Bunnies in the Chicken coop

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leenpockets

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May 2, 2015
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Location
Redmond, OR
Hello all!

We recently purchased our first home and moved a little further out of town.

Our two little fluff balls made the trip with us and are currently living in a bunny tractor that is approx 6' x 6'. This is a little smaller than they're used to, but we can't really give them free run of 5 acres. That would end poorly for all of us.


We're intending to have a more permanent space for them where they can burrow down but it will not happen until after fire season.

My question is this: the house came with six chickens and they have a darn near perfect cage and location (size, in shade, viable from several rooms in the house, close, etc.) for the bunnies. What would I need to do to ensure it's a safe, clean environment for the bunnies to take over? I know "clean the poop", but are there any diseases that they could pass between one another?


And who puts chickens under the bedroom window anyway!?


I've heard some folks cohabitate chickens and rabbits, but I'm a lilt leery of that.
 
I would suggest reading the posts on colony raising...
There is a mixed opinion on raising rabbits in a previous chicken environment.

Coccidiosis is real issue with rabbits and chickens.... It has been said to me that the type doesn't cross species, but I'm not so sure... it is treatable, so you can give it a try and watch your rabbits very carefully .... (have some corid on hand to treat if any symptoms show)

congrats on the new place!
And welcome
 
Thank you! I'll do a little more reading. I know others do it, but I didn't know a name. Now I can dig a little deeper.


Nothing is going to happen right away (sadly for my sleep).

And thank you! It's been such a wonderful transition to owning our home!
 
In theory its great! I just cant wrap my mind around the possibility of disease though. My chickens were really messy, and I just cant imagine the bunnies hopping around in their poop. Maybe there is a great way around this, I hope so! Keep us posted on what you find, I am definitely interested to know what you decide to do.
 
I read somewhere of someone who kept rabbits and chickens together in the same building but the rabbits were above the chickens and they had to build it so the chickens could not roost over the rabbit cages and poop down on them. The chickens were able to forage under the rabbit cages and ate a lot of the rabbit poop below. I"m trying to do a little research on this because I have both rabbits and chickens and I'm trying to reevaluate my housing situation as I don[t have a lot of space and having dual purpose housing would open up some opportunities.

Chickens are pretty dirty and dusty so I'm not sure how well that would go over with the rabbit's more sensitive lungs.
 
joel salatin has chickens in his rabbit shed under the cages. i've always heard that chickens carry some kind of parasite or bacteria that is super deadly to rabbits if they have access to their manure, but i've also heard of people keeping chickens and rabbits together and they do fine for years. if you cleaned out the flooring every few days so they wouldn't be walking in each others' poop constantly maybe. both of those animals generate a phenomenal amount of manure. i had kept rabbits in a colony style pen for several months and eventually the ground just turned into poop and not much else. then 16 of those rabbits died horribly within 48 hours from something in the ground that popped up after a rain and that ended my adventures into raising rabbits on the ground.
 

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