Warren plans - selecting the site

I'm not new to rabbits but I am new to naturally raising them so I need some help!

I want to start raising them again next spring and am starting to plan the warren site. I want to raise about 5-10 does with a couple bucks. I want them to be raised as naturally as possible.

Potential problems and issues I've encountered in the past (raising them in cage rows):

1. Predators - we have coyote, hawks and stray cats.
2. Heat - I've lost several rabbits in the past to heat (this summer was very hot and VERY humid)
3. Containment - while I want to raise them naturally I can't have them roaming the neighborhood

So, here's what I have to work with. I think this site will be the best. It's not too far from the house and barn (easier to do chores), it has natural shade from the tree and it has an existing 'mound' that they can use to dig holes (hopefully they will decide to dig there). You can see the 'building' I used for my cage row rabbitry before:



So, on to the questions!

Most important - will the rabbits kill the tree if they start digging tunnels under it? We have several Elm trees that need to come down and that Maple will be the lone tree in our yard until my saplings grow up. I don't want to risk the tree!! I know I would have to protect the tree trunk from the buns but what about the roots?

How much space do rabbits need when in a colony?

How far out from a fence do you need to create a No Dig zone?

How fast can they dig a new tunnel? If I check the site every day and stop any tunnels being started in a NDZ will that keep them from getting under a fence?

Here's how close the back of the mound is to our neighbors fence:



I'd say that's about 4-5' wide.

Will the buns try to eat the wood fence?

I plan to fence around the site using 4' tall welded wire fencing. Will that hold in the rabbits? If the coyotes bother them I would add a hotwire around the perimeter.

Is it possible to keep ANY green growing things in a colony site or will it end up being bare ground after a short time with the rabbits?

Is there a good way to keep the growing babies (after they are finished nursing) contained so it's easier to catch them for butchering? Maybe a separate grow-out area?

Is there anything obvious I am missing??

i;m pretty new to rabbits, but, so far my experience is that you would need to dig that fencing down deep to prevent digout...and still probably monitor tunnels. And I would have a higher than 4' fence. I have a just over 3ft play yard that my little ones have jumped out of!
Also, i would put a mesh wire roofing or something to keep out predators. hawks and such. raccoons will climb over a 4ft fence in a second.

I'm hoping with the amount of space I'm planning to give them that they would not be interested in trying to escape but I suppose there's always a few buns that think the grass is tastier on the other side of the fence.

You can lay 2"x4" wire - or even chicken wire - flat on the ground around the perimeter, with the fence straddling it to help prevent dig ins/dig outs. If the mound is more or less in the centre, they will naturally do most of their digging there. Hawks and - especially - owls can really decimate your population. Bird netting over the top will prevent this. This will also mean your four foot fencing is high enough. You may want to have some way of elevating the netting in the centre so that you can walk around in there more easily. An electric wire is a good idea. Two would be even better - one for coyotes down low and one for raccoons.

Speaking of predators, one of the worst in a rabbitry is the plain old Norway rat. They steal and foul feed, carry parasites and disease and will carry off kits. They are relentless and quite frightening... and there is never just one. Exclusion is very difficult and it may be necessary to use bait boxes at intervals around the outside of the rabbitry.

Turtlehead on the Homesteading Today Rabbit Forum has a ton of useful information about what to do - and what not to do - when setting up a colony. Here's a link to her website:
http://gardenplotter.com/rospo/blog/

And one to the HT Rabbit Forum:
http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/forumd ... rune=&f=14

Unfortunately, Turtlehead hasn't posted much there lately, but you can find her back posts by going to Community > Member List and finding her there. Under Statistics, you will find all her posts and all the threads she has started. It would be a lot of reading, but worth it to skim through at least the rabbit ones, I think, since she encountered many problems during her first year or two and managed to overcome them.

Her method of catching rabbits for butchering is easy. She withholds food for a period of time (maybe 12 hours?) so that they are eager for it when she shows up with the groceries. They are so intent on the feed that she simply grabs the ones she wants and pops them into a clean plastic garbage can and puts the lid on.

how big are you planning to make the whole encloseure? i wouldnt do two bucks, i have had two bucks in my colony before and the dominant buck tears the other one up pretty bad,

as to dig outs i have had a few here and there and i found simply lineing the inside of the fence with brick and cement blocks helped stop it, rabbits like to dig up against something, they will probably set up shop on the mound especially if you leave the tall weeds and stuff,

i doubt they will kill the tree, my colony dug its warren in the tree roots of two or three big trees and they are fine,

if you have a big enough pen set up and dont let it get over crowded you should be able to keep grass growing,

if you can cover the pen that would be best as rabbits are active at night and owls LOVE to eat baby rabbits,

also your going to need to make the fence tall enough to keep coyotes out and your going to need to line the lower few feet of the fence with chicken wire or something with small holes as baby rabbits are going to be your biggest escapee artists pushing thru the holes and climbing up the fence,

the social structure of the rabbit warren is set up around one or two dominant does, the buck is there to basically just make more babies, when the babies get to a certain age they naturally try and spread out and get away from the older rabbits, then as they mature if the colony is not crowded the females will be allowed to stay and dig their tunnels around the warren expanding it out from the main burrows, the males are driven away by the dominant buck, if the warren gets crowded the does will drive the younger lower ranking does away as well,
this is why you have to stay on top of keeping the numbers down, other wise it can get messy,