So... My wife wants meat rabbits. (We already have egg & meat chickens, and small meat goats)

I'll reach out to the local extension office. (not close to my county, thankfully) Free ranging everything else, its not "attractive" to me to cage anything, but I also don't want to create a problem for the acres of grape vineyards a mile down the road. That wouldn't be neighborly of me, letting my problems off my property.

It is, apparently, "open season" on them. and we have wild poplations of at least two breeds of rabbit.

Thanks for the gentle reminder. and, of course, tralk with my wife about it. Secret to a successful marriage. Happy wife, happy life.
 
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Be sure you can reach all corners of the cage. That either means the cage size is limited by your arm length, or the door must be big enough for you to lean into the cage and reach the back corners. The rabbit you need to grab will usually be in the farthest corner ;)
Yup, learned that cleaning out the chicken's raised coop.
 
I suggest you get the book Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits by Bob Bennet. It covers all facets of raising rabbits from housing to feeding to breeding to butchering. As well as New Zealands you might also consider Florida Whites. They are smaller than the New Zealands, take less space and have an excellent dressing percentage. They are a very meaty rabbit and have very good feed conversion.
 
Also, is there no "free ranging" of rabbits, assuming I offer them a well built well ventilated, sheltered home in which to sleep, withplenty of fresh feed and water?
If they’re tame enough and you have a safe space, a little free ranging can be good! As I alluded earlier, I put all grow-outs on the ground when weaned. (Warning: they dig huge holes) and you don’t want to have buck and does out together once breeding age.
I would say they could probably use nipples….im not sure about cups as they might chew vs push????
 
After talking with my wife, she wants (largely) caged rabbits - so we are going to build the rabbit hutch in the grow out run for the chicks (ages 3 wks to 8-9 wks, typical). Its about 400 sq ft, right up against the barn so sheltered on one side, always closed against predators (unlike the adult run), and has a ready water source. Plan is now two does and a buck, cage partitioned into three spaces (so I'll likely place two removable partitions in it to maximize flexibility), with either pull out or tilt down "floors" just below a wire bottom to ease cleaning. Possibly 5v galvanized roofing panels, since they are corrosion resistant, cut to size.

Back to the (virtual) graph paper. Tentatively thinking 3'x9' or 3'x12' for a footprint, but that will probably change.
 
How big should the nesting area be??? Should it be light, dark like chickens like? three sided? four sided with a hole? Or simply a temporary???
This style works very well:
https://www.amazon.com/Wood-Nest-Boxes-Solid-Bottom/dp/B06WD6PCTK/
18" long, 12" wide, 12" high at the top.

It's big enough but not too big, and easy to take out and clean between litters.
The flat top lets the doe get away from the litter when they're hopping around but still want to nurse.

If you make a box with a open front (like is common for chickens), tiny bunnies can get dragged out when the doe leaves after nursing (and unless you find them right away, they die.) The high front help prevent that.
 
This is from the site I linked fot temporary nest boxes - very similar to what you suggest. Since I'm planning on big bunnies, I'll adjust the size up to 12x12x20

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So - I built three very nice "runs" for the rabbits - each roughly 5' wide and 8' long. One end has a metal roof, 3' wide. The walls are about 30" tall, made of prssure treated wood frames with "rabbit wire graduated" fencing. That didn't work - the rabbits jumped about 16" then shimmied thru the larger holes. I've reinforced it w/ 1" chicken wire to shrink the available openings, and woven the two wires together. They haven't chewed thru (yet?). The outer wall is livestock fencing to keep the goats out and T posts - again, woven chicken wire to shrink the holes.
I can't place any wire on the ground, our clays eat it alive. Our clays actually corrode concrete - splashes from the sprinkler hitting some of it etched my new floor! In direct contact, it would corrode in a month or two. To keep them in, I trenched every wall up against the fencing and sunk 4x8x16 CMUs -
1652452823795.png

oriented so the 8" is vertical in the soil. SO far, its prevented several tunnels. They hit it, scratch against it, abandon the effort.

Each partially covered run has a plastic 5 gallon bucket, partly submerged in the dirt, as a "house", covered with more soil under the metal roof. I'll be adding lids with a doorway cut in to provide a bit more darkness and security to them.

The ground is littered with growing things - arugula, thyme, oregano, some grasses, plus fresh greens. Most of which they eat. and I have a watering system which makes it easy to ensure they have full water bowls w/o having to go inside the fencing.

and yet they are still escaping. I can't figure out how.

Starting to wish I stuck them in tiny wire cages, as inhumane as that sounds.
 

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