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How to Make
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One morning while Drury was on his job at a lumber yard, someone yelled, "Hey, Drury, look at the cute white rabbit." Ray looked up in time to see a white fluff disappear behind some shrubbery. For awhile he tried to catch it, but to no avail. He gave up and went home for the night. Next morning, to Ray's amazement, the rabbit was still there darting in and out among the bushes.

"Think I'll make an old fashioned box trap," Drury told his fellow workers. "This apple core will be the bait." Before long he had the trap all set and the men stepped back to wait. The rabbit was hungry and it didn't take long for this scheme to work. The trap fell and Drury had not only his rabbit but the beginning of a hobby that was to yield the quickest, easiest profit of all the hobbies he knew.

WHEN DRURY got home that night, he built a little hutch out of some old wood boxes. "It's the sort of hobby I've been looking for," he told Mary, his wife. "Tomorrow I'll take the rabbit to a man I know who raises them. We'll put her with a buck and wait."

Drury did this and in thirty days the doe had eight baby rabbits. In nine weeks these were ready to butcher. Drury sold the meat for 65 cents a pound. With this money he bought feed, a buck and waited. For two years, Drury raised back yard rabbits in this manner and butchered them for market. One day, however, he visited a rabbit show. That night he told Mary:

"I've decided to buy a pair of registered and pedigreed rabbits. Big profits in this activity come from show and breeding stock."

When Drury bought a pair of Flemish Giants for $10 apiece, it was money well spent. It wasn't long until he needed a larger, safer place to keep all the new baby rabbits.

He began to inspect the types and styles of hutches and sheds used by the commercial operators in his city. He found that sunlight and fresh air were highly desirable in rabbit raising. So he decided to build an open-air shed with a gabled roof.

He decided to make the shed 16 feet wide and 50 feet long. Then he bought these second-hand materials: Ten 3-inch steel posts, corrugated iron for the roof, eight pieces of 2-by-6-inch lumber that was also 24 feet long. He purchased some 2-by-4-inch cuts of lumber, some ³/8-inch bolts and some concrete.

WITH THE help of Mrs. Drury, Ray built the shed in about five weeks, working only on week-ends and evenings after he got home from work.

He started by setting the posts in concrete, 12 feet apart down the sides and 14 feet apart at the ends. This made five posts on each side. Then Drury took the 2-by-6 pieces and nailed them together to form an L-shape. He placed one flat on top of the posts and the other edge-wise and bolted them at each post. He cut his rafters on seven and twelve pitch, with a 2-by-4 between the rafters to nail the tin to. To keep the building from spreading, Ray took one 2-by-4 that was 14 feet long and placed it edge-wise beside each set of rafters, letting them rest on the 2-by-6 plates. He then nailed them in place. When this was completed, Drury painted the shed with aluminum paint. He was delighted over the results. His shed looked brand new and no one could tell he had used second-hand materials. The cost to him was about $200.

Next, Drury decided on a two-tier arrangement for his hutches. He felt that this type would utilize space to a good advantage and save his time in feeding and caring for the animals. He bought all new lumber and built his hutches according to the plans illustrated. Each hutch cost him about $25. He made them all uniform in size and built them as near alike as he possibly could. He started out with two hutches, but today he has nine hutches in all.

Drury built the shed at the end of his back yard and placed the hutches under the center of the gable roof to protect the rabbits from rain. To permit proper sanitation, each hutch had a portion of the rear slanted to discharge the droppings.

Next, Drury built a nest box from an old apple box. He cut a round opening just high enough from the bottom to allow the doe to get out without dragging the babies with her. He then placed nesting material of oat straw to a depth of about three inches from the bottom. The box was placed beside the doe about a week before kindling.

IT DIDN'T take Drury long to discover that feeding a commercial rabbit pellet to his rabbits would bring the most profit. These pellets kept the doe giving plenty of milk for her young and this is very important, since milk is a baby rabbit's only source of food. He also used alfalfa hay as a supplement food in order to have a good balanced diet.

Drury built a small shed out of used materials to house the feed near his rabbits. In this shed he keeps the pellets, which cost him about $5.40 a hundred pounds. This will feed a doe and litter until they are ready to butcher. Other foods for the rabbits are kept in the shed also.

To rabbit grower beginners, Drury suggests these feeding directions: A bred doe weighing about 15 to 20 pounds should receive ³/8 pound of rabbit pellets and 4 ounces of chopped alfalfa hay daily. For the nursing and growing litter, however, feed ¾ ounce of pellets to each pound of live weight. Feed ¼ ounce of hay to each pound.

The feed should be placed beside the rabbits in clean containers. Drury uses water and feed containers that are made of crockery. The feeders are 5½ inches across and 2 inches deep with a one-inch lip all around inside to prevent the rabbits from raking the food out. Drury picks the smoothest containers he can find, for they are easier to clean.

An ample supply of clean water should always be provided. The water crocks are 5½ inches across and 4 inches high, without the lip inside. They are molded with a high point in the bottom so in extreme cold weather they can freeze solid and the ice will bulge up in the middle and not break the crocks. These containers can be bought at any feed store for about 35 cents each.

Some foods that can be used as a succulent diet are carrots and other root crops. But these should be used only in small amounts.

A doe and her litter should at all times have free access to salt and fresh water. Drury bought some salt spools and hung these in each hutch. A rabbit requires lots of salt, especially during the warm season.

EACH COMPARTMENT of Drury's hutches is long enough for one doe with her litter, and a good doe will average raising seven rabbits in a litter.

