hello! i think i've decided the final plan for my colony area. it is all in a barn. it is about 130 square feet. is 3 by 4 ft pen big enough for a buck? it is inside the 130 sq ft and two of the four walls would be fencing so he would be able to see and snuggle the does/kits through the fence if he wanted. i am thinking i will buy a breeding age buck and doe. let them settle in (two weeks or so?) then breed her. i'm debating leaving the buck in with the doe until kindling gets close. then once she kindles they will have the whole colony, with the buck in his pen. i will keep two does from that litter (is that the correct term?) and sell what i can of the rest and freezer camp for what doesn't sell. this way i will hopfully avoid fights among does, since they will have never been seperated. rebreed 42 days after kindling (still thinking on pros and cons of sooner or later rebreedings).
thanks! and any other sugggestions or tips are always appreciated.


btw the floor is dirt and i'm going to cover it and up the walls a bit with fencing.

I'm not sure about the answer for your first question but a 3x4 foot pen is extremely large for one buck. I had a doe and buck in a 36x36inch cage recently for 3 weeks and they were happy together. Our other two are in 28x18inch cages and they weight between 8-10lbs each and seem happy as clams although they do get out to play on the barn floor for an afternoon once or twice a week.

ah... <ponders>
so estimating 2x2 sq ft per rabbit i could have about 30 rabbits in 130 square foot... that seems like alot! and if there are litters i'd divide by 1/4. so... about 8 rabbits with varying litters... still seems like alot to me... <shrugs> well i dont plan to have that many for quite a while if at all. good to think about though.

i also want to have a movable fence set up for grazing outside in the summertime.

Fencing on dirt or compacted lime floors does not work. It will rust through within a year and it makes cleaning out the old bedding very difficult. Also rabbits do everything they can to pull it away from the edges or tear through. If you use cheap fencing like poultry wire or anything of a light gauge the rabbits can tear through it. Especially once it starts to rust. They will happily go right through the wire and down in to the floor. For right now we have plywood over half the colony and rubber stall mats on the rest. I know the plywood won't last long either. I'm debating between sealing it really well or getting another roll of cheap vinyl that I've been using for solid floored cages and just cover our compacted lime that way.

130 sq ft should be enough for 2, maybe 3 does depending on temperament. We have 6 right now in a little over double that plus we had 3 bucks with them and we have about 2x5' as a growout pen. That has started to get too crowded though and the does are turning violent from lack of territory. I pulled out 2 bucks and 1 doe and I will probably cull 2 does by spring. We're looking at something like 40 kits running around the colony by the end of this month.

well i've already read alot about the "no chicken wire" bit. i was planning to use welded wire, like rabbit cage wire. i had planned to use hay as bedding and clean out, rebed about once a week or so. hm... i wasnt thinking the fence would deteriorate that fast...
http://www.tractorsupply.com/cage-wire- ... n--3627209
http://www.tractorsupply.com/welded-wir ... t--3626520
that was the fencing i had in mind.

Like I said, I have no knowledge of raising rabbits in a colony, and very very little rabbit know how in general. 30 rabbits in one area seems like a crazy amount, especially when you remember that they're territorial. I was mostly commenting on the size of the bucks cage. If you have the extra room to give him such a big place, that's great.

i meant that as an agreement. sorry if it sounded like i meant otherwise. i dont want to have rabbits in small little areas. even when i was "dream planning" rabbitry with cages, i was gonna make my own cages that were much bigger than the ones sold.

I planned my pens to put 3 does in a 9' x 12' area. That's 108 ft, or 36 ft each. To my eye, that looked like a reasonable amount of space for them. I've had no troubles with territory fighting over the last 9 months since I built the first pen, but all my does are related and gentle. I'd be comfortable putting 4 does in your 130 sq ft space.

I agree that it depends a lot on the does. Good-tempered, related does that are raised together - sisters or mother/daughters - can often get along in an area where unrelated does would fight. Just remember to factor in the space needed for the kits if all the does are kindling at the same time.

As far as the flooring. We use wire cubes (like for a shelves). We bought some for a huge cage I made and when our does made two holes in the center of the colony, we decided we needed to put in wire. So the whole bottome of our colony has the wire. It is covered with dirt and works to stop the digging. I wish there was a way to keep grass. They love the litter box when they were inside, I wonder if I made a little wooden box with hay inside the colony if they would use it? (They go in one corner mostly) Then I wonder if you could get grass to grow every where else.

SweetHome,

I would think if you want grass in a colony, it would have to be managed by pasture rotation. Let them graze one section, and move to a new section to let the first rest and regrow, etc.

My whole rabbitry area is wire under about 12" of washed play sand, this is where the buns play and the hutches are in there too, as this whole area is enclosed with shade cloth to keep out the sun, flys and mosquitoes.