input please on this type floor? wood slats?

so I have this website that I skim a lot. my dad found it and I aptly save it as "dad's great big website of everything" :roll: cue the old song from that 'stanley' cartoon.. theres even an article there "camels and camel milk"! anyway there is a few on rabbits and I have thought about it a lot off and on and haven't seen really anything on it else. slat flooring in hutches.
here is the website link: fastonline.org/CD3WD_40/CD3WD/INDEX.HTM
the hutches with bamboo or wood slat floor: http://fastonline.org/CD3WD_40/CD3WD/AG ... B101_6.HTM

So I have been thinking several things..
1) Joel Salatins farm has pasture rabbit tractors that use slat bottom to keep the rabbits from getting out but also able to eat through. obviously though a raised hutch would need smaller spacing than that so kits didn't get feet caught etc.
2) my experience with wood hutches has been good and bad. a lot of bad ie poopy mushy rotting of wire stapled to wood where the rabbits are on it. a lot of good with certain nest box types.
3) I really wonder on how well poops would actually fall through. and what the best spacing and slat measurements are best. here is copied from the page: "for the floor, you can use round pieces of wood, straight tree branches or pieces of bamboo about 3 cm in diameter, with a space of no more than 1.5 cm between them."
4) I wonder if this would be good for certain breeds more than rabbits in general. like Flemish giants which need the extra support and strength of flooring. but again with the spacing for poops to fall through. although I did once read a page/article that said about slightly angle the floor slats so poops roll away.
5) how badly on average would the rabbits actually wear the wood. mainly thinkin of chewing it at first. then of course from worry of poop build up etc.

thoughts? anyone ever had/tried it?

My concern would be the urine. You would never get the wood clean. :x

Here we don˙t use wire cages, everything is wood and in the most part we have deep bedding, not "fall-through" system. The main reason for wooden hutches is price and availability of the wood - we made this thing on pictures for about 50 dollars.

I have different system (For me this is IDEAL ) like one on yours pictures


Top row is solid


While the bottom has a little gap for urine


At the moment I only have one nibbler and through the years I found our that they don`t really chew on floor or walls, but they like "i dont know the proper term ". They were nibbling on all-wooden hayrack, I now know that they will nibble on that bar in the middle of one hutch (seen on picture two. we misscalculatedwith the door so there was too big of a gap and we put a bar between).
Bottoms will worn out in about 10-15 years and we will just replace them, while the frame is "timeless"

I have to say, those wooden hutches are just lovely! I adore the way the entire front opens up. No problems with urine then? :shock:
They would be out of reach around here though, I can't even imagine how much it would cost to build those nice hutches (unless you just happened to have plenty of scrap lumber already lying around!).

We also have wooden hutches here, due to wire cages not being standard and therefore being tough to get. I would, personally, much prefer something wire bottomed due to the extra labour required in getting out poops and urine before they build up inside and cause potential hygiene issues.

I got in a minor car crash last winter and was laid up for a week or so, and while my partner took over food and water, he wasn't interested in mucking out shavings and poop and such... When I got back up and able to do it, I had a lot of soggy poo-piles to shovel out, there were tiny flies living in the piles (wouldn't care on the floor or on my compost heap, but care inside a closed hutch right next to my buns!) and I could see where the urine had soaked through the wood of the top hutch in the toilet corner and run down into the hutch below. That's kinda gross, in my opinion. Not to mention the additional cost of bedding shavings, which I go through pretty fast!

I wish wire cages were socially acceptable over here, but they aren't. Anyone looking into my garden and seeing wire, especially with all-albino buns and plenty of kits year-round, would assume I was running some kind of horrible facility and call animal welfare. When I live somewhere not overlooked, I'm building a proper wire floor hanging cage rabbitry and not looking back, but that's just me.

I would assume bamboo or wood-slat floor would be somewhere between solid wood and wire in terms of hygiene and cleanability. I can't speak to the safety aspect of little legs slipping through slats, but I would be a bit concerned. I'm sure poops would go through just as well as wire or better... But tiny kits just coming out of the nest box might struggle on poorly-spaced slats.

