Do any of you have chickens and rabbits together?

[RollinWithTheStones]

I've only seen it done once (hencam.com) but wondered if any of you guys kept rabbits and chickens together.

I figured it would be easier to have one big run instead of two different ones and I have a great plan on adding a rabbit hutch in with my coops.

 

[Tenmore]

Try it why not. If there is a problem than you can do something differnt. Mine run with my goats and do just fine everybody is happy. Picture this i walked out there and the goat had a chicken perched on her horns and another one trying to get up there.....wish i had a pic

 

[Niss]

I have thought about it...having rabbits in the same run...I just don't know how much work it will be.

 

[Josie360]

I do keep my extra roosters in with the rabbits, who are in a pasture pen. This works alright-they get along fine. My only problem is that the rabbits eat the chicken food They seem to prefer it over their food. I haven't figured out how to prevent this... With the heat here in Texas this summer, I'm convinced my rabbit would be dead if they couldn't tunnel to escape the heat. The roosters actually share the tunnels with the rabbits. That was the funniest thing the first time I went looking for my roos and saw them poke their heads out of a tunnel.

 

[Niss]

Josie--Do you have a floor? How deep does the fence go? I would like to try this, but wonder about the work and expence of making the run rabbit proof (it isn't preditor proof, as the chickens are shut in the coop at night).

How do you calculate the space required per rabbit? If I have rabbits in the run do I need more than the 10 sqft per chicken? I currently have 43 chickens in about 1,800sqft (I'm limited by coop space, as you can see the run isn't an issue).

 

[Josie360]

Hmm. I have 4 rabbits and the pen is 10 x 16 cattle panel lined with chicken wire with and covered with a 2x4 supported metal roof. I have 4 Silkie roosters that share the pen. The fencing is not buried. It seems when they have enough space, the rabbits don't really try to dig out. I have a dog house in the center of the pen and they tunnel under that. I periodically fill in any stray holes with pea gravel to encourage them not to dig there. This is not fool-proof, but works for me. I have read that once the dig out, they will always dig out and you will have to make other caging arrangements for them. Their pen is inside of another pen that is lined with electric fencing and patrolled by my dogs, so predators

have not been a problem.