Idea for a Colony

[Shara]

I have been thinking about creative ways to have a colony setting, and thought that an "under the porch" type would work well. My porch is about three feet off the ground, and something we are wanting to do this year is build a larger one. It would be about five-six feet wide, about 20 feet long, and three feet high, which is high enough for me to crawl in there when I need to, and low enough that it is a normal porch. I would line it with wire, floor and sides, so they don't distroy my wood, and have a little "box" coming off, maybe three feet square, with a space to drop a board down to catch the rabbits when I need to. That would be their feed area.

What do you guys think? and how many does do you reckon I could keep in a 20x6?

In the file, I have the "rabbit area" in white, if it doesnt make sense let me know.

 

[MaggieJ]

That would be 180 sq. ft. My little colony is 64 square feet and I have a buck and three does. I wouldn't want it any more crowded and may have to cut it to two does... Time will tell. So, I would say you could keep about five to six does and a buck, quite comfortably. If they all kindle all the time, you may need a grow out pen as well for the fryers.

 

[akane]

It would probably work but it's gonna be a real pain to get under there for any necessary cleaning or to check kits. You'll end up catching some very wild rabbits and with your setup for catching them I'd fear escape. Even my tame rabbits highly dislike being caught from the colony. When you run them in to a pen and then reach down to grab them they go a bit nuts and start climbing the walls. You'll have wild rabbits streaking out of that capture box if you aren't careful. It would be best to have the capture location contained within the colony fencing or walls to prevent free range rabbits.

 

[Shara]

The box will be made the same as the "main" colony, and will be the feeding box. I would always feed there. I would drop a plywood board in between the two while feeding, when I want to catch some.

It may cause some problems, but I figure three feet deep would be deep enough? Although I do know you are right about the cleaning/checking. It would be big enough for me to crawl in there, but not much else.

 

[eco2pia]

Wire on the ground will rust fast. What about hanging cages just under the front of the porch? Of course that would cost more, but they are easy to make. Then you could have lattice "doors" to conceal them and exclude predators like dogs and raccoons?

But no catching/escaping/cleaning issues.