mild dry summer and aren't using loose hay and haven't seen it at all. Livers are perfect. Prior to last summer I spent 2 years butchering without seeing a spot on a liver.

Wel I have it, unfortunatly, but I don't intend to keep it (the cocci).

However I know people with colonies and with cages with solid floors and bedding that doesn't have it.

Okay, that makes me feel better! I don't love the idea of my rabbits just sitting in cages most of their lives.

Zab, your setup is really inspiring! It looks like the rabbits have a blast. And it would be fun to just sit and watch them do their thing, easier for my (gentle)kids to play with them as well.

How often do you all worm rabbits? Is it more often in a colony compared to wire cages?

Stalosan F is a product that helps reduce cocci. If I had used it from the start I might not have the problems I have today, who knows.

Thank you

I don't worm. I would if I find signs of worms. It's not good to worm any animal on routine, the worms get resistent and then you can't cure the animal when it really has a bad infestation. We have a problem in the world with worms that modern medecines barely can cure.

We deworm the colony once a year because we have swallows nesting above them in the summer. We've had parasites spread from the birds causing things like head tilts. Ivermectin stops it before it gets to the brain and causes problems. Regular preventive deworming is important with some animals. By the time you see symptoms they can be too compromised to survive or be useful. Think about dogs with heartworm. As long as you tailor your deworming to the situation and if you need to deworm frequently rotate wormers you won't run in to resistance. We've had horses on the same land for 40 years being dewormed and dewormers are still just as effective. When we had a dozen horses we dewormed every 2 months, now that we have 4 horses we deworm twice a year. The manure and therefore parasite load went down so we lowered our use of dewormers. If you are uncertain how often you need to deworm your animals you can take a fecal sample (just a couple fresh droppings is enough) to the vet for an egg count and to determine the type of worms.

Just looked into the Stalosan F.
I'll definitely be using that when I get my colony built. Apparently it helps control worms as well as a zillion other pathogens. And it's available in the US.

http://www.protekta.ca/pdfs/stalosan_summary.pdf

The fecal sample is a good idea if you want to be sure

PrairieBelle: Yes. I've noticed that there's practically no flies in the rabbits colonies.. now the horse stalls on the other hand..hmm.. It lasts a long while too, really. I find it too cheap not to use.

I mean, sheesh. Look at this list of pathogens and parasites this stuff will kill. And all naturally with no toxic properties or side affects.

Bacteria
Actinobacillus
Aerococcus
Bacillus subtilis
Clostridium perfringens
Clostridium tyrobutyricum
Coliforme bacteria
Eschericia coli
Eschericia coli
O 149 Eschericia coli
O 157 Enterobacter agglomerans
Enterobacter cloacal
Enterococcus faecium
Eschericia coli Fusobacterium
necrophorum Haemophilus
Micrococcus varians
Pasteurella multocida
Proteus
Proteus mirabilis
Pseudomonas aeroginosa
Pseudomonas fluorescent
Pseudomonas paucimobilis
Salmonella dublin
Salmonella enteritidis
Salmonella typhimurium
DT 104
Salmonella typhimurium
Serrata marcescens
Staphyloccus hyicus
Staphyloccus aureus
Staphyloccus epidermis
Staphyloccus
Streptococcus faecalis
Streptococcus pyogenes
Streptococcus uberis
Viruses
Canine Parvovirus
Newcastle Disease
Virus Porcine
Parvovirus Reo-Virus
Vaccinia-Virus
Fungi
Alternaria
Aspergillus
Aspergillus flavus
Candida ciferii
Candida lusitaniae
Candida parapsilosis
Candida pendotropicalis
Candida pseudotropicalis
Candida rogosa
Candida torulopsis
Cladosporium
Cladosporium herbarum
Cryptococcus laurentii
Verticillum cinnabarium
Fungi imperfecte
Fusarium
Heminthosporum
Maris torulopsis
Mucor
Mucor plumbens Penicilium
Penicilium viridicatum Pullularia
Rhodotorula slutinis
Saccharomyces cerevisiae
Trichoderma viride
Trichosporon beigelii
Verticillum cinnabarium
Parasites
Ascarida galli
Ascaris suum (Round worm)
Capillaria obsignata
E.acervulina (chicken coccidia)
Heterakis gallinarum
Fly-larvae

It doesn't really kill them, just stops most of their eggs from hatching.. or whatever they do instead of hatching eggs

It makes the environment more animal friendly and less virus and bug-egg frienddly. I think it works a bit like DE.. although it's different ingredients. (DE is just one ingredient as far as I know.. :lol

So is it okay to eat a rabbit that has a spotty liver? Just not eat the liver?

Would you always throw the spotty livers away or could they be fed safely to a dog?

Yes the meat is ok. I throw the liver away though cocci is a species thing... dogs cant get rabbit cocci. It feels bad to give them a liver full of pus though. :3

Yuck! I agree!
I assumed they were just lesions on the liver, not pus. That would be too gross.

I throw the livers out which led to having to buy the dogs liver last year because we threw so many away.

Ok, I just found out something funny..
Virkon S - which is the desinfectant I've planned on using, doesn't kill cocci. Appearantly Interkokask does, but despite it being a swedish vet mentioning it, I can't find anywere to buy it.. I've called around to farm supply stores etc. One swedish website mentions it but I can't find any way to order.. I've emailed them though.
However, it seems like I'll have to rely on torching. It will be so fun and safe to torch a 200years old wooden building.. But I figure I'll have to wet it properly beforehand as I'll wash it either way, and simply be very, very careful.. andd wet it afterward as well.

At least I finally got baycox prescribed.<br /><br />__________ Sat Sep 07, 2013 4:44 am __________<br /><br />And looking at alternatives I think I'll buy a steamer instead.. gets up to 130°C so it should be enough and no risk of burning the barn down