Raising Rabbits is a Hare-raising Business

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PENS

Pens must be provided before you get your initial stock. Each rabbit should have a space two feet wide, three feet long, and two feet high plenty of room in which to exercise and rear young. Larger units can be built to house numbers of feeders that are due for the market. Whatever the size of the cage, it must be raised high enough off the ground to let you rake or shovel out the manure easily.

Even if you must buy lumber to build pens, the cost will still be less than half that of commercial hutches. Regular 2 X 4's are good uprights, and the bottom wire-preferably half inch mesh hardware cloth that allows most of the manure to fall through-can be mounted on 2 X 2's. The flooring will get heavy use and should be rolled completely around the 2 X 2's and nailed firmly. (See Fig. 1.)

Since rabbits-especially the younger ones-can climb, a top cover for the pen is a must. This and the exterior walls of a hutch can be made of one-inch mesh chicken wire or narrow spaced boards. Leave a good-sized opening for the wooden door large enough to admit the nesting box and to let you reach every part of the interior. Old pieces of plastic hose, split lengthwise, make ideal hinges.

If you construct one solid cage the full length of you building and intend to divide it, use wood-not wire-for the internal walls. Wire dividers tend to rust from urine deposits, and the rabbits (whose nature is to want to get together) will work on the netting until it's broken through. A partition of 1 X 4's with narrow spaces between boards is much more satisfactory. Although the little beasties will chew the wood, it doesn't make them sick and, so, the habit is generally not much of a problem.

If you build double-decker pens, the lower level should have a metal roof with at least a six-inch slope and the upper tier should be raised six inches above this covering. The intervening space allows you to push down the debris from the top pens without fouling those underneath.

Incidentally, never hose down your herd's quarters with water. The dampness causes foul odors, makes a mess, and isn't good for the rabbits.

Outside cages must have a water-repellent roof, and in cold weather the lower part of the exterior should be covered with tar paper to'break the wind. Since litters can't be born outdoors when the temperature is below freezing, adjust your breeding schedules accordingly. Open-air pens are, however, good for bucks, half-grown rabbits, and those. being held for market.

FEEDERS AND WATERERS

Commercial automatic feeders allow the bunnies to eat and spill too much. The waterers-other than the teat style-rust out the wires and are so flimsy that the liquid is slopped about The following container serves either purpose and saves expense and trouble.

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