My colony and video

[Disney]

I think i'm going to use this thread as a journal and update with videos that i film once every week, especially now that 2 of the doe's are pregnant and things are about to get lively with little buggers :lol:

Too bad i filmed them when they were chilling and grooming themselves, quiet and lazy, so please don't think my colony is boring lol

The neutered buck is the one who sits close to me and then goes in the first hutch to explore the nest that Disney is making for her coming litter. I can't believe she picked the little hutch over the big hutch when she birthed in the bigger hutch last year.

So let me introduce my herd to you..
Sidney, blue eyed white, neutered buck, father of Celeste
Disney, dominant female, blue eyed white, sitting on the tiles in front of the bigger hutch and later goes in the small hutch to rearange it, also mother of Arika and Celeste.
Belle, second rank doe, the orange vienna marked, she is halfsister to Disney, same father.
Arika, third rank doe, broken opal vm but looks like a charlie, she is pregnant. Daughter of Disney.
Zira, sable point, not related to any of them, she was bred by Arika's brother but she didn't take.
Celeste, blue eyed white, born inside the colony last year, kid of Disney and Sidney, but i don't get why she stayed so small.
I'm thinking of selling her.
Amber, lowest rank doe, solid chocolate which is going to be my main foundation doe for my chocolate/lilac project.
She lost a lot of fur on her back, bottom and legs during the winter so she is still growinng her fur back.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=190c9ChTIJQ&feature[/youtube]

Oh and i've bought a new and bigger hutch for them, i just need to attach a few aliminium strips or bars? (how do you call it) on the edges and corners so that they don't chew the wood off. It's going to stand in the left corner which is empty now, probably tomorrow or tuesday.

Any ideas, comments or feedback is very welcome!

 

[Luvmykiddos]

I don't have any suggestions for you, but I wanted to thank you for sharing! Seeing your set up has really solidified in my heart my desire to do a semi-colony and get my rabbits out of cages (for the most part...cages have their purposes).

I do have just a couple questions for you, if you don't mind.

Do you have a problem with overhead predators? I didn't see anything overhead that indicated protection from other critters (e.g. eagles, raccoons).

Do they just urinate on the concrete and you sweep up the poo? How does that work, especially with the urination?

 

[Disney]

I don't have any suggestions for you, but I wanted to thank you for sharing! Seeing your set up has really solidified in my heart my desire to do a semi-colony and get my rabbits out of cages (for the most part...cages have their purposes).

I do have just a couple questions for you, if you don't mind.

Do you have a problem with overhead predators? I didn't see anything overhead that indicated protection from other critters (e.g. eagles, raccoons).

Do they just urinate on the concrete and you sweep up the poo? How does that work, especially with the urination?

Sure, i'm happy to answer questions

We have no such predators in holland, just cats but they never bother my rabbits, so i don't worry about that.
But i would like to have a roof on top to block rain, i just can't build one by myself.

They urinate whereever they want, mostly in the corners but that doesn't bother me because it dissolves quick in just a few hours.
And everything looks clean again after it rained.
I sweep the poo daily if i can, takes me about 10/20 minutes , but usually i take longer to clean it thoroughly because of my ocd so i feel the need to take every little piece of junk that i come across. Nothing is left behind, not even 1 piece of shaving.
It only bugs me to bow my head under the hutches other than that, i'm happy with the whole thing.

 

[Luvmykiddos]

Sure, i'm happy to answer questions

We have no such predators in holland, just cats but they never bother my rabbits, so i don't worry about that.
But i would like to have a roof on top to block rain, i just can't build one by myself.

They urinate whereever they want, mostly in the corners but that doesn't bother me because it dissolves quick in just a few hours.
And everything looks clean again after it rained.
I sweep the poo daily if i can, takes me about 10/20 minutes , but usually i take longer to clean it thoroughly because of my ocd so i feel the need to take every little piece of junk that i come across. Nothing is left behind, not even 1 piece of shaving.
It only bugs me to bow my head under the hutches other than that, i'm happy with the whole thing.

Thank you so much, Disney, for answering my questions! Your set up has definitely got me thinking about how to do my own set up. Been running ideas in my head all day.

I didn't realize you were in Holland! I forget not everyone on this board is on the North American continent. You are blessed not to have such critters to terrorize you. :lol: We have all kinds of critters to worry about, which has been the number one reason we've kept our rabbits in cages and in a secure garage. I abhor the cages, though, and wish to see them in a more "natural" setting or the best I can do for them in a urban backyard. I have a great place to put them, but I've been concerned about them digging out, critters digging in, and critters overhead.

So I guess I have one more question, as I contemplate my own set up. When they urinate on the concrete, do you have ammonia smell issues? My neighbors are quite tolerant of my animals, but I don't want to ruin that good relationship with any sort of smell. You said the rain cleans the area, but I just read elsewhere that it would eventually "stain" the concrete with a constant ammonia smell. Has this been your experience?

Thanks again for answering my questions!

