Newbie Colony question size

Hi everyone

I've been reading this forum to learn as much as I can about raising and breeding rabbits in a colony. We don't have the rabbits at the moment, but have had rabbits for a few years as pets, so not a complete newbie to looking after them, just to breeding and definitely to colonies as we had our pet rabbits in seperate normal size hutches.

I have an old chicken tractor that I would like to use initially (so that I can get the rabbits now rather than in 6 months time) and would like to know if it will be big enough for 2-3 does and one buck New Zealand Whites (the 'house' would be modified as necessary). The tractor itself would be located inside our chicken 'compound which has 8ft wire fences,(3 layers of bird wire on the bottom 3ft), bird netting over the top and hotwire top and bottom. The only predators we have are foxes, feral cats and birds of prey and this compound has been secure from these predators for our chickens. The size of the tractor cage is approx 10' x 3ft' and the wire is plastic coated aviary wire. The rabbits will be raised for meat, so the size of the colony will only be the breeding adults (trio or 4 maximum) and babies up to 8-12 weeks - will this ex-chicken tractor be too small for that purpose?

We live in a temperate climate, so mild winters, but our summers do get hot and dry (40 degree celcius + is not uncommon). I would use tarps or pvc sheeting for rain protection and shade, but would most likely need to relocate it to another location under big trees in summer (I'm in Australia so its winter here now).

The other alternative (and longer term preference) would be to make the colony within the "compound" but as a separate pen to the chickens min 15' x 15' in size. I would prefer to do this long term, possibly by even digging in pvc pipes and 'burrows' that I can access from above the ground, rather than laying wire on the ground to prevent digging. The rabbits would be separate from the chickens, but I would like to know if regular chicken wire would be sufficient for this and what height would I need it to be to keep the rabbits in their pen?

I would be getting all young stock at the same time, so hope that would avoid any territorial problems.

Any advice and suggestions are welcome, and I look forward to learning more from eaveryone here

Cheers

Michelle

oops, forgot to add the photo!

Your chicken tractor could work for short term(adult only)-- But DO NOT use poultry/aviary wire-- you need a heavier gage rabbit wire. A rabbit can really tear apart poultry wire--
15x15 is a nice size for a breeding quartet- but-- be aware-- the area will 'sour' You will actually want two or three areas that you can rotate the breeders through, in order to give the vegetation a chance to recover, and for Mother nature to undo the damage by concentrations of animal waste.

Thanks for the info Terry!

I did think the chicken wire would not be strong enough. The plastic coated wire on the tractor is what I think you call hardware wire in the US - is that suitable for containing them?

Hardware cloth works to contain rabbits
my escapees have dug out every time ..

I've been looking at other types of weldmesh today to get prices for making a very strong portable tractor, looks like I may be able to stretch the budget to get that sooner rather than later.

I would use the chicken tractor inside the chicken "compound", but moving the rabbit yard inside the compound would be difficult so unless I raise it off the ground that is not a long term option. I worry about foxes getting through the plastic coated wire if I put it outside the compound which is where it needs to go to be able to move it regularly for health (cocci) and summer shade. Our house paddock is about 5 acres, so plenty of space to move it to fresh ground.

Depending on what size and length panels I end up with, the ones I am looking at would probably make the tractor 13ft x 6.5ft (approx as I am converting from metric here). The height would be about 35" (90cm) with multiple hinged 'lids', and I would also put in shelves around the edges to increase the floor space.

Obviously this is smaller than 15x15, but as I could move it frequently to fresh ground, would it be suitable for a quartet or only a trio? If necessary I could section one end off as a separate cage for the male, but in an ideal world would keep them together 90% of the time. Weaned babies would be moved to the chicken tractor that would be raised of the ground but within the safety of the chicken compound.

I would like to make sure I go above the minimum requirements per rabbit for floor space in a colony, can anyone suggest what a minimum space would be for NZ whites so I can work it out if the mesh panels are a different dimension to what I have said here?

One more question, would 1" x 2" mesh for the bottom (which would be sitting on the grass) be small enough to avoid escapees, and also for the mesh on the top? I would use either 1"x1" or 1"x 1/2" for the sides.

!x2 on the bottom would be fine-- BUT-- when you meshin the bottom of a tractor-- the forage tends to lay flat underneath it. The iodea behind the tractor is to have good access to the forage. If you are moving the tractor every day, so that plenty of forage is available-- the rabbits usually are content to stay within the confines of the tractor walls. Sometimes, this means moving the tractor twice a day.

Something you can consider, if you are concerned about dig outs--find on freecycle or whatever free list of unwanted "stuff' exists for your area-- and claim any old chain link fence you can. prepare a large area for it, lay it down, then plant your forages over and through it. The tractor, with no bottom, is kept over the horizontally fenced area-preventing dig outs and burrowing. On a hillside, the fence also helps prevent erosion of any bare soil.