What did you do in the garden today?

[gtaus]

On a side note, we bought some rabbits - they are in the outdoor roofed shed that is predator proof and well ventilated. ... There are only 4 rabbits in one half. They are all caged separately and are in shade all day. Wow! They smell (to me)… I must be sensitive to something in their urine bc it is potent! But, rabbit poop is so good for the garden, so I’m motivated to keep the rabbits. At least they are well ventilated. Anyone else find rabbits a bit stinky?

I raised rabbits when I was a teenager. I had about 100 rabbits at one time. I never thought about the smell back then. But I guess the urine can be powerful. I had all wire cages, and the urine and droppings fell through the wire floor. I used straw on the floor to soak up the urine and as long as I keep it clean, it smelled OK for my younger me.

After having chickens and using the deep litter method, I think I might try having the rabbits in an all wire cage but using deep litter (wood chips, etc...) under the cages. I think that would work better than the straw I used way back then. Like I do for the chickens, I would fluff up the deep litter as needed and/or add more fresh wood chips to the deep litter. Rabbit manure is a great fertilizer and the deep litter could be a wonderful compost for the garden. You don't have to age the rabbit manure, but the deep bedding of wood chips would probably need more time to compost with greens before going out to the garden.

If you want to collect the rabbit droppings separately to use immediately in the garden, you might be able to put a window screen under the wire floor of the rabbit cage. That would catch the droppings and the urine would flow through the screen. I would scrape out the rabbit droppings as soon as possible because if the rabbits urinate on the droppings, then you have wet, smelly rabbit droppings to clean up. Maybe the screen under the rabbit cage could be at an angle, allowing the rabbit droppings to roll down and out of the way of the rabbits urinating. Dry rabbit droppings are not offensive to me. Wet droppings smell bad.

As far as the rabbits themselves, they don't smell to me. In fact, baby rabbits have no smell at all so they can hide from predators better. Clean rabbits in clean cages should not smell. Like many things with small animals, if it smells bad, you need to rethink how you are raising your animals and make some adjustments for their health and yours.

I still have many of my rabbit cages and someday I think I would like to raise rabbits again along with chickens. But I don't have a good building/shed/barn to house the rabbits in the winter and where I live, it's just too darn hard to care for rabbits outside in the weather. But I am excited for you and wish you well with your rabbits.

 

[Birdsonghill]

I raised rabbits when I was a teenager. I had about 100 rabbits at one time. I never thought about the smell back then. But I guess the urine can be powerful. I had all wire cages, and the urine and droppings fell through the wire floor. I used straw on the floor to soak up the urine and as long as I keep it clean, it smelled OK for my younger me.

After having chickens and using the deep litter method, I think I might try having the rabbits in an all wire cage but using deep litter (wood chips, etc...) under the cages. I think that would work better than the straw I used way back then. Like I do for the chickens, I would fluff up the deep litter as needed and/or add more fresh wood chips to the deep litter. Rabbit manure is a great fertilizer and the deep litter could be a wonderful compost for the garden. You don't have to age the rabbit manure, but the deep bedding of wood chips would probably need more time to compost with greens before going out to the garden.

If you want to collect the rabbit droppings separately to use immediately in the garden, you might be able to put a window screen under the wire floor of the rabbit cage. That would catch the droppings and the urine would flow through the screen. I would scrape out the rabbit droppings as soon as possible because if the rabbits urinate on the droppings, then you have wet, smelly rabbit droppings to clean up. Maybe the screen under the rabbit cage could be at an angle, allowing the rabbit droppings to roll down and out of the way of the rabbits urinating. Dry rabbit droppings are not offensive to me. Wet droppings smell bad.

As far as the rabbits themselves, they don't smell to me. In fact, baby rabbits have no smell at all so they can hide from predators better. Clean rabbits in clean cages should not smell. Like many things with small animals, if it smells bad, you need to rethink how you are raising your animals and make some adjustments for their health and yours.

I still have many of my rabbit cages and someday I think I would like to raise rabbits again along with chickens. But I don't have a good building/shed/barn to house the rabbits in the winter and where I live, it's just too darn hard to care for rabbits outside in the weather. But I am excited for you and wish you well with your rabbits.

I raised rabbits for table/sale in the nineteen seventies, in a small way. I had 5 double hutches (and two single hutches) with hay mangers in the center. In our climate they lived fine and I could care for them year round, outside, without too much difficulty. My daughter loves to eat rabbit, more than chicken to this day, because she learned too enjoy them, as a girl! It became more than I could handle, at one point in my work life and I let them go! The manure and urine(YES, THE URINE STINKS ) collected under the coop and was harvested from time to time, for garden and compost pile additions. Rabbit waste was a fantastic source of garden nutrients! When ever the odor began to rise up bad in the summer, I would clean up and put down a layer of mulch or straw . It never was a major problem, and the manure stank far less than the equivalent in chicken droppings! Aged or composted rabbit droppings could be applied to anything without burning, but would immediately bring forth luxurious growth! I echo you gtaus! I wish the best for you too, Acre4me!

