bunnybunny
Member
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!
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!