Anyone else let a rabbit out on grass for a run?

[Secuono]

I had to seed last year's chicken/duck pen, so I let out Biały, my Silver Fox boy out to run in this year's pen.
He ran around a bit, but settled for an area of old crates near the duck starter hutch. I guess it's still too hot for him to run. The lambs are also just laying around, maybe in 30min or so, it will be cold enough for them to play.
The area is 40x20ft, maybe a few feet larger, all tall and thick grass.

Anyone else have a breeder rabbit or two they can trust enough to let out and do so?

 

[ladysown]

i put my buns out in x-pens frequently.

 

[Secuono]

Well, I decided to move my Cali mom and her 7 kits into the 8ft grow out pen. Moved the big kits into a grass pen. =D It's within the duck/chicken pen, so a bit safer than just out in the yard.
My SF boy was racing them from the outside, lol!

My HL doe had hay in her mouth! Hope she follows through and does a good 1st time job.
Am Chin doe had 8 or 9 kits!!!
SF doe is still thinking about it.

I know, I know, not related, but I'm just so excited!!!

 

[ollitos]

Our rabbits are out in pasture pens all the time.

 

[Secuono]

That must be nice! Oh, you're kinda near me, any chance you'd make me a tractor or two...?? =D

 

[MangenRabbitry]

i do but the on the bunny leash .-.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

I had Captain out a while back, and he had a great time. He was easy to catch, too.

 

[raetcd]

I have a fenced in garden that we unfortunately let grow over. We let the rabbits take turns in there eating the weeds for us. Now we can reuse the garden as it should be.
I bought a 50' little wire rabbit fence that I put up from time to time and let the rabbits have a bunch of fun and eat some grass. There's only one of our rabbits I trust to run free without any worry of them running away and us never catching them. She actually just had babies 3 days ago which is our first litter ever.

 

[5dognightfarm]

I have a recycled chicken tractor that houses two Cal does. They live fine in there, and I've noticed that their temperments have improved and they're much more "solid", maybe because of the exercise?

 

[skysthelimit]

Too much chicken and dog poo residue in the yard. Maybe when I get it cleaned up a bit.

 

[SterlingSatin]

i take em out on leashes, as a reward for good behavior i have set up runs before but usually pretty small, since their all temporary.

 

[SMR]

Yep, used to have the whole front yard fenced in and rotated rabbits in and out for exercise every few hours. Now that my dad's new mastiff has taken over that I have to invest in another bunch of wire to fence another spot to ensure run space lol. For right now they're taking turns going out in 8 foot long by 2 foot wide wire bottomless pens in grassy areas. I have some diggers so can't leave them alone for long in that small space w/o worry but gets them out and a bit of run space for a while until the other pen gets fixed.

 

[AnnClaire]

I got stalled in the middle of digging the play pen for my buns ... I am burying a piece of 9'x 9' chainlink fencing, and will wire it to the upright chain link fence, then back fill to ground level and put some bermuda starts in so they will have green grass in a shady spot during the summer and dried grass in a sunny spot in the winter. Have to get that finished this week along with building the 2 breeder's cages and get the two replacements into their cages.

 

[Secuono]

The "tractor" sucks, I know, but I'm working on making good, strong ones. Only the replacement Cali buck is in there, sold the other 3.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I let our breeders out one at a time for a run without any kind of leash or pen. The younger ones are put into a pen, since they are harder to catch.

 

[MaggieJ]

It would be nice to have an outdoor pen to give them a change, but they are in 4'x8' floor pens so I figure they can get enough exercise as it is. And since I bring huge amounts of greens to them as soon as they are available, they don't do so badly.

 

[ollitos]

That must be nice! Oh, you're kinda near me, any chance you'd make me a tractor or two...?? =D

We have been discussing making rabbit tractors to sell but we're still working on our design and materials. Greg still needs to build two more pastured chicken pens plus at least two more doe pens for pregnant does. I keep that man busy!

 

[a7736100]

I do but the trouble is they ate and distroyed all my lawn grass. They dig and thus kill the grass plants. Things were fine for a while but once bare spots started it wasn't long before I ended up with a bare dirt yard.

 

[ollitos]

You definitely have to 'rest' the grass and move them to new areas. Even after only 24 hours, our grass is eaten down and has bare spots from where the doe chooses as her favorite spot to rest. Our one doe will start to dig if we don't move her soon enough to her liking in the mornings. If you use a portable fencing system, move them every few days. The rabbit droppings will help the grass bounce back. We have rotated Big Bertha in the same area for a month now and by the time she's back to the same spot, you'd never know that she'd been there only a couple weeks before.