Can Chooks and Rabbits House together happily?

[HeiHeisMom]

We've just adopted three bucks and a doe Californians and are planning on building a high hutch inside enclosed Chook run (30'X15').
Has anyone housed Chooks and rabbits together?
I hear they do well together as liing as Chooks can't get on top of hutch.

 

[EggWalrus]

Will they get along? Ain't no dang telling!
I own a chicken ranch, not the bunny ranch! I sure wish I could make the kind of money in chicken/eggs that they make at The Bunny Ranch outside of Las Vegas!
Seriously though, should be ok. Just make sure to put a sloped roof over the bunnies so birds cant roost and poop on your bunnies.

 

[grohfrog]

We had Californians and Marans together a few years ago. They got along just fine, but the rabbits need to have a nook away from the chickens to raise their kits in. The chickens will kill the babies if the does don’t have a secure place to nest them.

 

[EggWalrus]

We had Californians and Marans together a few years ago. They got along just fine, but the rabbits need to have a nook away from the chickens to raise their kits in. The chickens will kill the babies if the does don’t have a secure place to nest them.

Knowing chickens, they may try to eat baby bunnies.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

The problems with keeping chickens and rabbits in direct contact are...

• Chickens may dig up or eat baby rabbits
• Layer feed is dangerous for rabbits due to high calcium
• Rabbit feed is nutritionally insufficient for chickens and leads to thin shells
• They will 100% eat each other's feed if they can
• Many parasites, bacteria, etc are transmissible to rabbits from chickens, and rabbits can be sensitive to and very difficult to treat for these conditions
• Randy rabbits and roosters have been known to mate anything that moves, same species or not, and might not end well for the recipient

If those problems sound manageable, then you can do it, but bear in mind the risks and problems. Personally, I wouldn't do it.
But having cages suspended above chickens or having them separated with wire or walls works perfectly. If the rabbits can't come in physical contact with the chickens/chicken waste, then it's a very good symbiosis. The rabbit droppings will accumulate bugs and spilled feed that the chickens will clean up as a snack. They may even eat a few of the droppings themselves. The rabbits will benefit from reduced insect populations. It's nice to keep them close, but not in direct contact.

 

[Kruchti]

I had chickens and rabbits together and I had to block off under the hutch.