10x10 Dog Kennel Conversion

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OnTheBrightside

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Hi all, loooongg time no see. I've been lurking, but not much going on with the rabbits. Its been a couple years since I moved next-door to my parents, and while I have a nice wooden big barn for the rabbits on their property, I'm super tired of walking down there every day and feel like I don't spend any time with them other than chores because they aren't close to the house. Hence I've had no motivation to do anything with them, and am down to 4. 2 mutts and 2 decent Rex does.
SO, I have a 10ft x 10ft chainlink dog kennel that sits against my horse barn, 50 some feet from my front door. It was previously used to house pet Red Foxes so it is "Fox Proof" Concrete paver floor, and a wood and sheet metal roof. Plus its 10 feet from my bedroom window so I know it will be safe from predators.

I'm going to turn this little thing into my rabbitry. Right now I'm going to put a single level of my cages in until later in the spring/early summer and then I'm going to add a slant board and a second row. I have all 24"x30" & 24"x48" wire cages.
I'm going to use some sort of tubs for manure on the ground. I also just ordered privacy shade cloth, which is water resistant but lets air pass through. I'm going to wrap it all with that and then roll up the heavier tarps on the sides so that I can pull them down in severe weather.

The floor will be loaded with wood shavings and turned into a play area, so any ideas at all on things to put in there while still having walking space.
Solar lights in the plans...

And luckily since my horse barn is right next to it I'm going to store all their feed & equipment in there.

Please hit me with any ideas you can. Its less than half the space I had prior so Its going to be a tight squeeze!
 
I'm thinking about fans too! I have an outlet on my house not far from the kennel, so I can run an extension cord too. my biggest issue will be when I stack them later. I make my cages 24" tall so I may have to make some shorter ones to go underneath. I like them to have extra space. The kennel is only 6' tall
 
Congrats!
I drive 15mintues to the barn space I rent .... I totally get the "just doing chores" feeling..... but I cannot have rabbits in my neighbourhood and I love my barn land lady!! She is older and we tend to do chores at the same time so have the friendly companionship while working in the barn together.

My suggestions:
figure out afternoon sun exposure - I lost a doe to heat stroke once because I didn't take into account that her nest box took up most of the shaded area of her cage.
Sometimes smaller is better - I have stackers and although the pans need to be tipped weekly, I can fit a lot of cages into a small space.... I rent 2 horse stalls and stack 4 high.
You are essentially "rebuilding" - might be a great opportunity to install an auto water system?

Good luck and please post photos... they help a lot!
Patricia
 
That sounds like almost excatly like our first setup. The only reason we changed was becuase we outgrew it and needed more square footage. It is plenty of room for several breeders and grow out litters. I would say if you are going to do solar lights then go with the long strips of LEDs. You can get them on Amazon in 16 ft strips. They are cheap and work great. My husband was able to put in 32ft with a switch, battery and solar panel for about $50. It makes about 1,000 square feet light up like daylight, all night if I need. They are so helpful to have. I am able to hang out with the rabbits in the middle of the night and I do very often :)
Also, as Sarnia stated; you might need to add some shade. Ours had shade cloth all around
 
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