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.

An ambitious project! You seem to have put a lot of thought into it and I hope it goes well for you. Do please post updates from time to time so we can learn from your experiences.

awesome i've always wanted to try a colony, and although we have the space, our neighbors would be all over us and i'd be worried about AR people seeing the rabbits, my garage is more out of sight.

Need to revamp some minor things. Hawks, thought there were enough trees to protect them, however, the few open spaces prove sufficient for hawks to get em. Had one get a broken back, I am pretty confident was a hawk attack. Will string some high tensile wire over colony, about 1-2 foot of spacing. Possibly follow the golden 3S rule. Shoot, Shovel, Shut up.
Also, 4 week old kits can get through the 2x2 wire (thought they might). Should put some chicken wire down low I reckon. However, my hopes are that once they start kindling their own, the babies won't stray too far from mom. Did lose one 4 week old nzw kit to our former house cat, which just suffered a fatal case of lead poisoning. Only cats around now are the occasional stray, fairly easy to remedy.

You shot your own cat?

Jared, you might try putting an electric wire low (about 2inches)and then nose-height(9") around the outside of the colony. that will keep cats, coons,dogs etc. away from the colony. You won't have to worry about predators. AND the rabbits won't worry.

If you create a critter proof colony, you don't have to worry about losses. Netting above, heavy wire below. We use 1/2" wire around the edges of the colony to prevent crawl out (and crawl in..snakes are rather happy when they find a newborn kit). the wire only has to be up 10inchs to prevent the kits from going out, and the snakes form crawling in. Also...racoons will reach in and grab an animal that is curious enough to get close to the fence.

I simply put low chicken wire around the outside of the fence .. it keeps stray paws etcc out of the colony no poblem

Thank you Anntann. I do have a electric wire low.. about 5 inches off ground, though I could drop it a little lower. I believe I am mostly predator proof. I was considering smaller diameter wire, for the lower part to stop the snakes. However, my guineas travel the area heavily, even inside the colony. If they do what they are supposed to, snakes won't live long around the colony. I do believe this winter will be my biggest challenge, the coons will probably be the biggest threat, possible bobcat and coyote as well. With the dog house right near the colony, and an active, protective dog inside, it will take a fairly hungry predator to give it try. Or so I hope. Keeping fingers crossed anyways.
But so far so good. I have only lost the initial two rabbits, and the rest seem very content to rest below the 1000gal propane tank, and under the taller vegetation, with the occasional races around the perimeter of the colony.

__________ Fri Sep 09, 2011 8:14 pm __________

So far so good. I seem to have the predator issues under control. The rabbits seem happy and content to run around. They nibble on all the plants in there, seemingly preferring broadleaf plants over grass. They have slowly but surely taken care of the curly cup gumweed (Grindelia squarrosa), field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis),koshia weed ( Kochia scoparia),and what we call ground cherries, which I believe are (Physalis subglabrata) apparently a member of the nightshade family, and they nibble on the bark, and green needles of western red cedar, and rocky mountain juniper trees. After watching them for hours on end I've noticed they never sit and eat any of these things for long, a few nibbles here and there, and off to other plants. They do look forward to my visits with pellets, I feel somewhat like the pied piper at this time, sometimes struggling to get through the gate without trampling rabbits.
They have yet to dig burrows, or even attempt to, where I wanted them too. One doe has started a burrow under the propane tank, she's old enough to be bred, but unsure if the buck has been successful, he may be a little too young yet.
Introduced a new rabbit to the colony, she is about 5 months old. There was a bit of fighting, with one other doe, but she has plenty of room to get away and out of site. Three days have gone by, and though she seems a bit shy, they all seem to be mingling fairly well with her.
Now if I could figure out how to get pics on here, I would do so. It says they are too big

This is the only way I can figure out how to get some pics of the colony out.http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.261263693904257.66161.100000618841006&l=728d64cfeb&type=1

hmmm..... When we had our colony, I had a rabbit get a broken back and I never could figure out how it happened. I never thought about a hawk. The fact that it was white and the others were darker agoutis would explain why it didn't happen to the others. It sounds like you have a great set up.

Jared:
I have had the snake problem with my hens. The crawl thru the chicken wire and eat eggs.

I took a note from the fish farmers. Get some bird netting, the kind you'd put over fruit trees. Cut it into two foot srips and place it loosely around the outside of the pen. Fasten it up about fifteen inches, then lay the last 9 inches or so flat on the ground and put a bit of dirt or sand over it to hold it in place.

Snakes will attempt to go thru it but will get stuck. They cannot back out so they attempt to turn and go thru another mesh and that is the end of them. They will be there when you come to relocate or exterminate them. It works, and the netting is not all that expensive. It comes in very wide strips, so you can cut two-foot strips off and greatly multiply the length of the piece you buy.

PS: I'm here because I am about to try the colony thing. I have a 25 foot square pen of 2x4 horse panel with netting above. I'm going to put in a pair of rabbits and see what happens.

Glad to see you here, Oxankle.

Your solution to the snake problem sounds effective. Hope your colony experiment goes well and look forward to updates about it.

Weather is getting disagreeable. Rain, and cold. Still no more rabbits have started to burrow. Drug an old pickup topper into colony, filled it with hay, and put food dish just inside it. They seem to be using this to get out of most of the ugly weather. Fairly disappointed in the lack of burrows. Maybe more just need to get bred.

Jared;
How about an update on your colony experiment? I notice that my rabbits are using an old piece of tin as shelter, no digging. It is cool here but no frost yet

A couple of very light frosts have hit. Chilly weather, but nothing severe. Only the one burrow, and it seems to be mainly one of the 3 older does (about 6 months old) digging it, though I see several milling around it. They have eaten all the plants I didn't fully expect them to eat, and are barely touching the grass, mostly mature bromegrass and crested wheat grass. They are nibbling more and more on the cedar and juniper, going to have to put a tree protector around the trunks. I'm throwing in some field sunflowers, huge heads, they love this stuff.
They have all seemed to bond with the older rabbit I put in several weeks after the first group, one big happy herd. Almost to the point of having to kick em out of my way when I show up with food, they are bound and determined to be the first to have food and snacks. Starting to allow my catahoula/border collie pup in with them, this makes for some interesting viewing. Never thought I would see dogs and rabbits play together, they get along very well, though I wouldn't turn my back on her just yet. So far, I'm very pleased with whats happening, just wishing there were more burrows, though maybe they will make one fairly large warren instead.

it is my understanding that rabbits make a central den with lower ranking rabbits extending the warren's edges. (Predators encounter the outer burrows first!)

I think it will be very interesting to see what happens here with these outdoor colonies. It seems to me, just from these few posts, that even a large enclosure will support only a very few rabbits without our supplying almost all their feed.

Feed, I think, should be our next venture. I know that rabbit feed is primarily alfalfa hay and some grains. If this winter works out, next season I will try growing a bit of ceresia lespedeza, higher in protein than alfalfa and well accepted by rabbits. I have a small grinder and can prepare a chopped mix.

I've had no trouble with my chickens since putting the electric wire around the outer edges of their pens. I've doubled the wiring on the rabbit colony, so I do not expect any damage there.

Jared, pleasse keep us posted on the happenings in your colony. You are far north of me and I'd like to know what happens when you get ice and snow. We will eventually get cold and wet weather here, now and then some snow, and knowing how you deal with it will be beneficial to many of us in the more southern states.