Rabbits & chickens

[Ricks Chicks]

As a lot of you know I have 4 RIR hens, 1 roo and 3 rabbits. their houses are connected but seperate. I am thinking that for winter I want to open them so the rabbits can access the coop for warmth and chickens can access the hutch for more space to move around. I want to know if this will be ok. will the chickens acsept the rabbits in there coop or will it cause problems? I know rabbits poop constantly will it be ok in my deep litter?

 

[debilorrah]

I unfortunately have experience in this area. I would say to keep them seperate because: our rabbitt a the chickens we introduced at the same time. For a while the roo thought it was a hen and tried to get her mto do his bidding. After a week he had had enough of her misbehavior, in his eyes, and the whole fock started pecking on her. When we rescued her she had a ton of cuts, but no worse damage. Keep your eye on them...

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I've heard several different people tell of their roosters attacking their rabbits. I wouldn't do it, because of that. In all the cases it started out fine, then turned ugly. Not all the rabbits were lucky enough to survive the ordeal. It seems to work out better with hen only flocks.

 

[toddntiff]

This was my exact question. I have hens only and 2 rabbits. Would I be okay to put them together and let the rabbits inside the coop for the winter as well for the warmth?

 

[Akane]

Another problem is chicken feed is very very bad for rabbits. They should have hay and rabbit pellets with limited grains. High levels of grains will cause digestive tract upsets and can lead to excessive weight gain. Oats are fed in controlled amounts to put weight on sick or older small animals like rabbits and guinea pigs. Getting into the chicken feed will shorten your rabbits' lifespan.

 

[debilorrah]

I stick by my original post. If you don't want dead rabbitts don't do it. We almost lost ours.

 

[Sheila Adkins]

HEllo , i have my rabbits and chickens together, but ihave my rabbits in a cage up on a shelf. and my chickens run free in a pen.. the will be warm all together this winter.. I do not ever let the rabbits out of the cage . Just my 2 cents. OH I am sheila, from arkansas.. I am new here. just reading all the great post..

 

[WoodlandWoman]

 

[penelope77]

i have my rabbits in with some of my younger chickens and my bigger chickens jump in and out of the pen all day. i've done this for months and personally haven't had any problems with it. the chickens and rabbits keep different schedules most of the time. everyone around here eats the same thing and it isn't chicken feed so that isn't a problem for me. but with anything there are good and bad experiences. you just have to try it for yourself and observe cause no chicken or rabbit will ever act the same. you can google it and learn about some of the hazards as far as chicken poo and rabbits go.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

We built our first original pen for our house rabbit to be able to go out and play in the dirt on occasion. When we got the chickens and put them in the coop...er, pen, the rabbit would still want to go out and play so we tried it a few times.
The chickens did not like the rabbit at all! She was new to them and they thought, very strange. They never went after her but I have made sure they were scooted outdoors before letting her loose to play in there anymore though.
Now I am thinking the 2 rabbits we have could go down in the coops in separate cages. Maybe during the day so I can keep their area in the house cleaned up a bit better. They live in X-pens in our den. Otherwise, we might as well move down with the chickens our own selves.