my setup: colony pen, feeding straps, brick nestboxes

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Permajen

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Hello -- having been surfing for info on here, I thought I should share what I've done. It has rights and wrongs, I'm sure -- feel free to comment either way. I'm new at this and aiming for happy rabbits who happen to provide healthy meat occasionally. But it's all a bit of an experiment so far.

The pen is only 10 feet by 10 feet -- I thought it was much bigger (apologies to earlier thread) but actually measured it today. (Not good at maths!)

A subtropical/temperate zone means I don't need closed-in sides, but I'm growing vines and greens to add shade for next summer.
The nestboxes (purple stripe is part thereof) have been replaced, but the basic style is as above.

To this I've added brick nestboxes. My original nestboxes were refashioned plant pots with wooden fronts, but the rabbits didn't like them very much. Now they have:



Which as you can see is almost impossible to make sense of. Still, I can tell you that there are 2 brick nestboxes with timber lids smothered under all that straw (which is light and fluffy).
Removing the fluff you get:


...and then:


...and then (top view; lid has been removed and is leaning upward to the left):

Each nestbox has a floor of sand with straw on top. The whole pen is on a concrete slab, so there can be no digging.

The nestbox bricks are lightly mortared so they won't cave in if the bunnies indulge in destructive play.
Each has a concrete block as its doorway, with a hole just large enough for each (pregnant) rabbit.
Elsewhere in the pen, there's also a plastic drainage U inverted to make a tunnel, which the rabbits have been sleeping in prior to nestboxes being added.
They're good rabbits who never go to the toilet in their nestboxes or tunnel, but only in the corner of the pen. So far, so good.

Now for feeding. I'm giving them as natural a diet as possible, starting with lots of fresh daily greens.

This is how I supply greens: using a bungee cord (invisible because of the grass) in a straight line across, and tucking in the grass with blades pointing upward, so they appear to be 'growing' naturally. The rabbits love to pick the grass out of the bungee cord. I can bunch heaps and heaps of grass in there, and it stays upright and edible all day. Since the bungee cord is attached flush to the wire there's no danger of strangling, as when the grass is removed the cord simply returns to its tight, straight position. However on initial use the rabbits tended to bite through the cord... They don't do it any more, thankfully.

Interestingly, their favourite green feed appears to be blue morning glory (ipomoea indica), which is noted on some websites as dodgy or partially toxic. There's no sign of toxicity and the rabbits are eating huge bunches of the stuff, which I figure means they know what they're doing. To be safer I always make sure they have masses of other greens that I know they love and are good for them (grass, farmer's friend or Cobblers' Pegs, comfrey, chickweed, spinach, dandelion, catsear, chicory, dock and of course sprouts) so there's no way they're simply eating the morning glory because it's all they have.

As well as the above wild greens they get sprouted wheat/corn/peas/sunflower either like this:

or mixed with fermented soybean meal with a pinch of seaweed meal (which I don't have a picture of, but it basically resembles a sprouty meal).

And they also get alfalfa hay, as much as they want. I find they cycle through each of the feeding stations munching for a while at one thing, then taking a break, then coming out and eating something else. It took them a week or so to get used to the fermented soy meal sprout mixture taste, but they seem to enjoy it now. Their feces are always health and firm looking, with no sign of digestive upset. They were well used to greens before I got them, and I slowly withdrew pellets (which they were largely ignoring in the end) as I added everything else.

So that's the basic feeding system... The soy meal is something I'm only adding until the garden starts to produce peas and beans (for methionine, an amino acid). I ferment the soy meal because it adds probiotics and reduces anti-nutrients, which are there in some degree even after the meal was produced. It also helps in the same way as cider vinegar helps, in preventing gut nasties. (Some people say fermented feeds are bad for rabbits, however I would say actively fermenting foods are bad, but properly fermented foods of the right sort are just fine. Silage is a case in point.)

I'm also planting tagasaste, which is a type of fodder tree, and have 2 small tortured willow trees growing in pots for later use as fodder.

At the moment, I'm spending about 10 minutes a day gathering greens. Even if kits double or triple that figure it's not much. However I'm spending a lot more time setting up the feed growing areas -- I figure that's structural work, and it won't be there next year, as everything will be in place.