I personally don`t have problems with urine, but you are used to wire cages so I believe somethings may be problematic to you. Like I said, we have deep bedding so the rabbits are dry and on the soft ground. This is actually brand nwe and not finished yet, but I had a similiar thing and when I cleaned it I waited a day or so to dry out before putting the rabbits back in.

I think is vice-a-versa here and there. Just the wire on the doors would cost as much as the whole thing, but I got "leftovers". And yes, this is from bought scraps, all of the wood was around 20dollars. Someone`s trash is "my precious" :lol:

thanks for the input everyone.
yes I have dealt with a big hutch that was solid wood floored and hated it. I am wondering though if I had not very wide wood slats and even spacing between if it might not be ok though. just keep one of those little hand brooms handy to brush away any lingering poops. if I could do that daily and scrape anything that was trying to stick it might be fine. although yes on the clean, I would be screwed if rabbits started getting sick.
there is a mill 'around the block' here run by the amish and I think they have cheaply priced slat wood.

For me, personally, I would never use wood hutches. They look fantastic for a while but over time not so much. Over time the urine will destroy the flooring, bacteria can build and thrive in the wood, and if that wasn't bad enough the buns will put the wood through another workout. They like to chew, and dig. :x :lol:

Just my 2 cents.
Best of luck.

Well, in this part of the world wooden hutches are normal, and wire cages would freak out every ARA :? , thanks to a decade long crusade against chicken wire cages in commercial egg farms. Wire+animals=nogo. Sensible arguments are pretty much wasted.

I built my old hutches with (mostly too narrow) slots between the boards (today I would use min. 10mm, where I could I opend them up with the chainsaw), at the 2-storey hutch there is a plastic chute between floor and ceiling. But most of my buns use their toilet pans anyway, so no problem with urine.
Sure have to clean them more often than a wire cage, since wasted hay and grass becomes bedding, together with bunnyberries clogging up the slots. But that's the way it worked over here not causing big problems for centuries, right, it doesn't look so pretty and smell builds up faster for sure, bit that's not a health issue. And it's not like wire hasn't some drawbacks too.

There is no problem with digging or chewing, except for the lower board of the hutch doors, they enjoy reducing that to splinters - I install a replaceable gnawing board inside the door that is higher than the actual door frame. Also the wood will last a long time, the other breeder down the road has some problems with floor boards getting weak, after about 20 years.

I build new hutches right now, inspired by the wire cages and some experiments of my own the floor will be made of almost 1" broad sticks, 10-11mm apart. With drop pans. Should work and cost nothing since I recycle palets. This floor should stay pretty dry, but mayby I'll fry the sticks in vegetabel oil- that makes them last much longer in humid invronments. But that still needs some experiments since first tests show that oil also makes the wood more tasty than untreated wood. But I dont think they would gnaw at the floor...
Anyway, these floors will be removeable so I can hose them down or replace them when necessary.

Can wire be used along the back and or corner areas? Not sure how I'd design such a hutch but those are the main potty areas. There would be plenty of foot friendly wood for the activists, and possibly less mucking.

I do know, that even with 1/2 in x 1 inch floor wire, adventurous kits who leave the nest box early, can get a foot caught. It goes through, they turn, and catch it. I had the first one doing that a month ago or so. Poor guy would scream. I kept putting him back in the box and his feet eventually got too big for that thank goodness. But that's just an idea for gap sizes. Poop size is foot size so not quite sure what size gaps I'd use for kits.

Thank you for your experience with European wood hutches, Nika, myrkari, and Preitler!!! It really is a switcheroo over here regarding the wood vs wire housing. If anything this proves there are just as many ways to house rabbits as there are rabbits! One idea for those interested in some wire.... can you order 1/2"x1" wire just for the floors and build the wood hutch around it? That way nobody can see your wire flooring but you still have catch pans and a breeze?

