HUTCHES AND NESTS. 35 



all the better. I have kept fifty in a pen 10x12 

 feet, but the pen has to be kept perfectly clean at 

 all times. They can not climb up any further 

 than they can jump up and catch hold. 



Inside this main pen should be a small box 

 with a three-inch hole in the end, to serve as a 

 nest where they may sleep and enable them to 

 come outside in the air to sun. The main pen 

 should have the bottom well covered with clean 

 earth or chaff to absorb the moisture, and espe- 

 cially in the corners where they leave their 

 droppings; and this earth or chaff should be 

 covered with clean straw. The nest should be 

 supplied with soft straw or dried grass. They 

 will carry in clean nesting and keep their nest 

 clean themselves if given a chance, but a general 

 cleaning of pen and nest should be made at least 

 once a week. Every day or two their feed dish 

 should be scalded out and thoroughly washed. 



Another of the small but successful raisers 

 thinks his good results due to the following: 

 Cleaning pen or box every third day, also daily 

 washing dishes that the ferrets eat from. 

 Cleanliness is a preventive of disease and as 

 ferrets' diseases, such as foot rot, are very con- 

 tagious, and must be guarded against. There are 

 skin diseases, lice, etc., which, while not so fatal, 

 must be avoided if possible and cleanliness of 



