Colonies, Tunnels, and Nesting---HELP

So I converted to a 20X8X10 (L x W x H) hutch in May from hanging wire cages. It's basically a huge wire cage with wire 3 feet under ground (which was a lot of work to get down 3 ft and now regretting. Upkeep has been much easier. Last year I had tons of babies, TONS. This year, not so much. Im contributing the lack of litters from last year crazy heat problem which has not been an issue this year. Maybe they are still recuperating? I have 4 does and one buck all in the colony 24/7.

These guys love digging tunnels. The problem is, I step on and collapse the tunnels when I go inside and walk around. I've done this dozens of times. Once, I noticed missing kits...turned up dead after digging up the collapsed tunnels several days later. That sucked, big time! I made 3 wooden nest boxes and hurried those in the ground. Tunnels were less but they still managed to make tunnels around them that would get stepped on and collapse. Had a litter of 9 in a tunnel that turned up only cause the kits were over growing the tunnel/ nest. So even though I had the nest boxes in, they were not used. The nest boxes stay in the hutch 24/7. The nest box entrances get closed up with their digging or they are used to hide.

Any how, my frustration lies in the tunnels collapsing and the unused nest boxes.

Need some suggestions or ideas.

Lay down wire so that they can no longer tunnel where you don't want them to, that's the only solution I see to this issue.

I would lay some 2" x 4" fencing on the ground to keep them from being able to dig. Chain link would be even better, as it will take it forever to rust through.

Line the floor.

For now you can walk on long wooden planks that will spread out your body weight. Be carefully at the ends as you could collapse a tunnel.

You can also pave it with patio stones so you don't need to worry about rust in the future.

Crap. I put wire down on the floor but 3 feet down wire tied to the sides. This way they can dig to cooler dirt. I see them dig a bit here and there during the hot afternoon sun and stretch over the freshly dug dirt.

Maybe you could just have planks as permanent pathways, and avoid stepping on the dirt?

Maybe I'll put the nest boxes back under ground again with the entrance pre dug. In certain spots to prevent long tunnels.... I don't know...

If you like the idea of tunnels then segregate them to an area you don't need to walk on.

Excavate a corner and put up a wall, so they cannot tunnel under the new floor, then refill with dirt.

Actually, if you use a stong enough guage and closer mesh - like 2x3 RedBrand - you could probably walk on that without collapsing tunnels and just cut out squares for the entrances and exits.

Put a walkway down the middle of my colony. Laid 2 x 6 on edge tied together about every 4 feet with a 2X4. planks across the top tied together with another 2X4 on the outside of the 2X6 in about 3 foot section. this lets me raise the deck to get under. Rabbits dig under the walk but with 2X6 hold my weight (265 lbs ) no falling tunnels.

Update:

The litter of 9 mentioned above did great in the colony. Then had another litter of 8-9 that looked very healthy until they died 3-4 days later when we noticed the previous litter which wheeee 10-12 weeks old tackling the momma of the new litter for her milk!!!! Needless to say, the old litter went to freezer camp quick. Havnt had a litter since October. Not sure why except maybe because of the tunnels collapsing on their own. Don't know.

I have pulled out about 10 barrels of the dirt out to thin out their digging space some. Running out of patience.....

The cage system yielded tons of kits but the daily feeding and cleaning was a chore. Now with the colony setup, it's complete opposite with easy maintenance and no kits!!!! <br /><br /> __________ Tue Mar 18, 2014 1:26 pm __________ <br /><br /> I'm back to cages hung inside the walk in hutch. Kits will be free to roam the hutch after wean until camp day. I made five 3ft X 2ft X 2ft cages with drop nest boxes, built in hay feeders, pellet feeder, and hung in two days. Buns seem shocked at loosing all the running space but, hopefully no more lost nests and randomly scattered newly born kits all over the hutch floor, dead. Looking forward to my controlled breeding program again. It's more work, but it pays off in the end.

Maybe a pair would be better for a colony...