Raising more rabbits

263. After you have been raising rabbits for some time with two full- grown females and one full- grown male, you may find that you and your family could eat or sell more rabbits if you had them.

264. The easiest way to raise more rabbits is to mate your two females more often. However, to do this your females must be very strong and healthy.

265. You can also raise more rabbits by keeping and mating more females. You can begin by keeping three or more full- grown females instead of only two.

With three females you will need only one male

266. You have already been told that you can use your own young rabbits when you need more females for mating. So, start by choosing one or two of your healthiest females.

267. Remember, when you use your own female rabbits for mating, you must change your male rabbit about once every year (see Items 233 to 236 in this booklet).

268. One male rabbit can be used to mate as many as six females. However, if you have more than six female rabbits you will need to have two males.

If you have more than six females you will need two males

Building better pens

269. In the last booklet you were told that wire mesh is the best material for building rabbit pens.

270. When you begin to keep more female rabbits for mating you will have to build more pens. Perhaps you would like to use some wire mesh when you build them.

271. The drawings on the next pages show you how to build a better pen using wire mesh for the floors and for the inside walls.

272. If you do use wire mesh to build any of your pens, be sure to use these pens for your full- grown rabbits.

How to build a better pen using wire mesh

These pens are built much like those that you learned to build in the last booklet; however, the floors, inside walls and doors are made using wire mesh. The following items will tell you how to build these pens . . .

1 build the frames as you did before (see pages 22 to 24 in the last booklet), put them in the ground, fill the holes with earth and pack them well

Nail board in centre

2 nail a 4 x 10 cm wooden board between the floor braces where the centre wall will be (see arrow)

3 nail 4 x 10 cm boards at the level of the braces all the way around the frame

4 cover this frame with 1.25 x 1.25 mm wire mesh

4 x 10 cm boards

5 cover the ends and back of the frame with wooden boards (see page 25 in the last booklet)

1.25 x 1.25 mm wire mesh

6 build a wall between the pens, cover it with wire mesh and attach it in the centre

Attach the wall in the centre of the pen

7 finish boxing in the front using 10- cm boards, making sure that the boards are straight and square

Finish boxing

8 to hold the pen doors in place, attach four pieces of wood to the inside of each pen and four small blocks with screws to the outside of each pen

Attach four pieces of wood

9 now you can build the roof and cover it as before (see the last booklet)

Build the roof and cover

10 build the pen doors as before; however, make the plant feeder using strong wire and wire mesh and cover the small door with wire mesh

Build the pen doors

Taking better care of your rabbits

273. Remember, the more you learn about your rabbits the better you can take care of them. So, always watch them very carefully and learn as much as you can.

274. With experience you will learn the best food to feed them and just how much so that they will be strong and healthy and always have healthy baby rabbits.

275. You will also learn how best to keep them from getting sick and what to do for them if they do get sick.

276. Then, if you always choose the best young female rabbits when you need a new female for mating, you will improve the quality of the rabbits that you raise.

277. So, with more and better rabbits to eat and to sell, you and your family will be able to live better.

Your family will be able to live better