Can chickens live with rabbits?

[bstarr20]

We recently built a smaller coop for the brooders and the babies. Maybe 8X8. We have 2 buck rabbits living in a cage that is falling apart and was wondering if we could put them in the cage with the young chickens and the mom.

 

[denasfarm]

We have two adult rabbits, one NZ and one Californian, running free with my 25 Silkies in a HUGE 100ft long X 25ft wide...guessing here since the pen is actually over an acre long but divided into section AND attached to the barn so they can go in stalls and under from each pen.
They have trees and shrubs and etc...
In the same pen I also have a hutch with 4 mamas, babies and my current Cali buck (all either NZ or Cali, so big rabbits).

The Chickens dig in the rabbit poo looking for bugs and the rabbits do like to eat the chicken scratch even with ample rabbit pellets available.
The free rabbits drink the chicken water (its changed daily) but chickens dont like rabbit pellets.

Everyone gets along just fine. They eat side by side and I have seen the silkies and rabbits sun and dust bathing together. For the most part they ignore each other.

NOW that said I tried putting a few young rabbits in the Ameraucana pen (around 50 birds) and the Ameraucanas would have nothing of such nonsense. They chased the rabbits round and round and poked and pecked until I took them out. Their pen is a lot bigger than the Silkie pen with fallen logs, trees and shrubs. Plenty of room to coexist.

So yes it works and no it doesnt just depends on the situation and who is involved.

I will see if my daughter can get you a few pictures of them. She is my photographer. Send me a PM if you are still interested and we can talk details and what you want in a picture.

 

[AllAlaskan]

I am glad I found this thread, I was about to post something about the same thing.


I am About to build a new coop and was thinking about building a rabbit hutch in there also. My biggest concern is the chickens and rabbits catching something from each other.

 

[Corona~Barb]

As someone with a herd of rabbits (not just a few pets), I wouldn't co-mingle the two as I really don't want any chance of disease or injury to my rabbits. (I have a rare heritage breed) I think the sanitary issue that was brought up is probably the biggest, along with whether the two animal types get along. Rabbits can get abcesses from scratches.

Barb in So Cal
Silver Laced Wyandottes, Ameracauna Easter Eggers, Orpingtons, Light Brahma
Turkeys in a variety of colors, Silver Fox Rabbits

 

[AllAlaskan]

Ya that was my concern. Im not sure if im going to get rabbits or not, it was something I was thinking about doing. My biggest problum is I was trying to keep them outside in an outside hutch if I do get some (Wife use to raise rabbits and doesnt want the smell inside the house) but I might just not get any.

 

[horsegooroo15]

i let my holland lops run loose in our chicken yard. The only problem i can think of is them eating the chicken feed that has been scattered but i have not noticed them interested in it! have not seen and aggression from either animal and have been doing it everyday (weather permitting) for the last month or so.

 

[genuck]

The only problem I had mixing the two was letting my chickens out to free range. A few loose bunnies in the yard. But the ones kept in a hutch in the coop were just fine. I just had to get closed top rabbit feeders cause my chickies will eat anything!

 

[chickensallife]

I think that as long as you're moving the coop (mobile), then 48 square feet is fine for the number of chickens you have. That's 6 square feet per bird and really don't think that's a problem since your moving the coop. As for with rabbits, your question is what brought me here. I've never had a problem before and I've kept them together for two winters, but I have my rabbits in wire cages hanging from the ceiling and my chickens loose on the ground. The biggest problem I have is with chicken manure getting into the rabbits' cages, so I just covered the cages with empty feedsacks.

 

[danvlarsen]

I realize the origin of this thread is pretty old at this point, so my response is more for others' reference.

We've had 20 rabbits, 4 chickens and 2 ducks all together in a paddock (about 12x20 ft; decent size) for a while now. Behaviourally, everyone got along well. We kept the different families of rabbits separate to avoid the mothers attacking other's babies, but other than that they were all in together. The rabbits seemed to enjoy a good game of "chicken bowling". The male, in particular, would run laps around the paddock, build up some speed, then run right through the chickens. It was sort of entertaining watching all the chickens suddenly scatter into the air. The chickens go out during the day to free range in the garden. All the other creatures stay inside the paddock, unless we manually take them out and put them in a separate run.

All was well, until this morning, when our male rabbit suddenly died from some apparent bacterial infection. We didn't pay for the tests to determine exact cause, but after reading some of the comments here, I'm wondering if having the rabbits and the chickens in together TOO much isn't a recipe for disease. In particular, the rabbits were eating from the chicken feeder, and the chickens would occasionally get into the rabbit hutches when they were out in the paddock or in another run somewhere.

In retrospect, I'm realizing that this is an irresponsible setup, and we'll be making sure the chicken feed is accessible only to the chickens, and that the chickens cannot get into the rabbit hutches. Logically, this just seems like too much exposure to each others' poop and to bacteria transmitted from beaks and mouths.

A hard lesson learned.

With the chickens free-ranging and flying over the gate, it's difficult for us to keep them separated from the rabbits without having a separate and fully enclosed rabbit paddock. But that seems like the ideal setup.

 

[smokeysmokey100]

What about fleas? Can the rabbits give the chickens fleas, or vice versa?
Thanks!!