94 PRACTICAL RABBIT KEEPING 



not be left in the hutch after the rabbits have 

 had their fill. It is always better to keep the 

 animals a little on the hungry side, rather than 

 to overfeed them. Probably over-feeding has 

 caused more losses than any other one thing. 

 A breeding doe just before kindling and while 

 nursing her young should have three meals a 

 day without fail. 



Rabbits, like most other animals, seem to 

 require a small amount of salt. Some breeders 

 keep a little rock salt in the hutches at all 

 times. Others think that the animals get an 

 excess when this is done, and prefer to mix a 

 little salt at intervals, say twice a week, with 

 a mash or perhaps in their oats. What are 

 called salt spools are now on the market. They 

 are simply round cakes of specially prepared 

 salt with a hole in the middle by which they 

 can be spiked to the side of the hutch or sus- 

 pended by a cord. 



When the rabbits are feeding freely on 

 green stuff, they do not require much water, 

 but at other times should be watered at least 

 twice a day, being given all they can drink. 

 This is the best plan in the winter time, but in 

 summer it is more humane and easier to keep 