What do each of you really like about the wood hutches vs wire? Just curious.

Just my two cents,
When I first started with Rabbits I had a slew or wooden Hutches!
It turned into a HORROR show! I was standing outside for WAY TOO long
feeding and watering my herd In the Weather: Wind, Snow and Rain,
not to mention sometimes extreme COLD!
I finally awoke and build myself an enclosure:
For lack of a better name, a "Rabbit Barn".
With my herd indoors in all wire cages, the "work"
became much more comfortable. I did not end up soaked to the skin,
with hands nearly frozen to nearly frostbitten.
When you are comfortable it becomes easier for you to spend more
time with your Rabbits. I suggest that you go with all wire cages,
hang them from the rafters on lengths of Chain and {S} hooks!
Try it, you might like it.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

I stopped using exposed hutches 40+ years ago.

The continual fluctuations in temps and weather conditions
made it almost impossible to carry one any form of breeding
on a year-round basis.

The all wire cage allows all exposed surfaces to be sanitized
above and beyond what a wooden hutch would allow. It's a
big plus for overall health of the herd. And a bigger plus for me.

On our coldest day of the season minus 6 below Zero Farenheight (sp?)
the interior of the rabbitry never got below 38. I can handle that.

Grumpy.

What do each of you really like about the wood hutches vs wire? Just curious.

Click to expand...

Well, some random thoughts:
My hutches are outdoors, you would need to shelter wire cages. Rabbits can handle -20C outdoors without problems.
I wouldn't know where to get such wire, and it would be quite expensive.
Then there's this thing with kits on wire. Traditional old time farmers here have no nestboxes. The nest is just in a corner in the hay bedding. Kits are not prone to freeze anywhere, they'll find the nest.
I use nestboxes, but not the way that is common in the US- it's a seperate closed room or box with one entrance just big enough for the doe, it too serves as shelter and hiding place. With a predator on the front door I do think my buns like a hiding place. And the does act out a natural behavior- for the first 1-2 weeks the entrance gets stuffed tight with hay. They would do this in a burrow.

Wire cages sure are very practical, and the buns obviously get used to them anyway when they know nothing different - before I found that forum I wouldn't have considered that possible. Me know nothing :roll:
Well, almost nobody over here has ever heard of wire cages for rabbits. It took me some time to get used to that idea. That's why I'm reluctant to point somebody from here at this forum, I sure wouldn't mention it on a local rabbit board, there are some, well, not very openminded people there.

I like the idea of a wooden hutch with wire floor, well, not actual wire. There are plastic grate tiles with square holes for rabbit cages available, which are essentially the same as wire, not cheap. I think my grate of 1" sticks will work, the top floor of one of my hutches stays clean that way.

And, of course, it sure makes a difference if you have 2 or 50 does. I'm sure all bigger, commercial rabbitries use wire cages (not that I know of any here).

Well, it's obviosly one of that things that are different - when I was in the US the first time I thought WTF??? when I saw that there is someone to put your purchase into bags in supermarkets, never seen that :lol:

On the Craigslists ads here in Ohio, there is both wire and wood hutches for sale. The high production rabbitries are all wire, but as one can see from the sales ads, there are folks who like wood too.

I like your idea with the space between the slats. Urine and poo can go out, air can come in, which is really what most people want from their rabbit housing anyway. Thank you for sharing what you find ideal about the wood hutches!!

there is several mini-groves of fast growing trees. quick check to see if they are safe woods and I am thinking I will utilize them into the majority of a hutch. see if I can do it and how it puts up to housing a rabbit. when I do it I will have pics to share of course.

