My rabbit colony is nearly ready

The east half of the goose house has been cleared, a partition erected, two nest tunnels made by recycling our old chicken nest boxes (community style). I need to set up one or two more possible nest sites, since there are three does.

I made a hay silo from a section of 4x6 inch fence wire by bending it into a cylinder. I filled it about half way today and I think it is going to work very well. Should last them quite some time and I won't worry that they are out of food. I feel much happier now that I have some really good alfalfa hay as well as the grass hay.

Part of the wire panel partition swings outward. To prevent escapes I will put a step-over partition across the gap. Water will be in a large rubber pan set on a patio stone to the right, within reach from outside the colony. Grain will go in a crock to the left, also within reach. Fresh foods will go into a pan between the two. One "normal" days I will be able to feed and water the buns without going in, which is a bonus when the ground is messy with mud or snow.

I'd like to give them more "furniture" but at the moment there are three bales of this year's hay stacked in one corner. It's not great hay and will be used for bedding for the critters this winter and garden mulch in the spring. But this is the only really dry space I have for it at present. I expect the rabbits will bounce around on it and use it for a perch.

Total cost of this project? Five dollars for a bale of wood shavings. I'll be putting straw and/or hay down as well, but a layer of shavings really helps absorb any moisture. Everything else is recycled or has been kicking around the place, cluttering things up.

The shavings were a bit aromatic, so I'm letting the place air out for a couple of days while I finish the details. Then I will put our buck, Jasper, in to establish his territory. Once he is settled in, I will add the three does. Alice is the mother of the other two, Sage and Rosemary. I expect there will be some chasing at first, but I do not anticipate major problems. I'll make sure they are a little hungry and scatter some yummy greens for distractions.

can i see pics of the nest tunnles? I wanna try something like that but cannot find pics of them anywhere

I'm hoping to post a few pictures, once the rabbits are in the colony and I'll take a couple of the nest tunnels then. Anntann has much nicer tunnels than mine though... I'm pretty sure she has pictures on here somewhere.

Sounds really good Maggie. Mom and I are converting her shed into a winter colony. It is about a 20X20. We are going to partition it so we can have 3 breeds in there. The rex, nz's and the cals. I will only have trios of each in there. It stays quite a bit warmer in the shed during the winter, so hopefully I will still get babies.

Oh, wow! 20 x 20... I envy you having that much space.

Seems these floor pens in sheds are becoming quite popular. It will be very interesting to compare notes as time passes and we learn what works and what doesn't.

My reasons for wanting the rabbits in a colony are to reduce daily chores, provide a more natural lifestyle for the rabbits and - hopefully - to boost productivity. I'm a terrible procrastinator when it comes to breeding the rabbits. I'm hoping they will take care of this on their own.

Oh, I can't wait to see pics! I wish I had space for this. I keep trying to figure it out, but with our mud and the town's rat problem, a cement floor would seem to be a critical thing...I hate rats. I have decided to rabbit proof the grass floored dog run and give them supervised turnout next spring. But that won't really reduce my chores any...

So far in my experience rabbits will rip a bale of hay or straw apart within the week. You won't have any bales to remove and you don't have to spread the straw or hay for bedding out. They quite enjoy digging at the sides, making tunnels, and after a few days or so cutting through the strings. Don't stack them too much so the bales don't collapse on them when they break a string. Even after the bales fall apart they'll still use the slices to tunnel between and under until it all gets broken up. Raz and the 6week old kits were all under a slice of straw in the middle of the pile today. My stack of 3 straw bales has turned in to 2 bales worth of loose straw and 1 bale of separated slices with no help from me.

For hay I just took a large cage pan and toss one or 2 slices of hay on. I think it's a 30x30" pan and fits pretty perfectly. They waste less than the caged rabbits even without having the hay enclosed. 1 of my caged rabbits probably wastes more hay by himself than the does and kits altogether and he has a mesh hayloft.

Well, the rabbits are in the colony! :bouncy:

Jasper went in a few days ago and was just sooooo happy to have all that space. Sage, Rosemary and Alice joined him this morning. Jasper is now a very busy and happy boy, and we saw him score with Alice already. Fortunately, he is distracting the does from the fact that they are sharing a pen. No problems so far, but I am keeping an eye on Rosemary. She's not vicious, but she is the only one that, when spooked, has occasionally tried to bite. We trimmed all their nails before releasing them and I recommend this to anyone who is setting up a new colony. Much easier to do when transferring them than later on.

:bananadance: Whoo-hoo!! Good luck!

Thanks, Eco2pia!

Just went down to check on them. They are hopping around exploring but look very calm and relaxed. Jasper seems to have backed off for the moment... probably tired. :roll: I think they are going to be very happy in their new colony.

I hope you're right about that, Marian. One of my son's concerns was that the rabbits would breed throughout the winter and we would end up with a lot of kitsicles.

David found Jasper and our most skittish doe, Rosemary, cuddled up together this morning in one of the nest tunnels. I can imagine how they spent the night! :laugh: This was one of the does that was so resistant to breeding in cages. I am so glad not to have to stand around waiting for them to breed anymore!

I tell ya...those bucks DO know how to court the ladies. I've watched Peter a number of times now with new ladies. If they reject him at first, he grooms them, lays down next to them, gets them to trust him. Watched Sam do the same thing with Bessie. I really think it's that relaxed time...no one watching, no tension in the room.

Just remember to put in loads of hay or straw when it's nest time.