Page:Care and Management of Rabbits.djvu/157

Rh If you do this you will find that the green food will agree better with the youngsters, later, than if you start in after the doe has commenced to nurse them.

Do not feed a ration of too much concentrates such as grain. Be sure that she has plenty of roughage in the form of hay and plenty of bulk in the form of wheat bran and alfalfa meal. She needs this bulky matter to balance the concentrates and to give frame and bone to the developing youngsters.

Three or four days before the youngsters arrive, commence to feed her stale bread and milk at noon. This is to be sure that she will have plenty of milk when the time of nursing starts. If the doe has a large litter of five or six she will need this help throughout the nursing period as the average doe, even though she be a good milker, does not have enough to adequately supply a large litter.

The balance of the feeding should be as recommended for adult stock with the exception that a doe with litter must have a