|
It will perhaps be
superfluous to detail the most accredited methods of keeping rabbits in
hutches, for the perusal of those persons, to whom the plan of a
domestic warren may prove intelligible, because the hutch system is well
understood, and is generally practised; we shall therefore merely offer
a few hints and directions, impress two or three facts—the result of
experience—and then proceed to the subject which forms the title to this
paper. Air, dryness, good feed, cleanliness, with very little succulent
food, are essential to rabbits, which are debarred, by this unnatural
system, from the healthful enjoyments of exercise in their own native
wildness. For our own parts, we confess that we should almost as readily
attempt to immure a tricky squirrel in a tread-mill cage, or confine the
soaring lark within the wires of a prison, as we should retain in those
close boxes the happy denizens of a warren: but as the animals are
subservient to man,—as these creatures among others, are made to be
taken and confined, it remains for us merely to advocate their helpless
state, and to inculcate mercy.
It must be gratifying to all persons who are proprietors of live-stock,
to conduce to their comfort and well-doing, for the mere delight of
indulging in benevolent feelings; but, when it is made manifest, that,
by obeying the dictates of nature as much as possible, and making their
artificial mode of living approximate as nearly to that which was
intended for them, as the relative states of freedom and subordination
will allow, we shall be gainers in a double sense,—we should evince
unwonted stolidity, not to bend our attention to effect so desirable a
result. It is very little known, that an artificial or domestic
rabbit-warren can be constructed with ease, and at a trifling expense,
which will not only allow a free range to the animals where they breed,
and to enjoy themselves unmolested by man, but that they may be caught,
examined, fed, and attended to, without the delay of five minutes. We
have had ample experience of the feasibility and highly advantageous
nature of this method of keeping rabbits, and therefore speak positively
respecting its vast superiority over that stiving unhealthy system of
hutching, at present considered the only alternative with that of total
wildness in the warren.
During a residence of nearly three years in that south-eastern portion
of our island, the Isle of Thanet in Kent, we had practical proof of all
we have asserted, and, therefore, feel no hesitation in prognosticating
similar successful results to others who may be inclined to put the
scheme in practice. We should premise, that those districts in which the
subsoil is of chalk or other material, equally difficult of perforation,
will be found most available for a domestic warren; a sandy soil, or one
of rich soft loam, would afford too ready facilities for burrowing, and
the animals would shortly find an exit and escape; therefore we would
advise that only in chalky, stony, dry, impervious subsoils, the trial
should be made.
In any part of the premises deemed most convenient, a court or a
stable-yard for instance, the soil must be removed full six feet deep,
and three wide; a foot from this opening another must be made of the
same depth, but four feet wide; the latter hole is to be bricked all
around as well as the floor; and at the bottom of that part which
divides it from the other space, an opening must be made, large enough
to admit a full sized rabbit to pass through, thus forming a
communication between the two compartments. Down the party-wall an iron
plate or door is to be slided at pleasure, in two grooves, by a rope
from above. Light covers of wood, or of oil-cloth, or tarred sail-cloth,
are to be fitted with hinges, on a frame-work of stout wood, and made to
open towards the south, in order to admit all the warmth possible from
the sun. Every morning these covers should be propped up with sticks, in
which deep notches must be cut, so that the opening may be wide, or
narrow, according to the state of the weather, as it is not advisable to
allow more moisture to find access to the rabbits than can be avoided*
Indeed, we omitted to say, that, while the excavations are being made, a
drain ought to be constructed in each* over which a small iron-grating
should be fixed, and the floors ought to slope towards these exits; thus
dryness, so essential to the health and comfort of the animals, will be
insured.
The larger of these two excavations, which we have been describing (the
bricked compartment), is the trap,—the smaller we will call the warren.
