Rabbit Nestboxes.. Wire or solid bottom?

[Wolf-Kim]

Hello all, getting ready for my buns litters(another couple weeks or so).

Hubby and I looked up plans to make rabbit nestboxes. Found plans to make 10 out of a 4X8 piece of plywood. So we picked up the plywood today, but I began to wonder.

The plans are for wirebottomed nestboxes. Are these fine or should they be solid bottomed? I know that you add nest material, but I was wondering if the floor of the box itself mattered?

ALSO, if wire bottomed boxes are fine, do I need to build a bottom onto the box, since my cages are wirebottomed? Hate to waste wire when the boxes are going to sit on wire anyway.

 

[Lady_Cluck]

My boxes were always solid bottomed with a lot of nest material. The babies tend to really burrow and I didn't want anyone wiggling down to the wire and catching a draft/cold.

I don't know what the benefit of a wire bottom would be. Cleanliness? The mother rabbit does a good job of keeping the nest clean. By the time the nest does get dirty, the babies are old enough to hop out.

I'm curious to see what others post!

 

[Hoosiermomma]

We have solid bottom nest boxes. I agree with the pp about the q uestioning the reason behind the wire bottom. The buns little paws would fall through very easily. We've never had any problems with ours..we put a little hay/staw in on top of some pine shavings and let momma do the rest.

 

[zatsdeb]

solid bottoms here too, my DH waits to see where the rabbit poops and then puts the box in a different place, since they pretty much poop in the same spot every time.

 

[chickenlittle32]

I'd use a solid bottom. My DS rabbit usually uses the same corner to do his duty..LOL..so we got a corner litter box..kinda like what you'd use for a ferret...much easier to keep clean.

 

[Wolf-Kim]

I figured this would be the case. We'll make them solid bottomed, just so they are extra cozy.

I was pretty sure I wanted them solid bottomed, but I wanted to know what the norm was.

Thanks everyone.
-Kim

 

[CaGoatLady]

For sure, solid; I've had new babies slip thru the wire and die.

 

[Chickenmaven]

We are caring for our first litter. For the nest, we used a wooden box we found in the basement. Filled it with cloth and hay. Since our hutch is outside, DD topped the nest with a cardboard box, to create a little den. She just cut a hole for the door.

 

[feathersgalore]

We have both solid bottom and wire bottom nestboxes. With the wire bottom, we start with a piece of cardboard and then add the nestbox filler. They are easier to keep clean but you have to make sure the doe doesn't pull out the cardboard. With our solid bottom nestboxes, after many times of cleaning they begin to wear out.

 

[Steve_of_sandspoultry]

We use wire bottom, 1/2 hardware cloth. It's cooler when they kindle in the summer. If we get a cold snap in the spring we slip a board under it.

The nest boxes we made out of plywood never lasted, the last ones I made we used 1/2 x either 10 or 12 inch pine shelving boards.

Steve in NC