I'm at the beginning stages of planning housing, etc for all of my future animals.
Since I don't plan on breeding for show and only meat I have been contemplating building a colony setting for my future rabbits. I plan on having one buck and two does.
In my initial design of the pole barn, I decided to put aside a 7' 3" x 15' 3" area for the rabbit coloney. In addition, I plan on making a "run" of the same dimensions outside for them.
The coloney will be floored in a few inches of concrete to prevent dig outs. This will be sealed and covered with bedding.
I will use hardware cloth for the "pen walls" inside the barn and I will be adding a pop door for them to access the "run" area.
I'll also be adding some various level tables/shelves in the coloney area as well, to give them additional square footage and to give them a "room with a view" (got that idea from Brody's blog!)
I'm still debating on how to treat the run area. I can either split it in two and give them access to one area at a time, giving the other a chance to recover or I can place wood framed "cages", that are a few inches high, over squares/rectangles of grass in order to let the rabbits nibble on the tips but not destroy it completely. (saw that idea somewhere too but don't remember where!)
Either way it will need to be planted with something that can tolorate alot of shade, since the side I had planned on putting it on is the north side. If that's not possible, I could always "swap" sides with the goats, since they won't be browsing in that area anyway. Not really sure about this, will have to give it more thought!
Anyway, any input on this plan would be more than welcome!
Since I don't plan on breeding for show and only meat I have been contemplating building a colony setting for my future rabbits. I plan on having one buck and two does.
In my initial design of the pole barn, I decided to put aside a 7' 3" x 15' 3" area for the rabbit coloney. In addition, I plan on making a "run" of the same dimensions outside for them.
The coloney will be floored in a few inches of concrete to prevent dig outs. This will be sealed and covered with bedding.
I will use hardware cloth for the "pen walls" inside the barn and I will be adding a pop door for them to access the "run" area.
I'll also be adding some various level tables/shelves in the coloney area as well, to give them additional square footage and to give them a "room with a view" (got that idea from Brody's blog!)
I'm still debating on how to treat the run area. I can either split it in two and give them access to one area at a time, giving the other a chance to recover or I can place wood framed "cages", that are a few inches high, over squares/rectangles of grass in order to let the rabbits nibble on the tips but not destroy it completely. (saw that idea somewhere too but don't remember where!)
Either way it will need to be planted with something that can tolorate alot of shade, since the side I had planned on putting it on is the north side. If that's not possible, I could always "swap" sides with the goats, since they won't be browsing in that area anyway. Not really sure about this, will have to give it more thought!
Anyway, any input on this plan would be more than welcome!