In the trap, and only in the trap, the rabbits must be fed. It is
self-evident, that the more nearly a state of nature we approximate the
condition of our livestock, the greater range we may afford them in
their diet. Green food must be very sparingly administered to all that
are confined in hutches, but those which are allowed a roomy space, with
the salutary exercise of burrowing, may with safety be indulged with
green food at their own discretion,— attention being paid to select
those esculents which they are known to prefer when in a wild state. We
incline to think that animals in a state of nature are liable to no
disorders, but that we, in consequence of our ignorance of those wise
laws by which they are taught instinctively to vary their diet, and thus
preserve their health, inflict diseases upon the unoffending creatures,
which we then exercise our folly, not our rationality, to remedy: on
the torture to which ignorant and conceited man subjects his speechless
dependents! Rabbits in hutches thrive in spite of cabbage-leaves, not by
means of that rank succulent unnatural food. Fifty generations of these
animals have lived and passed away, in their wild extensive warrens,
without the possibility having occurred of their encountering a
cabbage-leaf. The mild beautiful herbage, that evident staple of their
lives, as bread is of our own, varied with the thousand flavours, and
healthful adjuncts which they meet with in the surrounding weeds,—as we
judiciously assist digestion with different condiments,—this natural
food, grass, is never given to rabbits in hutches, although they can
obtain little else in the vicinity of their native warrens.
We would then strenuously advise that not any of the rank succulent
vegetables of the garden be offered to creatures so artificially placed,
that the option of choice is no longer in their power. Twice, or even
three times a-day, there should be a supply of bran and oats in troughs,
let down into the trap, by means of a stick fastened to each trough,
about four feet in length. A few handfuls of fresh grass, with its
attendant weeds, ought also to be given daily, and the refuse should be
taken away every two or three days; this can be managed with ease and
expedition by means of a small ladder. It will be obvious that the trap
is made deep and wide, in order to admit of easy access for the facility
of cleaning the place and selecting the rabbits, which is effected in
the following manner. As soon as the food is let down, the creatures,
from habit, will run through the trap-door into the trap, and when it is
judged that they are all collected, the person (keeping out of sight,
for they are naturally shy and would run back into their warren if they
were to see any one, or hear a noise) must let down the trap by means of
the long rope, and he can then select at his pleasure.
We think it likely that some of our readers may be inclined to question
the utility of the opening to the warren, and may suppose that the trap
would be sufficient; we assure them it is essential, for not only must a
space be cleared for them to begin their operation of burrowing at that
depth below the surface, but occasionally it may be requisite to clear
away any loose soil which they may have excavated, as well as to secure
the manure, which is valuable; besides, the two openings afford a free
circulation of air, and more light than could be admitted by the trap
only.
In many districts of this country not a warren or a wild rabbit is to be
seen for twenty, nay, fifty square miles, yet, at all the poulterers in
large towns within those districts, wild rabbits so called are always to
be obtained. There exists an imaginary preference in favour of wild
rabbits, and therefore the public is never let into this secret, that
they never purchase a wild one, excepting within an available distance
from a warren. All others are bred in hutches, and all warranted wild!
This we know to be fact. Independently of the superior health enjoyed by
creatures nearly in a state of nature, other contingencies are prevented
by the domestic warren system. Rabbits are exceedingly shy, and those
unnatural propensities, the destruction of their young by the fathers,
and devouring them by the mothers, which many writers have endeavoured
to account for, quite unsatisfactorily, are avoided; they are, too,
probably caused by the officiousness and ignorance of man; in the first
place, by interfering with the mother, in the next by having debarred
her from that species of diet which her own instinct would have led her
to select, to suit her maternal duties.
As our present notice refers only to the subject of a domestic warren,
we abstain from offering any remarks or advice on the numbers to be
kept, the sorts and advantages of this prolific and valuable live-stock,
because there are few small farmers who are not aware of all we could
say, by experience, in the troublesome, and every way ineligible system,
of hutches, when compared with that of the domestic warren. We repeat,
that we have had ample experience of its perfect success, and had it no
other merit than being a merciful and rational plan, it ought to
supersede all others.
From The Quarterly Journal
of Agriculture Vol. IX. June 1838 - March 1839
The
Domestic Rabbit
DOMESTIC RABBITS grown under conditions that favour rapid body
development are an excellent source of tender, delicately flavoured,
white and nutritious meat. Domestic hutch-reared rabbit meat is in the
same class as chicken and is far superior to, and quite different from,
the meat of wild rabbits (pdf)
From the Ontario Agricultural College |
