BREEDING AND CARE OF RABBITS 



selling a pair at two months of age. When one of 

 them matured at eight months of age it was one of 

 the finest Belgians in the country, and could have 

 been sold for $25.00. It does not pay to ship young 

 stock, for, besides taking the chance of letting your 

 best specimens slip away from you, you may also 

 run the risk of having them stunted if they are shipped 

 a long distance. Better keep them at home in the 

 rabbitry, where you can keep your eye on them and 

 watch them develop, and in the case of the Flemish 

 and other large breeds, it will require a lot of time 

 feeding and crowding them for weights at the ages of 

 three to six months. 



When you ship stock, don't get the idea that you 

 must build a house for it. This is a mistake made by 

 many fanciers. 



For the small breeds, orange crates are the very 

 best that can be had, and it will make them doubly 

 safe to nail on a new bottom of thin lumber with the 

 strips close together to protect their feet from possible 

 injury. These crates are just right for two. Some 

 prefer to slant the tops down part way to the sides, 

 but this is not necessary. For single specimens, saw 

 the box in two and it will be plenty large enough for 

 two separate shipping boxes. 



For Flemish Giants and larger breeds, shredded 

 wheat boxes are the right size. Notify the purchaser 

 that you will ship his stock by such a route on a 

 certain date, then if it is a little later, he is sure to be 

 on the lookout and receive it promptly. Write the 

 name and address very plainly on the shipping tag or 

 a safer way is to mark the crate itself with an indelible 



48 



