Got my Rabbit Shed done!

[Autumnarcher]

I fisnished up( for the most part) our rabbit shed. Its 12x12. RIght now I have 4 holes occupied, and 4 more ready to go once we start breeding them. I went for the most part with 30x36 cages, although I did get a few smaller ones. Our plan is to eventually have up to 16 if needed.

Today I build the poop collector under the 4 occupied cages. One is missing from the pic, I took my NZ red buck down to my neighbors farm. He has a big NZ doe that escaped, and since he doenst raise rabbits anymore, we're gonna try to use him to lure her in so he can trap her. We'll see how it goes, hope he can catch her so I can breed her. Anyway, heres a couple pics.
I still have my other 4 cages to hang on the opposite wall,and as we add more, they will go beneath these. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

Oh, my!! Gorgeous!!!

 

[Pink]

Love it! What a great ventilation idea!

 

[Autumnarcher]

Thank you. Once the threat of any more frost is gone, we're gonna plant morning glorys to climb up the lattice. It will still allow plenty of air flow, but provide some shade. We dont have any shade trees on our property, so it gets hot inthe summer. The shade from the flowers will help.

 

[Rustina]

Are the fronts of your cages attached to anything? You might try useing wire to attach them to the roof in front, will give extra support as they grow into big lovely bunnies !! awesome barn !!!!

 

[curlysue]

Very nice!

 

[ladysown]

very nice. Can you place a hinged tarp over the lattice= .... one that will go out on a angle, or can be brought down in inclement weather?

how did you attach the cages?

 

[Autumnarcher]

The plan is to puttyvek on the inside come winter as needed. The cages are attaced to a 2x4 with Picture hooks( heavy duty).I need to hang some wire to the ceiling to supportthe front of the cages. Work inprogress for sure.

 

[Cattle Cait]

I love it, that's a great idea!

 

[Mary Ann's Rabbitry]

Nice and airy. NOt closed in. I like it.

 

[Lilbunnyfoofoo]

Lovely! Going to share pic with DH. Hopefully get his wheels turning.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

What an excellent design! Congratulations! You are the number one contender for April's BunnyBarn-of-the-Month competition! :hooray:

Morning Glory plants are highly toxic and can cause hallucinations both by skin contact with the sap and by ingesting the seeds, so unless you want to raise psychedelic bunnies :zombiebun: , I would reconsider your choice of vining plants. Something edible for the bunrabs would be ideal- perhaps grapevines?

 

[Diamond]

Very nice! I agree with morning glories being a no-no. Try scarlet runner beans! They love heat, grow like weeds, have beautiful red flowers and edible bean pods that make good dried beans when over-mature.

Also hops vines are a fast-growing perennial once established. By year 2 or 3 you will not be able to keep up with them! And the whole vine dies back to the root come winter, easy to pull off and clean up. All my farm animals like to sneak a bite of our hops vines whenever they can.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Also hops vines are a fast-growing perennial once established.

Do you brew your own beer with the hops? We used to, in fact we served several different varieties at our wedding, but it has been years since we have brewed our own. It sure would be neat to get back into it with homegrown hops...

 

[Autumnarcher]

We got some heavy rain today, and wind, which let more rain into the shed that I expected. They didnt get wet, but somw tweaks are in order. We'll see how it goes as the weather gets hot, I dont want to close off too much of the lattice.

I like the idea of the hops vines, maybe some home brewed dark beer to go with some hassenpfeffer!

 

[currituckbun]

Wow! So nice.<br /><br />__________ Fri Apr 20, 2012 9:45 pm __________<br /><br />Wow! So nice.

 

[trinityoaks]

Where do you get hops vines? Would either hops or grape vines grow in Zone 9a? Would they grow in containers?

 

[bigbrologan]

I hope you don't mind my asking, but around how much did it cost to build the shed? Also, did you have the cages beforehand, or did you buy them? If so, where?

Thank you! And it looks great!

 

[skysthelimit]

can you put some kind of rain deflectors/awning over the lattice?

 

[Autumnarcher]

I think I have around $600 in the shed, I didnt keep track of it, and havent gotten my home depot bill yet. As for the rain deflectors, Im gonna put some of that green corrugated sheeting across the top of the upper row of cages to keep any blown in rain off. Right now i just stapled some tyvek paper up to keep rain off, and to cut down on some of the wind coming off the field behind the shed. Also gonna plan something viney to climb the lattice.

Im going to be building a pole barn, hopefully this summer. I'm gonna run the trusses out another 8' from the wall for a nice wide overhang the full length of the barn, 32 or 36'. I'll keep my tractor, and the rabbits in that once its done, and use this shed for meat chickens. We are also going to do about 25 turkeys starting next year too. I can sell those easy enough, and keep a few for us. I used to do turkeys years ago at my old house, I smoked 6-8 small hens and sold them at work for $40 ea.