steve&kris
New member
Hi all, we've never had rabbits, though we're experienced with Chickens. I'm on here to learn how to not screw things up....and I'm starting from the absolute bottom. We're on 10 acres surrounded by woods with few neighbors, so our area is great. I've got a lot of questions though. Not sure if the thing to do here is to put those into this thread or if it should be another...but here goes as an initial pass:
1. I have a shed I could put them in, but that would be way harder for me to keep clean and if I'm doing wire bottoms I hate to make my shed smell like rabbit pee forever. I also have a three sided "firewood shed" I could convert. Lastly I have a hoop house netted greenhouse that I could put plastic over to cover from rain/snow but keep open airflow (leaving the ends netted). I like the last option...but curious from others if that would be okay. I could suspend the cages from the top so predators can't break in and get to them (though I'd also strenghten it with chicken wire/ect around the bottom). What sounds best? None of these options are temp controlled, and we're in Western PA, btw.
2. I plan on buying wire cages, though I see there are a lot of options as far as size and wire type (bottoms, esp). If I plan on starting with one buck and two does (but plan on growing to provide rabbits for a family of 4 as a smaller portion of our meat), how many cages should I buy and what sizes. What other things should I buy... is there a "starters" shopping list put together that I could follow? I tried a search... I'd think that would be a common question but I didn't find it.
I'll have a bunch more questions... but those are my most pressing to get started.
1. I have a shed I could put them in, but that would be way harder for me to keep clean and if I'm doing wire bottoms I hate to make my shed smell like rabbit pee forever. I also have a three sided "firewood shed" I could convert. Lastly I have a hoop house netted greenhouse that I could put plastic over to cover from rain/snow but keep open airflow (leaving the ends netted). I like the last option...but curious from others if that would be okay. I could suspend the cages from the top so predators can't break in and get to them (though I'd also strenghten it with chicken wire/ect around the bottom). What sounds best? None of these options are temp controlled, and we're in Western PA, btw.
2. I plan on buying wire cages, though I see there are a lot of options as far as size and wire type (bottoms, esp). If I plan on starting with one buck and two does (but plan on growing to provide rabbits for a family of 4 as a smaller portion of our meat), how many cages should I buy and what sizes. What other things should I buy... is there a "starters" shopping list put together that I could follow? I tried a search... I'd think that would be a common question but I didn't find it.
I'll have a bunch more questions... but those are my most pressing to get started.