Raising rabbits in the garden in a hot area, my project what do you think? New drawings added

[Kassaundra]

OH, I guess you probably already did your plan...I just realized this post is old from 2010..

No, this is a recent thread less then a week old.

 

[Kassaundra]

I found a domestic white rabbit in my yard one day. I put her in a grassy area with a dog carrier to sleep in. I had to lock her in at night. I discovered she was a tunnel maker. She tunneled the entire area. I gave her to my cute Niece and Nephew 3 and 4yrs old. They put her in an enclosure on the ground with their Hens. She tunneled their entire back yard under the fencing. Thankfully, she would return to the main Coop with the Hens. The dogs were on the other side of the fencing but she still managed to tunnel up where they were. It's crazy to watch. I don't know if you will have to put some kind of chicken wire on the ground floor to keep them from tunneling out and escaping. My Uncle raised Angora's for a living and then harvested Night Crawlers from their droppings. I remember them being in hutches above the ground for the clean droppings and the worms kept the smell down. Everyone was happy. Best wishes in your new venture!

That is good to know, I wasn't sure whether I needed to bury a dig proof something under the run or not, trying to make up my mind if having the underground den would encourage less of a need to dig or not.

Does anyone know how deep a rabbit generally tunnels?

 

[katsdar]

That is good to know, I wasn't sure whether I needed to bury a dig proof something under the run or not, trying to make up my mind if having the underground den would encourage less of a need to dig or not.

Does anyone know how deep a rabbit generally tunnels?

My neighbor has rabbits and they have theirs up high course they also have the worms to help like the other person said, but they also put a tile in the bottom of the cage to give the rabbit something rest their feet on to give their feet a rest of the wire cage bottom, it makes for a cleaner environment for them too

 

[Kassaundra]

My neighbor has rabbits and they have theirs up high course they also have the worms to help like the other person said, but they also put a tile in the bottom of the cage to give the rabbit something rest their feet on to give their feet a rest of the wire cage bottom, it makes for a cleaner environment for them too

That would be an awesome, inexpensive and easy solution, putting tiles on the ground, or just a few inches under the dirt. Give it a floor for easier clean up and make it digproof.

 

[LCfarms]

Negatives of your plan is that in wire hutches rabbits wont get worms. There is also a chance that your garden for them will get all torn up from them digging. As for food idk if your planning on commercial pellets and hay as your main food or not. These really are all they need. Greens can actually be very bad, mainly for kits though. Kits can not have any greens at all until they are about a month or 2 old and even still it can be risky. They can easily get gastro enteritis and die within 48 hours. The wire hutches really arent that bad they are affordable, clean, sanitary and the rabbits dont miss anything if its all they know and are used to. The pluses of your plan is it would be beautiful to see and it would be cool to get another angle of raising rabbits. As well as the underground dens are a really good way to help keep them cool in the summer.I've raised and showed rabbits for almost 6 years and am kind of a rabbit nut in case you want some background info. I hope i helped a little with your questions. What breed(s) are you wanting?

 

[erinszoo]

Sorry I didn't see this earlier. The plans look great in general. I would provide some ramping and shelves so the rabbits can get up off the ground in rain storms. Ours also lay up on a shelf to cool off. Keeping your food off the ground for them will help deter rats. Also I would put drainage holes in the bottom sides of your barrels, one for rain the other because pea will drain through to the ground below. Our rabbits are varied in behavior. Until recently the boys were penned together and the girls were penned together with no issues. Then the boys started fighting and we seperated the girls to keep track of who had which babies. The girls are good about pooing/peeing in one place although one of them decided the nest box was perfect. The boys on the other hand are a mess and just go wherever.

Make sure you put chicken wire completely under your pens. I've had them dig a two foot hole in just over an hour before. We're getting ready to breed the girls again which will give us babies ready to go in the fall if you're interested and ready by then. We have 5 young ones right now that would be close to breeding age in the fall but its better to wait til spring because cold temps will kill the babies in the nest. If you'd rather start with older ones though pm me and I'll set some back otherwise they are going to freezer camp in the next month or so.

On the waste, I have been told the adults will not go to the bathroom in an underground den, but the kits obviously will.  So the dirt or bedding would need to be changed in the den w/ each new litter, but we are planning on just scooping it or most out and replacing.  I plan on using just plain old garden dirt, free, easy access.  The dirt I remove that has the baby poop/pee I plan on putting straight into the garden.  The outside area as I understand the adult will choose a basic location and for the most part use that spot as a bathroom.  When I locate that spot I intend to do some sort of litter box type set up.  If that is accurate then the changing of the litter box should be fairly straight forward, if that is not accurate and they are messier w/ their elimination I plan to rake / hose the dirt ground into the adjacent garden area and if needed apply fresh garden dirt, shouldn't be to big an issue.

Each den / run will house one rabbit, or be a grow out pen for youths waiting to be processed.  I would have enough space that if I got lucky and had two does that didn't mind being together I could house those two together, but that will not be likely at all and am not counting on that, it would be rare for them to be willing to share as far as I understand their behavior.

