JaredI
Member
After researching for about two months online, I feel I've gathered enough information to attempt an outdoor colony.
We built a 40'x70' pen with 2"x2"x3' galvanized wire with 2' of chicken wire on top, to give me a 5' high fence. Placed 30" wide tin under the wire leaving about 2' of it on the inside of the rabbit colony. Poked holes through the tin every couple feet and stapled (of sorts) the 2x2 wire to the ground with good ole #9 wire bent in a J shape. Put about a 4" layer of sand and gravel on top of tin.
Ran an electric fence on top of chicken wire and about 5 inches from the ground. Hoping this, along with my dog and Smith&Wesson will detour and or eliminate any raccoon's, coyotes, or other predators eyeballing the buffet on the other side. For the snakes, I'm hoping my 20 guinea fowl will do their job. If not, maybe I'll need to hatch some more next year.
Inside the colony, we dug 20 holes, about 4-6 inches deep and put 4x4 blocks 2 high, in a V shape, around these, and covered with more blocks. With luck and a little rabbit ingenuity these will hopefully be their burrows. The plan is to cover the 4x4s with dirt and plant grass, herbs or whatnot on them. In the middle of the colony we have placed their feed box, and water.
All of this is in the middle of a bunch of rocky mountain junipers which should give them some pretty decent winter wind protection, should they choose to play above ground, and some nice cooling shade in the summer. If I need more room for this colony, I can very easily expand it. Space is NOT and issue.
I chose the colony route as our summers are usually well over 100 degrees, and our winters get -40 degrees. I felt this was the most sure way keep a viable temperature zone for the least amount of money. Finally we introduced the rabbits, 19 does ( 4 weeks and up) and one buck, all nzw and cali. The buck will get his own hutch in about a week, then we can better manage a breeding cycle of our choosing. When our cali buck is old enough, we will have a 10 doe to 1 buck ratio.
If this works, it could very well be my wife's favorite place to be. She absolutely loves baby (anything) she would adopt a baby elephant if she could.
We built a 40'x70' pen with 2"x2"x3' galvanized wire with 2' of chicken wire on top, to give me a 5' high fence. Placed 30" wide tin under the wire leaving about 2' of it on the inside of the rabbit colony. Poked holes through the tin every couple feet and stapled (of sorts) the 2x2 wire to the ground with good ole #9 wire bent in a J shape. Put about a 4" layer of sand and gravel on top of tin.
Ran an electric fence on top of chicken wire and about 5 inches from the ground. Hoping this, along with my dog and Smith&Wesson will detour and or eliminate any raccoon's, coyotes, or other predators eyeballing the buffet on the other side. For the snakes, I'm hoping my 20 guinea fowl will do their job. If not, maybe I'll need to hatch some more next year.
Inside the colony, we dug 20 holes, about 4-6 inches deep and put 4x4 blocks 2 high, in a V shape, around these, and covered with more blocks. With luck and a little rabbit ingenuity these will hopefully be their burrows. The plan is to cover the 4x4s with dirt and plant grass, herbs or whatnot on them. In the middle of the colony we have placed their feed box, and water.
All of this is in the middle of a bunch of rocky mountain junipers which should give them some pretty decent winter wind protection, should they choose to play above ground, and some nice cooling shade in the summer. If I need more room for this colony, I can very easily expand it. Space is NOT and issue.
I chose the colony route as our summers are usually well over 100 degrees, and our winters get -40 degrees. I felt this was the most sure way keep a viable temperature zone for the least amount of money. Finally we introduced the rabbits, 19 does ( 4 weeks and up) and one buck, all nzw and cali. The buck will get his own hutch in about a week, then we can better manage a breeding cycle of our choosing. When our cali buck is old enough, we will have a 10 doe to 1 buck ratio.
If this works, it could very well be my wife's favorite place to be. She absolutely loves baby (anything) she would adopt a baby elephant if she could.