keeping rabbits and chickens together...how?!

[chinbunny]

Quote:
Do you have the article for that? I was told by a poultry breeder that yes they can pas sit back and forth. I still woundn't keep chickens and rabbits running around together though.Its better for the rabbit to have its own cage, and space. Plus they tend to condition out better caged up then they do running around.

e coli might be another one to consider.

 

[patandchickens]

I realize it is quite common for 'people on the street' to believe that all coccidia infect all animals, and there are even a few vets out there who apparently were not paying attention that day in lecture, but honest. There are some Eimeria spp that will infect species from several different genera, I *think* there may even be one that crosses family lines, but there is no good evidence of anything affecting both mammals to birds (in general). The seven species of Eimeria that can infect chickens are *different than* the species of Eimeria that can infect rabbits.

I ended up sort of stalling out with the article (I wanted a vet who would comment *on the record* on the subject of chickens+buns w/r/t other diseases, not yet found one, also did not exactly knock myself out looking as this is not the central activity of my life

) so it remains unpublished at the moment.

However you can find all sorts of book and journal references to the host specificity of Eimeria, e.g. things like (via a quick google)
http://biology.unm.edu/biology/coccidia/eimeriabiol.html
www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/htm/bc/21200.htm
http://wildlife1.wildlifeinformation.org/S/00dis/Parasitic/Hepatic_coccidiosis_rabbits.htm
http://books.google.ca/books?id=pv8...snum=2&ved=0CAgQ6AEwATgK#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Or you could find yourself a parasitologist who works with coccidial organisms, or a (preferably research or university-vet-school) vet, and ask them if you want

Mind, this still leaves various *other* things that can pass between chickens and rabbits, e.g. salmonella, pasteurella, listeriosis, etc.


Pat

 

[millebantam]

The "old timers" around here have a saying "fur and feather, never together". I guess you can take it for what it's worth.

 

[Promiselandfarm]

I was speaking from experience not from research or what have you. We ended up loosing our prize buck and several others. But hey it is your chickens and bunnies if you feel it worth the risk then go for it.

 

[lilwhispers]

I have raised plenty of rabbits and chickens in the same coop, But always with the rabbits in cages and the chickens on the floor. It is a great way to stack production. I personally have never had either animal catch any disease from the other.