Performances des femelles logées temporairement en groupe dans des parcs polyvalents en système tout plein tout vide

Performance of does temporarily housed in groups in polyvalent parks under all-in all-out conditions. We compared the performance of semi-group housed female rabbits to that of individually caged ones, using management techniques known to improve health (all-in all-out) in all treatments. Twenty four primiparous females were housed in enriched cages (control group), 6 groups of 4 females were housed in parks with a wire floor, and 6 groups of 4 females in parks with a plastic floor. Their performance was studied during 3 consecutive parities. The rabbits were inseminated every 6 weeks. All does were housed individually during 3 of these 6 weeks. In the other 3 weeks the partitions between the 4 cages of each group of park does were removed, thus achieving group housing from d 18 on (the age at which the young start to leave the nest box frequently). The park modules of 2 m² created in this way allowed the young to remain in their park till slaughtering age, whilst the does were transferred to a comparable cleaned stable at weaning. The results of the first batches demonstrate the possibilities of such semi-group housing: 9.74 weaned kits/litter; 2.46 kg at 69 days of age and low losses (<5%) before and after weaning. However, in the control group the number of kits weaned/litter (+3.7%), weight at 29 days (+11.0%) and the weight at 69 days (+5.6%) were still significantly (P<0.01) higher. Although kit losses were limited and no females were lost due to fighting’s, a number of problems remains to be solved.