Rabbit hutch in chicken coop?

[AV Brahmas]

A couple of comments and the first starting with coccidiosis. This is a species specific illness which infects many different types of animals. Call your nearest Ag University if you don't want to hear it from me, but each species has it's own coccidia and the one for chickens is different from the one for rabbits, horses, etc. So all the horse people, in particular, with their rabid prejudices against chickens around the stable are simply speaking from a lack of knowledge. I had horse folk who refused to buy hay off the farm due to our chickens, so many in fact that I pulled out our copy of Mercks and kept it handy to show them the true story. Do not spread these stories about disease and poultry or next thing you know the general public will start fearing eggs.....oh wait....

Second, and if you loved the above you will just adore this, we raise Dutch and Flemish Giant rabbits in addition to our poultry here. The rabbit hutches here (at peak production we had nearly 80) were all outside and located INSIDE the chicken runs. All hutches had open bottoms which delivered feces and urine to the soil. All hutches were at least 12" off the ground to allow chickens access underneath. Many invertebrates love rabbit droppings. The chickens will scratch same all over the pen looking for these. After many years the effect of the droppings and scratching is a deep, soft compost which drains exceedingly well. Our chickens even dust bathe in this litter. It has been a positive thing for the chickens, the rabbits, and our backs since we rarely have to clean the runs with all that turnover in the soil. When we do remove litter it goes directly into the gardens.

Many is the time I have seen a damp maggoty corner in a box stall that smelled a little high and thought..."if only they had a couple chickens who could get into the stalls..."

Many is the time I have seen evidence of rodents in a stable and thought...."if only they had chickens to eat the spilled grain..."

The same goes with the rabbits.

 

[chics in the sun]

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Yep, I just had to lock my bunny back up in his cage due to him finally finding the one spot he could dig out of in the aviary. I have cinder blocks burried all the way around the base, but the back had a weird area against the fence/ alley, and he made it through on Friday. We caught him Saturday night and he is back in bunny lock-up. I never had any problems with the rabbit and chickens getting along. The digging and the chickens eating the fruit treats in his food were my only issues. He would just sit there and let them pick through his bowl, the silly wabbit. And sometimes he would sleep in the nest boxes, and if there were eggs in there it made him look like the Easter Bunny.

 

[georgeandmildredgoose]

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you seem really knowledgable on the whole rabbit / chicken living together situation, which is why i ask....have you ever heard of things like mycoplasma or pasturella crossing species from chicken to rabbit?. im hoping you will say its impossible. thanks

 

[AV Brahmas]

I had some experience with the evil triad (mycoplasma x 3) many many years ago. Must be close to 20 years if I were to estimate it. At the time I kept mostly just OE Game bantams and the layers. We had no rabbits at the time but we had a lot of sparrows and starlings. Several birds came down with virulent symptoms consisting of nasal and eye discharge. Very nasty to look at. Birds were physically in a depressed state (huddled, difficult breathing, etc) and responded to nothing we tried. Several were put into a box and delivered to the necropsy lab of our state university where they were killed and examined. They found two types of mycoplasma and recommended that we destroy the entire flock, even those birds that displayed no symptoms, as they were likely carriers and there was no way to rid them of it.

We met them half way. The group was quarantined and every bird that even sneezed was humanely dispatched without mercy. After a time we had no more deaths or symptoms. No birds were ever sold from this flock for ethical reasons. Our reasoning was pretty simple. The vets were clear that MANY flocks of chickens carry mycoplasma and that it only manifested itself under times of stress. The original source was likely a wild bird. If we destroyed the flock we would have no way of knowing if the new birds were clean or if clean birds brought in would be reinfected by wild birds or the environment. So we elected to ride it out with the existing birds.

Turkeys are supposed to be very susceptible to these diseases and none of our turkeys has ever come down with it. I think we are as free from it as is possible. To make a short story long and to answer your question, there are a LOT of different variations of mycoplasma bacteria and everything I have read indicates there is some tendency for certain kinds to infect only certain species. If the worry is that the bacteria in your chickens can infect other birds, I would think that possible. Mammals, etc I would think unlikely.

Based on my reading over the years.

 

[stone_family3]

My rabbits live in a dog kennel in the coop, at night I close it since Mama has four babies (they're 3 weeks old and if she could run away she would. LOL. They can't figure out how to get out of the kennel yet). They have their own little run (another kennel attached). During the day mama and chickens go where ever they please int he coop and run.

Oh I have four chickens and five rabbits. At the most I had six chickens. I turn the hay bedding weekly and I compost the big piles of poo. I put a tray under where the rabbit likes to go the most to make it easier.

 

[georgeandmildredgoose]

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thanks for taking the time and trouble to reply.

our situation is we had 2 geese in one area, 5 rabbits in another completely seperate area.
we then got 4 exbatt hens and 2 little cockerals (the lady who rescued these also breeds). they had been quarantined already and we were told fine to go with the geese. different houses shared run. one hen died after 2 days. got a replacement. so we looked after our new pets, wormed de-liced etc. one went lame after 2 weeks, weight loss, muscle wastage, then sneezing, she died. we started tylan therapy and separated from the geese, the next to go had similar symptoms. that one was euthanased, post mortem performed, and samples sent to the lab (awaiting results). whilst all this was happening 2 of the rabbits showed chest infection signs

they were put on to baytril. the gander has showed symptoms just a couple of days ago, so they (goose and gander) are on tylan too.
tbh i dont know whether im coming or going now.
just looking for answers whether the chickens and rabbits illness are connected. i thought probably not unless its avian tb of course.
thanks for sharing your experience, it helped.

 

[terryg]

I have a rabbit hutch in the chicken run. You can see it on my live-streaming cam at www.HenCam.com. I also have a FAQ about keeping rabbits and chickens together. http://www.hencam.com/henblog/rabbits-and-chickens/

 

[georgeandmildredgoose]

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love it! your animals cam are very cool!

 

[AV Brahmas]

I found your information pretty interesting. I have raised geese for over 40 years and have never seen a sick one. My oldest gander died a few years back at nearly 20 years old. Probably still be here but he was a casualty of the predator war. I have only lost geese to egg binding.

I see references from various sources regarding MS and MG being found in domestic flocks of geese but the article did not mention any symptoms being displayed. Both of these were found in our chicken flock back about 1990 and resulted in the destruction of a lot of birds and the abandonment of a line we used for breeding. It is no longer evident in our current flock.

I see a reference to another type of mycoplasma showing symptoms in a flock of geese used for egg production. Understand, however, that this would be a stressful situation for these birds and they might never have shown a symptom if left to breeding normally. Mycoplasmas are like that. Possibly they are one of natures ways of eliminating the weak and may be much more widespread than we think.

My strong recommendation to you is to sacrifice one of your rabbits to the local necropsy lab. Definitely if one dies, get it there immediately or refrigerate and take the next day. You must get a handle on this illness to find out how best to treat it. We have a lot of money tied up in our birds but, frankly, it is the thought of losing them and starting from scratch that puts me off. As a result we isolate and usually destroy any bird or rabbit showing signs of illness.

Personally, I think the rabbits are suffering from something else. With that much illness you had best get to the lab and also begin evaluating conditions where they live.

 

[silky_3699]

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No Problem, anything to help. Hope everything is going to okay and Good luck!