Is a hutch better than just a cage for pregnant doe?

[LadyKarli]

I have a nice wooden hutch with a den area & my big white NZ doe is pregnant. She still has a couple weeks. Would it be a good idea to put her in the hutch & let her use the den area for the kits instead of a nest box in her bare wire cage?
Looks like cage in picture but for large rabbits. Quite a bit bigger.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I don't think so, it will be harder to keep clean.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

The hutch you have may be better quality, but I was given a small used hutch just like that, and my concerns with it are these: the construction is very poor- the materials used are very thin 1/8" plywood on the wooden portions, the wire floor is held in place by wooden guides that are not well secured, the tray is too shallow to allow for normal potty output which would quickly result in the dreaded "poop piles" in the corners, yet removing the tray would be unsafe because predators could easily push the wire rack up and out of the way. The nesting area does not have a "lip" at the bottom, and the kits could easily crawl out and freeze. Remember that a rabbit will not move her kits, so she will not take them back to the nest.

I currently have a VERY pregnant cat in mine, and it is inside the wire run of my "cat coop" so is better protected from predators. She will only be in there temporarily before moving into the cat coop itself a day or two after giving birth.

Personally, I would keep your doe in her wire cage as long as she is protected from windblown rain and snow. They are much more sanitary than wooden cages.

 

[LadyKarli]

Okay Thanks for the info. Will just do the nest box thing.

 

[hoodat]

I like to use a shelter box that attaches externally to the cage and can be removed for cleaning between litters. My feelings are that a shelter box gives her more room to move around so she is less likely to trample a kit. The shelter boxes have easily removable floorboards so they can be removed and sterilized with chlorox between litters. Shelter boxes also give the kits better protection from weather.
It really depends on the doe though. Most of my brood does never foul it. In fact, except for nest building and tending the kits they almost never go in there unless something frightens them. I only attach it to the cage at the later stages of prgnancy so there's less chance of having to sterilize it more than once.

 

[Miss M]

We had a wooden hutch before we built our rabbitry. It was really hard to keep clean. To really clean it, we had to completely take it apart and then reassemble it, which was not easy. Even then, getting it completely clean was impossible. Too many nooks and crannies.

 

[arachyd]

I have wooden/wire hutches. They are very hard to keep clean. The one I have that is laid out like your picture with a large open area and a sectioned off area for privacy is also very much larger. The biggest difference is that mine is wire all around and on the bottom. The only solid areas are the 2 doors, 4 sides of the nest area, the posts at the corners holding the wire and the roof. A solid wooden floor is a big problem as it will quickly be saturated with urine and will get chewed. I do like using this hutch for kits as it gives the doe room to get away from them and makes it less likely she'll stomp on them if she gets excited. I slope the floor with bedding so kits tend to tumble back into the nest if they try to explore. The side entrance makes the doe walk in to get to her kits instead of hopping into a box and landing on them. I go through a lot of bedding to keep it clean in the nest area.

 

[Miss M]

The picture looks to me like there's a pull-out pan beneath a wire floor, which is what we had.

Mine was a wood frame hutch with a wood back and roof, with wire on the other three sides. The floor was wire with a wooden brace in the middle, and there was a metal pan beneath that pulled out for cleaning.

Even with all that wire, just a wooden frame and back, it was hard keeping that thing clean. And it really never was that clean.

 

[akane]

We've been building wood based cages lately just because I like having a frame and half mine are solid floored. Unfortunately the weather is not warm enough and I can't paint inside due to birds and fumes but as soon as it is warm enough we always coat the wood. Enamel if the rabbits can't reach it and nontoxic marine polyurethane if they can. It cleans like plastic after that. You can fully sterilize with a little vinegar, bleach, whatever.. and it won't absorb that or urine.

The rabbits may still chew on any wood they can. I have some cages they don't and some cages they do. I'm not entirely sure what difference in design causes it but they seem to dislike plywood and love 2x4s. The wood has to be outside the wire or covered in metal binder strips.

 

[Secuono]

Solid walls straight to the ground will help keep wind out and thus they will stay warmer. Hutch will hold in urine, poop, bacteria and be very nasty real fast.

 

[bunnygal]

The problem with the hutches that have a seperate bedding area is that there is no lip or step between the bedding area and the living quarters so the kits wander everywhere and end up scattered, often trampled and will often form several mini groups resulting in some not getting fed.

Wood is also much harder to clean and to keep clean.

A roomy wire cage with a nestbox is the best way to house a pregnant doe.

Lisa L.