FUR-FARMING IN CANADA 39 



broth are good for the purpose. When the young are expected, laxative 

 food should be given. When the mother appearg after the young are 

 born, she should be fed well several times a day with meat, eggs, fresh 

 new milk, meat broth, well-cooked oatmeal and other appetizing and 

 varied foods, while a supply of clean, wholesome water in a clean 

 trough should be constantly available. Live rabbits and poultry, 

 squirrel and other game may be used to give variety to the mother's 

 ration. 



Despite the assertions of many experienced breeders that 

 Failure in . . . 



Management feeding is the most difficult of all operations in fox- 

 ranching, very little evidence was found to confirm this 

 opinion. Few cases of failure due to bad dieting were noted. It is 

 not difficult to keep foxes alive in captivity, and, usually, the cause of 

 nearly every loss can be traced. Occasionally mature foxes die sud- 

 denly and no satisfactory cause of death can be found, even though 

 post-mortem examinations have been carefully performed by qualified 

 operators. The proportion of deaths, however, is low, only four being 

 reported in Prince Edward Island in 1912, though probably more 

 took place. 



In most cases, lack of success may be attributed to an inex- 

 perienced keeper. When men who have never fed even a horse or 

 cow, attempt to rear foxes, they may keep them alive, and may rear 

 a few young, but the probability of failure is great. The failures are 

 usually made in feeding to maintain good breeding condition, and in 

 the care and feeding at the critical period of whelping and rearing the 

 young. The keeper's own character and disposition will liave much to 

 do with success with shy and nervous foxes at this period. A good 

 manager is always studying his animals at the breeding season and he 

 carefully notes the dates of mating and whelping. He treats each pair 

 according to tlieir dispositions. In some cases lie separates the male 

 and female before whelping, and, in other cases, he leaves them to- 

 gether. He must be observant, resourceful and faithful, for he is 

 dealing witli animals which have had only several generations of 

 domestic breeding. 

 .. . The critical period of each year in breeding foxes is 



Mating and , / _ -^ _ _ . " 



Gestation between the dates January 1 and June 30. At this time, 

 as the wild nature of some of the foxes renders them 

 exceedingly sensitive to strange sights, noises, and smells, all ranches 

 are closed to everyone but the keepers. The keeper usually wears the 

 same overcoat when about the pens. All domestic animals are kept 

 at a distance from even the outer fence. Strangers are warned not to 

 approach the ranch premises on pain of being fined for trespass. In 



