Colony under the cages?

Contemplating fencing off my rabbitry...the main reason is all that dang hay that goes to waste, falling through the cage floors! :hmm:
At first I was thinking keeping only buns bound for Freezer Camp on the floor, but then I got to thinking, that I could probably grow my wool herd, and enjoy the bunnies more, if I kept a colony of does on the floor and used my cages for the bucks - that way I could cut cage dividers and let the caged buns have more room (30x48" as opposed to 30x24").
I only have 3 adult does right now, and with a neuteral space of about 16x16', I think they could possibly settle their differences alright if given obstacles and hiding spots, and if not, those does could just stay caged. :shrug:

I don't know...maybe this is a bad idea. Half or less of the colony would be below the cages. It would be bedded with straw (it doesn't seem to mat in their wool so easy?), and I'd really love to see my bunnies running and binkying, rather than caged buns giving small vertical binkies and running in tight circles...
I don't know, I don't know! :cry_baby: I feel like someone ought to tell me no. Maybe I'm just daydreaming too much! I've wanted a colony for a few years now, and since my wool bunnies will essentially be pets, I'd like to treat them a little more like pets.

I think cocci(from feces exposure), urine(from above), and escape will be the biggest worrying factors.

If you have trays to collect mess and a very solid rabbitry enclosure I can't see any problem there.

My experience with angoras is that they tend to be quite docile, so they might be alright, especially with so much space, but...depending on the temperaments of your individual animals...anytime you leave intact adult animals alone there will be some risk of injury.

I'd consider it worth a shot, assuming you had no intentions of showing the animals in question. (just in case)

It's hard rocky earth with tons of tree roots from the forest (the rabbitry is built in a gap between the trees; some were cut down to make room and there's even a tree INSIDE the rabbitry! lol ), so I'm not real worried about digging out, and the entire ground floor was completely drenched with things like ammonia, bleach, and vinegar, while I was cleaning things out over the fall. It may not get sunlight, but I doubt much would've survived all that. No trays, but there would be less than half a dozen in cages above and probably another half dozen does at most below; though I don't recall even having an issue with buns being peed on even when my free-roaming bucks hung out directly under does 24/7. :? Temp regulation in summer is also another concern of mine - it'd be easier to keep them cool, I would think.

I don't raise wooly buns, so forgive me if this is dumb, but you'd be putting down a bedding, no? Any chance of it getting tangled in their wool?

The bedding would be straw, probably pine pellets too. Straw doesn't seem to tangle as bad as shavings or hay. :? <br /><br /> __________ Wed May 06, 2015 4:33 pm __________ <br /><br /> Another pen possibility would be to simply rabbit-proof my entire "rabbit yard" (my rabbitry is a shed open on 2 sides, making up one corner of the yard), but that would mean having them directly on dirt (I can't bed out the entire yard), and they could walk out into the rain if they felt like it.
Though, maybe by the time the rainy season came back around, I could have the rabbit shed fenced off so I could just confine them to that smaller sheltered spot in wet weather... :hmm:
They would be at no more risk to wildlife than my chickens, perhaps even less because they're right by the house. They'd make up for not being cooped up at night by being outside my bedroom window; and if something did try getting at them, the dogs would let me know, since they're always eager to go off at the slightest thing.