Page:Care and Management of Rabbits.djvu/96

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CARE AND MANAGEMENT OF RABBITS

must be kept in mind, if you are to get a good hutch. Further than that, the size of space required for rabbits should be kept in mind so as not to make them too small.

A nursing doe should have nine or ten square feet of floor space for herself and litter. You will find that a mature buck requires the same space because he is generally more active than the young does. So it is a good plan to build all hutches the same size and have them uniform in appearance while about it.

Younger stock will not require as much space, and they will not need more space until the sexes need separating. As a rule a litter can be kept in the hutch in which they were born until they are anyway four months of age. The young bucks will not reach fighting age until five months of age and some breeds even later than that. So there is no need of making smaller hutches than the standard size required for the mature animals, as it is only a waste of material and time.

Where one is pressed for time, an hour or two