Growout Pen Sizes

[kotapony]

In my adventures of figuring out a colony, I've hit a new snag. (I've posted in this section as this really isn't a colony specific question.) I left Mr. Buck in the colony, so now I have 3 does, 1 buck, and 14 just weaned kits. Senior doe is now busy building a new nest, or at least trying to. The problem is the kits think this new nest is just the greatest thing ever, and despite having 4 nest boxes available for 3 does, the kits just won't stay out of this new nest. It's all warm and fluffy and filled with hay. All 14 will crowd in the back, so I don't doubt any new kits will end up squished. As a temporary emergency measure, I've moved the grow-outs into a plastic tub. It will do for a few days, but I need to get to work on a better solution. I kicked it around with hubby this morning. I'd rather not split the colony and take space away from the does. I don't have any more space in that barn to set up a second colony-type area. So what we came up with was to create hanging cages attached to the wall. This picture isn't great, but shows the setup I currently have:

We plan to attach the cages to the wall at the back of the colony, to the right of the window (the right wall of the colony is the front side of the barn, and that's the storm side). What I'm hoping for is suggestions on cage size. I have 10' of length between the two beams. As I said, I have three does right now and do not plan to keep more than that. With the colony setting, new litters should pop out every 4-5 weeks. I plan to let the buns establish their own schedule so long as the does stay in good condition. I've only had 1 round of litters so far, and all three does kindled within about 3 days of each other. Senior doe started working on her nest yesterday. No signs from the two younger does yet. So they may continue to have litters close together, they may not. It's hard to say. My plan is to advertise the kits for sale at 6 weeks (yes, that's legal here), and whatever isn't sold by 8-10 weeks goes in the freezer. At most I'd have three different age groups of no more than 10 each (and probably closer to 6-8).

Given that scenario, do the experienced cage-raisers have any suggestions for grow-out pen sizes they like? Or thoughts of how many I'd need? As I said, I have 10' of length. How wide should I make the cages? I don't want to crowd the space, but I don't want to come so far out into the colony area it's hard to clean, either. I was thinking maybe split that into two pens, 30" wide and 5' long? Or should I do three pens? Is 30" out too far? Not enough? I know I've read about an issue of having to reach to the back to catch the buns. If need be, I could also add pens on the storm-side right wall if I boarded it up a bit better (that's on my to-do list anyway), so I'm not looking to get into the time and expense of creating more than I need right now. I've never raised in cages, so any thoughts would be appreciated.

Oh, and these are californians raised strictly for meat.

 

[WildWolf]

I don't know, but I would love to get an answer too!

 

[A&BRabbitry]

I raise Californians and New Zealand Whites for show and meat and only raise in cages. For a just weaned litter at 6-8 weaks old I will put 4-6 depending on how many litters we have in a 30" deep by 36" long cage with a 18" height. For my bucks they get a 24" x 30" and breeding does get a 30" by 36" cage. Some use larger but myself haven't had any problems from crowding and have known of several meat producers using cages as small as 18"x30" for bucks and 24 by 30 for breeding does. I will say though my wife has a little trouble reaching to the back at times but can manage if the cages are hung low enough.

 

[currituckbun]

I use cages too and have just recently put two large 36x48 grow out cages outside. I have 8 in one and six in another that is divided. I agree with A & B don't get them too deep. 36 deep is going to be a challenge to get them out of. I am thinking of putting in a back access door. I don't know what I was thinking when I ordered them but we will make them work.

 

[WildWolf]

Thanks for both of your posts.

 

[JueLee]

Hello Kotapony,

Ok. Worst case, none of your kits sell, and all three does have greatly over-sized litters at the same time, say 15 kits each. That's 45 - 8 week old kits for at least one day. Now say something comes up and you can't get to butchering for a while, so those 8 week old kits might have to stay there a while. Say a month. So they are then 12 weeks and 5+ pounds each.

So, your hanging cages have to be able to support 45 kits x 5 pounds = 225 pounds.

A 5 pound rabbit probably takes up 1/2 square foot of floor space just sitting still. So, you need about 23 square feet of floor space just to hold them at parade rest -- which bunnies are not going to cooperate with. Divided by 10 feet long, that's 2.3 ft deep, or 28 inches. Since they are not going to cooperate with sitting still, you need to plan on more space than that. I'd say double it, at minimum (A&B gives 1.25 ft each), but 56" deep is way too deep to catch the bunnies, or keep the floor wire from sagging under their 225 pounds of weight, or to reach under for cleanup.

Fortunately, this worst case isn't likely. And more fortunately, you can slaughter bunnies at less than 8 weeks if you run out of room. And not all the kits will try to snuggle into the new nest like your first bunch so you can leave some on the ground at times, too.

10 ft by 30 inches will probably work fine for you to start with. It's slightly more than half your worst case needs. (just test whether you can reach to the back of 30 inches okay before you commit to that.) Since the bunnies all grew up together on the ground, it doesn't matter how many cages you choose to divide the ten foot length into. They'll be happy.