Page:Care and Management of Rabbits.djvu/195

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been validated.
CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF RABBITS
179

many of each litter your doe will raise. Fancy stock should never exceed three does to the litter, and every breeder will tell you this.

Where you wish to save all of the stock from an especially valuable doe it is not necessary to kill off all of the litter. You can use nurse does. By this you breed another doe or two at the same time you do the good doe and then kill the offspring of the ordinary does and give them some of the litter of the good doe to raise. In this way a large litter from valuable stock can all be saved as a rule.

It is useless to argue that you merely want the youngsters for meat stock anyway and have concluded to keep all the youngsters. If you will give one doe six rabbits to raise and then give another one three to raise, the doe with the three rabbits will produce youngsters that will outweigh six nursed by another at the same age. Try it and convince yourself. The more youngsters you permit a doe to raise, the less the size and the slower the development. If you have ever raised pigs