Well, ideal keeping of rabbits looks something like this


Preferably with watchdogs and pest control


But, we have to keep them save especially at night so some kind of housing is necessary. I agree with Preitler in pretty much everything. Someone also said that rabbits really like to chew on wooden hutches and because of that wire is better.I don˛t agree - rabbits should be properly "entertained" so they won`t chew the wood rather then put them in a wire where they can`t chew. But I understand that you have A LOT of rabbits compared to me and I believe that your set up is the best that it can possibly be for your conditions, I personally strive to have them out running and jumping as much as possible. I admit, I was againts wire cages before I came here on RT, because that few of people here that breed rabbits in wire cages they have cages in 1/4 of a size of yours. Really small. Almost like baterry chickens. I didn`t even know that you can have that much room in a wire and if it comes to that I would like to try it, but you really need a bunny barn for that to cope with different weather and stuff. So, wood here just fits in the surroundings and it is the most natural look you can get. looks good, smells good, feels good and last but not least - if rabbit is bored he has something to do :lol:

Nika, I can't see your images

EnglishSpot: in answer to your likes/dislikes question, I do like the fact that in my wood hutches, like Preitler, I don't need a "nest box" for my does to kindle in - so there's no chance of me putting it in on the wrong day or the doe not using it at all or pooping in it or tipping it out, etc - the does just make their nest in their favourite corner of their hutch, usually the half with the solid wood door rather than the wire door, and no kit can ever be born on the wire because there's no wire. The kits can't fall out of the box and be unable to crawl back in, because there's no walls - just a big birdsnest-style pile of hay and hair, if my does' nests are typical!

I also like that there is privacy from neighbours/people looking over my fence, they see "hutches with rabbits" - if they saw wire, like I said before and I think Preitler and Nika also said, they'd probably assume I was some kind of research facility doing animal cruelty things :x And, the hutch construction itself provides shelter from wind and rain because it has walls and a roof of its own, so it can be sited outside rather than in a barn building - although that's by no means perfect and I personally don't just leave the hutch to do all the work, I have the hutches under a built shelter from the elements (and newly built extra shade, since it got suddenly very hot here!)

But, I would happily sacrifice a lot of that convenience a hundred times for the easier clean-up of a wire floor. Having poop fall through and be away from buns and kits is the main attraction of a wire floor for me - plus I could sweep it up and use it as fertiliser without it being 50% soggy shavings and pee like it is now - with a secondary attraction of a much easier thorough clean-down of wire and less expense on deep litter bedding material. I currently go through a large bag of wood shavings meant for horse bedding every time I fully clean out the hutches, and that's an expense I could cut out entirely with wire floors.

I do like your suggestion of a "normal looking" hutch with a wire floor, to try and get some of the hygiene benefits above without attracting funny looks from the locals. I'd looked into it before - unfortunately I definitely couldn't modify my existing hutches as there's no inbuilt space for pans and they are in stacks, so one's floor is the next's roof. So I would be building from scratch and maybe reusing the top roof felt and such, which I can do (and I've been saving pallet wood for the building job) but it's going to be a big task.

Also, rather annoyingly, I can't seem to find 1 by 1/2 inch wire mesh in a reasonable gauge easily here - I can find so many US sites selling it, obviously because wire cages are normal over there, but over here 1 by 1/2 inch wire mesh seems to be about 20ga wire, which is so thin! It'd be floppy and useless and frankly I can't decide whether it would fall apart first or cut bunny feet to pieces first... 20ga is practically cheesewire It's what people build aviaries here out of, because we don't have things like raccoons to worry about and birds aren't heavy. I can find 16 and 14ga mesh, but only in big hole sizes for people-fences and dog enclosures. Siiiigh!

when i had less than 10 rabbits, I had outdoor wooden hutches. I like them just fine. Every few days I swept out the soiled bedding .

once I crossed the line, wood was impractical. bedding becomes expensive and more work to clean than waste falling into trays.

some people hate trays, and after 30, emptying trays becomes a pain and hanging one tier cages is easier.

if you only have a handful, then wood can work, and it can be really attractive, more so than cages, which give the barn a more commercial feel.

One thing I have to say about Ohio in particular, often it is wet here... So even if you use wire cages and use wood legs like I do, you need to get treated wood, the damp clay soil will rot your legs off.