Yerington times. [volume] (Yerington, Nev.) 1907-1932, 1914-01-03
RAISING BELGIAN HARES FOR
THE MARKET.
A Breeder Tells How He Started ;r
the Business and the Results

| ooiie aus. LOT belgian hareS, | de-
clded 10 MAKE start with them nv
sell, SO | sent the price to a dealer in
: pennsylvania for pair of breeders.
winch | received on August 6, 1859,
III iine condition. | had the hutches
ready Tor them, which | built on the
following plan; | made one large
hutch. tour feet deep, seven feet long
and two feet six inches high. | d.
vided this by partition into two
parts, one part | left four feet wide
1 tor the doe and her future litter of
| young ones, the other part left three
feet wide for the bucks headquarters
after separation. In the partition put
small sliding door which made the
separation easy, as | only had to chase
either one into his or her part of the
hutch and close the door. In each OF
| the separate hutches | had nailed a
| hayrack few inches from the floor
| TO keep the food clean. | made the
! hayrack from baling wire and a couple
OF strips OF wood. | also nailed mar
row long box on one side of each
hutch and kept this, too, a little off
the floor. The box was divided into
two parts, one for dry food and the
other tor drinking pan. | found this
contrivance very satisfactory, as the
hares not only could waste no food
nor spill the water, but it enabled me
also to clean the floor without any in
convenience. For the doors | made
frames OF one by three inch strips and
put wire screening on them, which
gives me a chance TO watch them
without opening the door. On the
root | cut hole with cover on it
TO serve as ventilator. Next to the
door | cut hole inside of which |
/ put screening and outside a glass
/ slide to have more light or air, or
both. Some people probably think it
/ quite lot OF work for only pair of
/ Belgians, but ! don't think so, as it is
my greatest pleasure to see them com
| Portable. OF course have been build
ing more hutches by this time and all
| are made the same way.
| October 8, the first litter OF young
/ ones made their appearance. consist
/ ing OF SIX rufus reds and two whites.
| They came out OF the nest too soon.
and as the weather was rather cold
! they died on me. The same day
found them dead | mated the old ones
| again, which was October IS. No
/ NNiilbNl ~ lldh dUOtllCI HllET Ol
youngsters. which consisted of five ru-
fus reds and four white ones. They
| got along fine except one white one
which killed After they were four
weeks old mated the old ones again,
which was on December II. didn't
get any young ones then until Febru
AIRY. but they were born dead, and
! shortly after the doe died. ! was not
| able AT that time TO buy another doe.
| took the buck and graced the table
with him. | sold the rufus reds, and
/ on account OF my boy, who was very
/ fond OF the white ones, ] raised the
/ same. and have now good number
OF white ones the small ones OF which
look just like big snowballs. AS ! am
raising only for the meat, the color
! does not matter so much with me at
present, but later on | will buy a new
strain OF rufus reds again.
With the feeding don't have much
| trouble or expense, as during the
summer | get out every morning and
gather clover, grass and all kinds OF
weeds, and thereby found out mighty
quick what they liked and disliked;
but there is very little they do not
east. In between ! feed corn. oats,
barley. wheat, etc When cabbage
time comes | dry the large cabbage
leaves and store them away for win
ter use. They relish them, and be
sides. all the grass and clover | cut
which they don't eat is being made
into hay for the winter. When any
one of my does is having young ones
| give her, besides the water, some
fresh milk to drink. Do they like IL
| should say they do. and the young
ones. too. | do this to help in wean-
ing them. | feed two meals day,
besides give them small bite at
noon, and they thrive fine this way,
Now | will speak few words about
which is the most Observation-Disclosures
hares or chickens. First, in care, a
chicken or a flock of chickens require
a good deal more care than Belgian
hares. When the little chicks leave
the egg you must have special chick
food. and il the weather is cool, you
must have probably brooder if you
don't have the hen. which is not nee
essary with the Belcians, they really
raise themselves. Then they are so
many chicken diseases you often have
to battle with. where you will have
very little trouble with the Belgians.
Second comes cleanliness. The Bel
gian is naturally clean in eating. as
you will find that no Belgina hare will
pick up any old thing they find, as
the chicken does. The chicken eats
anv refuse, so in my opinion, the Bel
gian hare gives us a more helathy
meat The last, but not least, if !
count the profit | make out of my
chickens eggs and all' q have some
chickens myself, and compare it with
the profit out of my Belgians, and de-
duct the expense and extra care that
the chickens require, J certainly pre-
fer the Belgian hare. Hoping soon to
find some interesting articles about
the Belgian in the Poultry Advocate,
| remain yours,
Theodore Below.
Orange County, N. Y.