Should I put my rabbit with chickens?

[Derduck]

I have a rabbit, she is around 2 years old I think. She has been in a reasonably big hutch her whole life, in a garden shed. I want to get chickens, but I have a question. Should I keep chickens with my rabbit? She will have her hutch, and I'm thinking of extending it for extra room to run around (I take her out sometimes too, for exercise) BUT, I'm a little worried for some reasons. My first is that she will react badly and become ill. She shared a hutch with my guinea pig, but when he died unexpectedly I thought perhaps she had purposefully killed him, in thoughts of space in the hutch or food/water.
My second worry is that though they'll have space, I dont know what kind of germs will be in the air.
Some chickens might give off germs, and though those germs are not harmful to other chickens at most times, will they be harmful to my rabbit?
Is there any other things I should take into thoughts, or is this all I need to know (providing some answer)?
Thank you.

 

[BigECarter]

Check out www.hencam.com - there's a rabbit with the hens.

 

[Bunnylady]

Rabbits should not have chicken food - IMO that is the most important consideration. I don't know whether your rabbit was involved in the GP's death, but female rabbits can get territorial, and will fight anything that is in what they consider "their" space. I have seen rabbit-on-rabbit violence that ended with appalling injuries. Chickens can go rough on the rabbit, too - they like shiny things, and may peck at the rabbit's eyes. Other people do it, and have no problems, but I, personally, would not cage rabbits and chickens together.

 

[inthesticks]

I have 3 rabbits in my fowl yard (ducks,chickens,guinea fowl) They all do very well together no one really bothers one another - I did have to change how the feed was tho. When the rabbits finally got the last bit of confidence they needed (they have been rooming all together for about 2months or so) they started to try & eat the game bird feed - So I just put the feed out of their reach - you could get hanging feeders etc. the only rabbits I have with them are males.
Possibly with just one rabbit she wont be as aggressive since she will be outnumbered. If you are getting chickens anyway then why not give it a try, if it doesn't work out then she can always stay where she's at and have that supervised time out with you.


as for spreading disease - I think that under the "right" wrong conditions & lack of space there could be potential for spreading coccidia between the two - if one is infected to begin with or if there is standing water for long periods of time. But with healthy birds/rabbits, good space & places for your bun to relax hidden away(away from roosting spots) should remove that threat.

Again this works for some but not all - Good luck and def let us all know how it goes

 

[Derduck]

Thanks for all your feedback - I'll give it a try and let you know how it turns out!
Thanks again.