POSSIBILITIES IN RABBITS 27 
if permitted to do so. One can even breed 
them faster than that, but the oftener the 
rabbits are bred in the space of twelve months, 
the poorer the offspring. This should appeal 
to all thinking people as being reasonable. It 
is a severe drain on any animal to reproduce 
its kind and the oftener the strain the harder 
it will be on both parent and offspring. 
The average litters run from five to thirteen 
little rabbits. The rabbit is a nursing animal 
and because of the inability of the mother doe 
to properly nurse a whole litter it is necessary 
to either kill off the poorest of the litter or 
else use nurse does. It is seldom advisable to 
allow a mother doe to nurse more than six 
youngsters and five is even better. For fine 
breeding stock cut each doe down to three 
youngsters. 
This limitation means that the possibilities 
of the herd will be considerably less than the 
claims made by some advertisers who are 
anxious to deceive the public. It is true that 
litters run up to thirteen and fifteen at a 