 

[gtaus]

Rabbit waste was a fantastic source of garden nutrients! When ever the odor began to rise up bad in the summer, I would clean up and put down a layer of mulch or straw . It never was a major problem, and the manure stank far less than the equivalent in chicken droppings!

I really don't remember the rabbit manure smell being bad. But, as I said, I would clean out the spent straw under the wire cages as needed to keep the smell under control. I agree that chicken droppings can also be quite potent if not managed properly. But since I switched over to the deep litter system in my coop, I don't have to spend hardly any time cleaning it out (maybe twice a year) and it never smells.

I start out with a layer of maybe 4 inches of wood chips in the coop and fluff them up occasionally and/or add another layer to the deep litter. When the deep litter gets to be about 12 inches deep, then I'll shovel it out and put it into the chicken run to compost for a number of months before I use it in the garden.

I suspect a deep litter system under rabbit cages would work better than the straw I used back in the day, but I don't currently have any rabbits so I am only guessing. One thing I like about rabbit manure is that you can use it immediately on the garden, whereas the chicken compost needs to age a number of months to cool down so it does not burn the plants. I typically harvest my chicken run compost in the fall and put it on the garden beds when all the plants are finished for the season. Then it sits in the garden beds over winter and the beds are ready to plant in the spring.

 

[Happy hen lover]

Good to know about the heat of the metal. I have wicking tubs that are staying moist in this all, so only same concept. At least the barn metal has gone up like lumber!

What is your wood base in them?

 

[TJAnonymous]

On a side note, we bought some rabbits - they are in the outdoor roofed shed that is predator proof and well ventilated. We raise meat chickens in it now and again, we currently have 4 turkeys in one half, and now rabbits. There are only 4 rabbits in one half. They are all caged separately and are in shade all day. Wow! They smell (to me)… I must be sensitive to something in their urine bc it is potent! But, rabbit poop is so good for the garden, so I’m motivated to keep the rabbits. At least they are well ventilated. Anyone else find rabbits a bit stinky?

About 20 yrs ago we had a guinea pig & rabbit as pets for our two oldest children. As much as we tried to keep their cage clean, they STUNK to high heaven. Of course, back then, we used pine shavings because that was the recommendation....back in the day. Now most vets will tell you that the oils in wood shavings are toxic to small animals.

Back in May we ended up 'adopting' a stray rabbit that someone dumped at the co-op where my oldest daughter is boarding her horse. No one wanted to take it so I agreed... I keep the bun in my 10' x 14' sunroom. He is caged at night but has the run of the entire room during the day. Having not had a bunny for so many years, I did some research on their care. I learned that rabbits can be potty trained to use a litter box...sort of. I had some old Breeze litter boxes in the attic so I brought one down to use in the bunny cage. I use a litter mix of shredded paper towel and pine pellets. We change the litter about once a week. This litter is ONLY used in that litter box. I put down a fleece blanket that covers the rest of the cage. When the cage is cleaned (again, once per week), I put a clean blanket in the cage and wash the dirty one. The litter is dumped into the compost pile.

Granted, I know this is only ONE rabbit and you likely have many more....but I have been INCREDIBLY surprised that there is absolutely NO SMELL from having this rabbit in the house. Even my super-picky husband who is neurotic about smells has commented that you can't tell there's a rabbit in the sunroom. The rabbit will ONLY urinate in his litter box. He poops in there too but also has a tendancy to leave little poops around the room. They are super easy to sweep up though and don't smell. I happen to have a cat litter box in that room too... He poops in the cat litter box too although he doesn't urinate in there.

Anyway, just sharing my experience. Everyone has their own setup....

 

[Happy hen lover]

On another does anyone remember when it was cold, BITTER COLD and we couldn't wait for summer what were we THINKING! Lol

 

[BullChick]

In my mind, it’s still winter. I spend too much time worried about snow and heat.

 

[oldhen2345]

On another does anyone remember when it was cold, BITTER COLD and we couldn't wait for summer what were we THINKING! Lol

I feel cooler just looking at the pics.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I feel cooler kicked back in my recliner, positioned so the cool air from the window AC is blowing on my bare feet.

 

[oldhen2345]

I feel cooler kicked back in my recliner, positioned so the cool air from the window AC is blowing on my bare feet.

Yup. I have stayed in the house most of the day- too hot to do anything outside