Planning shelter and housing

Rabbit Talk  Forum

Help Support Rabbit Talk Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

MNBobcat

Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2011
Messages
15
Reaction score
0
Location
Minnesota
Hi Everyone,

I just joined the forum. I guess that makes me the resident newbie!

I've been reading a lot (few hundred posts) over the last few days. I also ordered "Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits, 4th Edition" which won't arrive until Wednesday.

I'm hoping you can help answer some questions. Here in Minnesota it can get down to -20 below zero in the winters and we get hail, freezing rain, etc. I need to figure out what to set up for housing my rabbits. I will likely have about 40 - 50 rabbits (depending on how they multiply) to start with this summer.

We have a lot of predators. Mostly bald eagles, hawks, owls, coyotes and fox. I have to protect the rabbits from predators that can dig under the fence and predators that fly. Our soil here is all sand.

I have 30 acres of land.


I'd prefer not to have to build a building for them if something less costly (and time consuming) is available.

I read that rabbits need to be exposed to the sun for vitamin D and then read that they need to be kept out of the sun? I also read that they need to be kept out of cold winds, etc. So it sounds like straight metal cages wouldn't be great if the rabbits have no way to find shade or get out of the weather.

I'm also confused when I read about people going the colony route and their rabbits tunneling underground when they have babies. What keeps them from going AWOL and tunneling outside of the enclosure and hopping off into the woods? What keeps other critters from tunneling in to eat the rabbits? It seems to me like you would want some kind of floor (even if metal wire) and no tunneling by your rabbits.

My other goal is building my shelter with an eye towards something that is easy to maintain. I wouldn't want to have to go clean every day, for example.

I'd really appreciate hearing your thoughts, suggestions, advice and would love to see photos of your set up!

Thanks,

Dave
 
I don't have the kind of weather you have, but I have wire floored hutches. My hutches were built with corrugated tin on 3 sides, a plywood roof topped with asphalt roofing, a wire front and floor. I used 4x4s for legs and 2x4s for everything else and--this is the really important part--I made a second "floor" under the first out of 2x4 fencing. It keeps predators from biting at their feet.

I like them, they are strong, easy to clean, poop falls through to the ground and can be raked into the compost every so often, and I feel fairly confident that they are predator proof(short of a bear!). Colonies seem nice, but I don't have the space, and I like more control, and that they are easier to catch in cages.

My weather is really mild though, we get a week in the teens each winter, and a week in the 100's each summer.
 
Hi Dave, and welcome! I'm guessing when you say 40-50 that you mean about 5 breeding does and the rest would be litters? How you protect the rabbits is really only limited to your imagination. I use cages with 1/2x1 flooring, under costco canopies. This has become temporary, as they've tried to blow away recently. I really can't speak to colony raising, as it's never even been something I'm willing to consider (that could change someday...ya never know with me).

There is a link around here somewhere where a lot of us posted our setups. I just can't seem to find it though. Here is a pic of my hutch system. When my rabbitry was smaller, these were perfect. Now I just use them for fryer pens. We always staple heavy tarps to them in the winter to keep the wind off of the rabbits.
 

Attachments

  • 101_0357-1.jpg
    101_0357-1.jpg
    47.6 KB · Views: 2,050
With the winds and cold we get, you'll want something that you can enclose during the winters. Cold, they can tolerate...cold and WET will kill them.

If you don't want to do a building, you could do hoop coops. Simple to build, expandable, and covered with clear plastic (the heavy house stuff) it provides a good sunny environment during the day, and protection from rain/snow. If you're in an area with HUGE snowfalls, you'll want to go with a steep hoop...higher than it is wide.

they can be built of pipe (like the commercial buildings) or Rebar/fencing or Cattle panels bent over and secured to landscape timbers or railroad ties, etc.

The other option is a portable garage. Plenty of people use them quite successfully. You'll need to get the best one y0ou can afford, tho, for the snow load.

Pfaubush's setup would work for you, too, as long as you can make "curtains" or walls for the winter.

