I tried. I swear I tried. Every time I give these rabbits a solid floor, it becomes the litter box - which isn't easily cleaned.
The way I did it:
--cage has a wire mesh floor
--nestbox is a separate box (made of wood, or metal with a wood floor.)
--nestbox goes in the cage 28 days after the doe is bred (= 3 days before she is due.)
--nestbox goes in any corner EXCEPT where the doe usually poops
That typically worked out fine-- the doe kept using her familar bathroom corner, and had about the right amount of time to get used to the box & make a nest before giving birth in it.
Of course your does might be different. Individual variation, and different climates, can make enormous differences in what is the "best" way to care for any kind of animal!
Pestilence had her kits OUTSIDE her (floorless, lined with straw, grasses, huge pile of hay and prarie grass bedding) nestbox, so first thing I did this AM after snapping that blurry pic at 6am was move the kits into the box, and tuck them under some of the straw.
Ugh, I had that happen a few times, and I hate it! In a cold climate, the bunnies are usually dead by the time anyone finds them.
Some does seem to do that regularly, and some not. The problem ones would get a second and maybe third chance, then they went to freezer camp!
The only exception to the culling: when all the formerly-good does started having bunnies outside the nestboxes. That got tracked down as a probable vitamin A deficiency in the rabbit food (the company must have changed the formula.) That got solved with regular amounts of fresh greens, as recommended by the book I had at the time (pre-internet.)