 

[Disney]

Sure, i'm happy to answer questions

We have no such predators in holland, just cats but they never bother my rabbits, so i don't worry about that.
But i would like to have a roof on top to block rain, i just can't build one by myself.

They urinate whereever they want, mostly in the corners but that doesn't bother me because it dissolves quick in just a few hours.
And everything looks clean again after it rained.
I sweep the poo daily if i can, takes me about 10/20 minutes , but usually i take longer to clean it thoroughly because of my ocd so i feel the need to take every little piece of junk that i come across. Nothing is left behind, not even 1 piece of shaving.
It only bugs me to bow my head under the hutches other than that, i'm happy with the whole thing.

Thank you so much, Disney, for answering my questions! Your set up has definitely got me thinking about how to do my own set up. Been running ideas in my head all day.

I didn't realize you were in Holland! I forget not everyone on this board is on the North American continent. You are blessed not to have such critters to terrorize you. :lol: We have all kinds of critters to worry about, which has been the number one reason we've kept our rabbits in cages and in a secure garage. I abhor the cages, though, and wish to see them in a more "natural" setting or the best I can do for them in a urban backyard. I have a great place to put them, but I've been concerned about them digging out, critters digging in, and critters overhead.

So I guess I have one more question, as I contemplate my own set up. When they urinate on the concrete, do you have ammonia smell issues? My neighbors are quite tolerant of my animals, but I don't want to ruin that good relationship with any sort of smell. You said the rain cleans the area, but I just read elsewhere that it would eventually "stain" the concrete with a constant ammonia smell. Has this been your experience?

Thanks again for answering my questions!

Hihi sometimes i feel like the only outsider here but that's okay.
I read stories about those critters, foxes and what not.. i can't imagine them wandering around here.

Are you able to close the pen from above so nothing can get in?
If you dig wire down in the ground, they shouldn't be able to get through.

I don't have any ammonia issue, never smelled it to be honest.
I had 2 friends over today and i asked them if they smelled anything from the rabbit pen and they said no.
If there was such thing, my mother would have took down the pen long ago :x

 

[Luvmykiddos]

Hihi sometimes i feel like the only outsider here but that's okay.
I read stories about those critters, foxes and what not.. i can't imagine them wandering around here.

Are you able to close the pen from above so nothing can get in?
If you dig wire down in the ground, they shouldn't be able to get through.

I don't have any ammonia issue, never smelled it to be honest.
I had 2 friends over today and i asked them if they smelled anything from the rabbit pen and they said no.
If there was such thing, my mother would have took down the pen long ago :x

Good to know about your Mama and friends! That gives me an idea of what to expect. Hm, I'll have to see how this may work for my own set up!

I already have wire in the ground and even doubled it up, but we have pesky raccoons who are insistent they will get in my backyard through this wire one way or another! We may have to take it up and put in concrete blocks instead if we want to do any sort of colony. These raccoons are so persistent, they ripped a hole in the side of our house to get in our attic, causing all kind of damage. :evil:

I think what I like about your set up is that I could keep caged hutches in the set up and just lock them up at night, but be able to easily open their hutches to run about during the day. Hm? Maybe I could cut a hole in my garage where the hutches could still be inside (for safety), but easily opened to a "run" of sorts. This is how our chicken coop/run is set up already. If it didn't work out, closing the hole in the garage would be easy to fix.

Your post has definitely sparked some ideas in my old noggin'! Thanks so much for sharing your colony! By the way, I love your rabbit with the orange/white colors (Belle?)! So beautiful!

 

[Disney]

Yay i got my first litter of this year! Arika had 5 kits today in the smaller hutch.
Her mom Disney keep sitting in front of the nest entrance and doesn't let her come to check.
So i locked Disney up in the new 2 floor hutch, she really has been mean to Arika this pas month during her pregnancy, chasing and biting her. I should have taken Arika out and let her birth inside a cage but too late for that now :?

I don't hope grandma Disney doesn't get in her way when she tries to nurse the babies or i might take the whole nest out and put them in a cage anyway. Never had this problem before. :x

I already have wire in the ground and even doubled it up, but we have pesky raccoons who are insistent they will get in my backyard through this wire one way or another! We may have to take it up and put in concrete blocks instead if we want to do any sort of colony. These raccoons are so persistent, they ripped a hole in the side of our house to get in our attic, causing all kind of damage. :evil:

I think what I like about your set up is that I could keep caged hutches in the set up and just lock them up at night, but be able to easily open their hutches to run about during the day. Hm? Maybe I could cut a hole in my garage where the hutches could still be inside (for safety), but easily opened to a "run" of sorts. This is how our chicken coop/run is set up already. If it didn't work out, closing the hole in the garage would be easy to fix.

Your post has definitely sparked some ideas in my old noggin'! Thanks so much for sharing your colony! By the way, I love your rabbit with the orange/white colors (Belle?)! So beautiful!

Yes that's Belle

Locking them up could do but they might get frustrated to get out.
The garage idea sounds better, you could have them run free in there and close the hole at night for safety and open it in the morning for them to run outside.