Each litter should stay with their mother until they are ready to butcher. If they are of the quality needed for breeding stock, leave them eight weeks. Then the doe should be put in another hutch, leaving the remaining young by themselves.

The doe can be bred when the young are six weeks old. In this way one can get four litters a year per doe. A good doe will stand up under this schedule. One buck is all that is needed for each ten does, and both bucks and does are good for breeding for about three years.

Since one buck is all that is needed for each ten does, that makes him a very important part of your investment. So Drury suggests to anyone wishing to raise rabbits, to choose the buck very carefully.

Drury has seven white does and one white buck. He has seven sandy does and one sandy buck. He breeds two does at a time, a white and a sandy one. If one kindles a large litter and the other a small litter, he can divide them up and raise full litters for both. The two different colors keep him from getting the babies mixed. When a baby rabbit shows signs of being perfect enough for show or breeding purposes, Drury tattoes a number in its left ear. The right ear is left for registration.

In summer the rabbits should be watched closely for signs of over heat. If they get too hot, Drury takes feed sacks and soaks them in water, then places them in the hutches for the rabbits to lie on. The baby rabbits should be kept in well ventilated boxes. Nature provides for them in winter; still when the temperature drops to near zero, Drury leaves a light going to provide heat.

AT THE end of the second year of his rabbit raising, Drury looked over his profits and expenses. Pellets for one year had cost $140.40 and other feed about $5. He had almost paid for his shed and hutches the first year, so his only expense was for some added hutches.

On the profit end, he had butchered and sold to the amount of $336. He felt that he was now on his way toward a paying hobby.

Getting rabbit meat ready for market should be done in this manner. After the neck of the animal is dislocated, the head is removed immediately to permit thorough bleeding so the meat will have a good color.

Drury has a two-pronged hook that fastens to the wall and hangs out eight inches. The hook is made of ¼-inch stainless steel rods six inches long and welded, one on each end of a one inch pipe. The pipe is eight inches long and is welded to the bracket. The rods are sharp on the hook end, so as to stick through the rabbit's hind feet. This holds the rabbit in place while dressing.

After the skin has been removed, a slit is made along the median line of the belly so the entrails can be removed. The liver is left in place. The right foot is removed by severing at the hock. Care should be taken at all times to prevent getting hairs on the carcass. The rabbit should be cleaned with cold water, but should not be left in water more than fifteen minutes. This is because the meat absorbs water and the result is an adulteration of the product. Drury's rabbit fryers are cut in eleven pieces and packed in a neat, sanitary package with a cellophane window. This is Mrs. Drury's job. She arranges the cuts so the loin, thighs and liver are exposed to view.

SELLING RABBIT products is the easiest part of his hobby, Drury contends. When he first started marketing the meat, he placed from three to four frying rabbits in several grocery stores. He agreed to keep the owner supplied with his products, if they sold. If not, he promised to pick them up.

Next, he made a few appetizing rabbit dish posters and placed them in cafes. Then he kept the owner supplied with rabbit meat. Once or twice, he got in touch with church groups that were having suppers. He offered to supply them with frying rabbits free for the advertising. This brought in several calls for meat at later dates.

In this manner, Drury, got a long list of people (names and phone numbers) who liked rabbit meat. Soon all he had to do, when his rabbits were ready to butcher, was call the list. Long before he reached the end, all meat orders were filled. Today, he has far more orders than he can fill.

In looking over his profit sheets, Drury tells of other sources of income from raising rabbits. He sells the skins of his animals for 12 and 15 cents each. Over a period of a year, this mounts up. These were sold to the Reliable Fur Industries. Drury found their advertisement for skins in a rabbit breeder's magazine. Anyone wishing to sell his rabbit skins, can find a long list of fur industries in such periodicals. These skins can be shipped ten to twelve days after stretching by wrapping them in plain wrapping paper for mailing.

Even the droppings can be sold for fertilizer. This brings 25 cents a bushel basket. Drury sells all he has to neighbors. But anyone having a large amount can place an advertisement in a local paper. This will bring in more orders than one can supply.

Drury sells rabbits for breeding stock and never gets under $10 a pair. At first, he placed an advertisement in a local newspaper. Then he joined several rabbit clubs and discovered that most breeders sell during the rabbit shows. Most clubs have a show once or twice a year. All rabbit breeders are notified and they usually enter their best breeders.

Once Drury entered a buck and doe in a show at Stillwater, Oklahoma. The buck won first place and title of "best white" and the doe won first place and the title of "best opposite sex." Drury sold them on the spot for $12 each.

Another time, Drury entered a pair of his best rabbits in a show at Sulphur, Oklahoma. He won several prizes and sold them right there for $75. Twice since then he has sold pairs for $30 each. Breeding rabbits are very easy to sell.

DRURY OWES his success to the fact that his animals have been free from diseases. He says that maintaining clean hutches is the best way to prevent disease among the animals. He also uses three drops of camphorated oil about once every month in each ear of his rabbits. This is to prevent ear mange caused by a small mite.

"Raising rabbits for quick profit is the best hobby yet for men," Drury tells everyone. He suggests that all who desire to take up such a hobby, should first join a rabbit organization. They are the best means of making contact in selling rabbit products. Drury himself belongs to the National Federation of Flemish Giant Breeders, 117 So. Clinton Street, Fort Wayne 2, Indiana, and the American Rabbit & Cavy Breeders Association, 4323 Murray Ave., Pittsburgh 17, Pennsylvania.