The runs will have wire or metal sheets covering them (metal sheets for the roof area) and will be an "A" frame structure.  We do not have mink or weasles or anything like that my two big preditor concerns are snakes and rats.  For snakes I was thinking just draping that cheap garden netting over the walls would catch the snakes in the netting before they got in.  Rats I'm still pondering, likely my only prevention w/ rats will be small opening wire.

In the studies I did researching this method this was exceptionally beneficial for hot areas, however had significant draw backs to cold damp winter areas.  Your location may require a different set up or modifications to this plan. 

As to space most people raise rabbits in 3 x 3 cages, so anything that size or bigger is plenty of space for a rabbit.

 

[Kassaundra]

Negatives of your plan is that in wire hutches rabbits wont get worms. There is also a chance that your garden for them will get all torn up from them digging. As for food idk if your planning on commercial pellets and hay as your main food or not. These really are all they need. Greens can actually be very bad, mainly for kits though. Kits can not have any greens at all until they are about a month or 2 old and even still it can be risky. They can easily get gastro enteritis and die within 48 hours. The wire hutches really arent that bad they are affordable, clean, sanitary and the rabbits dont miss anything if its all they know and are used to. The pluses of your plan is it would be beautiful to see and it would be cool to get another angle of raising rabbits. As well as the underground dens are a really good way to help keep them cool in the summer.I've raised and showed rabbits for almost 6 years and am kind of a rabbit nut in case you want some background info. I hope i helped a little with your questions. What breed(s) are you wanting?

Thanks for the input. They won't have access to the garden, the dens / runs will be in the garden but they will be in the run w/ no access to the garden. I am planning on a natural diet of grain fodder and garden/yard plantings some specifially for the rabbits (mulberry, and comfrey, herbs etc..)and some human food that we don't eat (like tops of root veggies) I hope to get rabbits that were fed this way to begin with, however if I can't then I will make the transition very slowly off of pellets.

I agree the suspended wire hutches would be the easiest to keep clean and preditor proof, however my husband is dead set against it. He feels there isn't enough room or "rabbit entertainment" for them to keep them from abject bordom.

I will have the breeders on a worming schedule since they will be on the ground, but figure the eaters won't be around long enough for a problem to develop.

 

[Kassaundra]

Sorry I didn't see this earlier. The plans look great in general. I would provide some ramping and shelves so the rabbits can get up off the ground in rain storms. Ours also lay up on a shelf to cool off. Keeping your food off the ground for them will help deter rats. Also I would put drainage holes in the bottom sides of your barrels, one for rain the other because pea will drain through to the ground below. Our rabbits are varied in behavior. Until recently the boys were penned together and the girls were penned together with no issues. Then the boys started fighting and we seperated the girls to keep track of who had which babies. The girls are good about pooing/peeing in one place although one of them decided the nest box was perfect. The boys on the other hand are a mess and just go wherever.

Make sure you put chicken wire completely under your pens. I've had them dig a two foot hole in just over an hour before. We're getting ready to breed the girls again which will give us babies ready to go in the fall if you're interested and ready by then. We have 5 young ones right now that would be close to breeding age in the fall but its better to wait til spring because cold temps will kill the babies in the nest. If you'd rather start with older ones though pm me and I'll set some back otherwise they are going to freezer camp in the next month or so.

Thanks for the input. The holes in the barrels makes a lot of sense, I will for sure make that adjustment, that is easy enough. Also some climby things in the run itself.

I am REALLY, REALLY hoping to be ready for them in the fall, but have commited to not getting them until the dens/runs are ready. Yes I would be interested when they are finished, don't hold any out for me though in case I am not ready by fall, would hate that you held them out and then I couldn't get them.

Does the mother rabbit have any defense against rats? Can rats chew through wire? Wonder if some sort of "hot wire" along the bottom of the run would work.

 

[LCfarms]

No she doesn't. Does only visit the nest once a day. Her deterant is to hang close but run away at the site of danger so as to pull the predator away from the nest, and you might try a hot wire but i'm not sure if u could get it low enough to be affective and rats are very clever.

 

[Kassaundra]

This is a quote from a person who is protecting her garden from rats successfully w/ an electric wire, gives me hope for using an electric wire for my outside run.

You have to bury the fence (chicken wire preferred) so they can not burrow under, and you have to have an electric fence, if possible two strands at 4 and 8 inches, with the ground directly connected to the chicken wire. I also have bricks inside the fence, all around the perimeter, to force even the smallest rodent up the fence and into the wires. Then, every month or so, smear peanut butter on the wires, to remind them who is boss. Keep your composting material inside trash bins.
It seems also that the situation is ripe for you and some neighbors to put up barn owl houses (with more of them, you may have a self-sustaining population). IIRC, they need to be high on a outer wall in a quiet part of the yard, and they need to be cleaned once a year in Fall. Obviously they may die from eating poisoned rats, but if you establish a population and let the neighbors know, they will solve your problem. I never had it as good, rodent-wise, as when I had a mama fox with kittens take residence at the end of my yard (once the rodent population collapsed, she moved on). Just yesterday I saw a small hawk catch a rat in the city, in an area with ten or so trees with a walkway between a parking lot and a market. They will become urbanized under the right circumstances