You probably don't want to breed in the Winter months, btw. Just way too cold for the little ones to survive without some form of heating. (it's good to give the does a rest for a few months anyway, imo )

The colony thing: If you have a large enough area for them, and securely fenced to keep out predators, it would work. You can give them "houses" that they'll use to get out of the wind/sun/cold, and will kindle in. Or you can let the does dig tunnels. As long as the feeder/houses are in the center of your fenced area, they don't usually dig out. You just keep watch, and if you see a tunnel starting going toward the fence, you fill it in with rocks.

colonies can be a mixed blessing. Easier to take care of, the rabbits tend to be very active and seem happy...BUT you can't control breeding schedules if you leave the buck in with the does, and if one rabbit gets sick..they'll all get it fast. Also, the rabbits tend to be more wild. So it takes a lot of effort if you're going to do a full blown colony AND show the rabbits.

You could do a modified type, tho. In a hoop coop or building, build pens for 2 or 3 does (large pens like...4'x16' so they have plenty of room to get away from each other), and pens for the growout groups. Give them plenty of tubs or boxes to hide in and play with.
 
Hello Dave,
welcome to this forum you will find a vast variety of systems and ideas on
housing caring for and feeding your rabbit herd.
Some refrain from breeding in the colder months.
I breed my rabbits year-round and the kits do as well as should be expected
if the Dam builds an adequate nest. Certainly you run the risk of losing a litter or two
but for the most part the rabbit fair very well throughout the year.
Keeping your rabbits working will allow you to always have litters available
and resting Does tend to gain fat causing trouble breeding.
My Rabbitry/Barn for lack of a better name is a closed structure built of 4X4's, 2 X 4's
and plywood with corrugated metal roof. I built a Dutch Door in the front
and a solid side door on the back side. I used a section ofg cage wire to create a gate
which I close in the summer so I can leave the side door and the top of the Dutch door
open for air exchange. I also mount a box fan near the doorway blowing down the aisle,
NEVER directly on the rabbits. In the evening I close it all up for protection.
I learned the hard way after a Dog attack quite a few years ago.
You want to use all wire cages. 1" X 1/2" floor wire allows the dropping to fall
to the ground where you can rack them up periodically for use in the garden or compost bin.
All wire cages are the most healthy for your rabbits. You may want to build a few extra cages
so you will have them when you need them. You WILL need them!
Ottersatin. :eek:ldtimer:
 
Anntann":1pl91m2g said:
Pfaubush's setup would work for you, too, as long as you can make "curtains" or walls for the winter.

Just a quick note to say that we staple tarps around the hutches to make a 'building' out of it in the winter. I use the roll up type blinds on the sunny sides in the summer. It diffuses the light, but doesn't stop it. Works great.
 
I had a pretty open barn before I have the one I have now. It was just cages in a fenced in yard with shade cloth on the sides & roof. I lived in the high desert of CA, so it didn't get terribly cold, but we did get heat & we got A LOT of wind. We had vinyl stapled or secured to the back of the cages. Then we had vinyl that we could screw down/lay boards against, secure somehow on the front of the cages. We could also roll it up or take it off if the weather permitted.

As far as not wanting to clean the cages all the time, if you do worm beds, you won't really have to deal with cleaning them.

Qadoshyah

P.S. Welcome to the forum!
 
Thanks. Lots of good ideas!

I have a portable canvas garage. It collapsed from snow-load this past winter. I've had it for many years without issue but this was not a typical winter this year.

I am going to need something for the rabbits that will stand up to the winters. Either a wooden/metal rack (with roof) to hold the cages or perhaps a small pole building-like structure. Still thinking on it. Even an old truck box would work...though I'd have to put it out in the woods where its less visible.
 
There was a thread in the meat rabbit category recently. I agree we should maybe have a sticky with lots of eye candy pictures of everyone's set up somewhere! It would be fun, and a nice way for newbies to get ideas...and might motivate me to take more pictures...

Maggie?

Where should it go? Or does it already exsist and I missed it?
 

Latest posts

Back
Top