In the past four years I have trained between 25 and 30 beagles each year.  I have two enclosures that are stocked with rabbits for the dogs to run.  The one enclosure is 4.5 acres.  I place the dogs in these enclosures at eight weeks of age an age in which they learn the skills needed to become a good hunting beagle dog by chasing one another, hunting rabbits, and playing in amongst the brush piles.  They usually start running rabbits on their own between 12 and 16 weeks.  My male stud (BUCK) started at 10 weeks.