And here's an experimental feed option I'm looking into (though haven't started doing yet):


Most of my prior experience was with chickens and sheep and goats (a little with cattle and horses as well). I'm bringing that experience to my rabbits, but I'm aware that rabbits are quite different creatures, so I expect there'll be a pretty steep learning curve. Still, so far (nearly 2 months) all is well. The does are soon to kindle. That will be the big test, I suppose.

I'd welcome any thoughts, but thanks in any case for letting me post.

best wishes
Jen
 
Have you thought about putting in active growing green stations? like the little nifty pond pic above, just put caging above it and they cant kill it by chewing it down, maybe by ripping some out, but they also cant scratch at it, when they feed off it they will poo into it also but not be close enough to the ground level to pick up parasites.. just keep adding a ring of bricks when it starts to fill with poo, keep a couple going at different roatations so that when one starts to get overly full, you can take out the first layer with the greens and roots and re plant it into a lower set up, and you can take all that processed poo and use it in the garden :D
 
looks like a wonderful set-up , the only concern I have [and I don't know where you live] is summer temperatures.
-- when I lived in Florida, I lost a particularly nice doe a few days before she was to kindle, because she got too hot. -- so--
I grew loofa, Yam, [dioscorea alata, and dioscorea oppositifolia] and Chayote, on/ over the rabbits, and they enjoyed helping me trim the vines also. When the d.oppositifolia dropped the "nuts" [tubercles]they loved those also.I had wire covering [raccoon proof] over the top , a few inches below my tin roof also[ the vines covered the tin roof too], -when it got cold the vines died back and let some sun it, but in the summer the vines shaded the rabbits well, I put bales of straw on the ground stacked 2 high and made places for nest boxes and hiding, -all the above, solved the "too hot problem"
-- and as far as eating morning glory, mine eat it too and love it-- and since you are feeding a lot of "safe" plants along with it, it is probly not a big problem.
 
Looks like a really cool set up! I would worry about stepping on a bunny that might be hiding under all that straw. :D Your rabbit in the picture is SO adorable! I have no experience with colony setups or natural feeding, so I don't have anything to add, but welcome to RT!

Is that bamboo on two sides of the colony for screening/shade? Very cool. It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks like there are openings up higher where a predator could get in? That's something that would concern me, though I don't know if predators are an issue where you live.
 
BusterHill":2amhboub said:
Have you thought about putting in active growing green stations?
Terrific idea -- no, I hadn't thought of it! Thanks for the help. :)
michaels4gardens":2amhboub said:
looks like a wonderful set-up , the only concern I have [and I don't know where you live] is summer temperatures.
Hi michaels4gardens, and thanks for the pointer -- it's a gigantic concern here too. Like you, I've planted chayote and various other plants around the sides, so hopefully the vines will have climbed some way up before next summer (it's still autumn here thankfully).
I also like the idea of the straw bales and other shields inside the pen -- thanks heaps! :D

I was planning to try building an earth mound inside the pen (on top of the concrete floor) and keep it together using something like chicken wire over the top -- then rabbits can hole up in the mound, away from heat. Perhaps if I did this only up the sides of the nestboxes, and then sat a strawbale on top, it might achieve a similar effect. I could sprinkle water over the mound or sides to evaporate and cool the interior.

I should add, 2 summers ago it got to 46C, or 114.8F. That would not only have killed rabbits but almost killed me! :eek: I definitely have to take heat seriously. Unfortunately the 2 mulberry trees on either side of the pen, not to mention the banana tree, have a lot of growing to do before they're any help.

Comet007":2amhboub said:
Looks like a really cool set up! ...
It's hard to tell from the pictures, but it looks like there are openings up higher where a predator could get in? That's something that would concern me, though I don't know if predators are an issue where you live.
Thank you so much for such a lovely welcome! And also for the predator warning.
That's something I'm working out a way to tackle. We don't have raccoons or ferrets/weasels or anything similar, our worst predator being the fox. I'm comfortable that the pen (with my alert dog nearby) is fox safe. Alas, I completely forgot about rats.

I'm struggling with that one, admittedly. I simply had no idea they take kits until I read it on here -- really stupid of me. (I thought rabbits would be more protective, being nocturnal.) All I can probably do to protect kits is buy a big roll of light bird mesh and line the whole thing. But that's for when I get a few days spare, and some cash I don't want. For now I think I'll see how I go with traps and other deterrents; and with feeding only well-sprouted grain and greens, not whole grains (which definitely draw rats).

Thanks again for the thoughts, it's so kind of you all to help, especially when I'm so far away. :D
 
super awesome pen. i really like it. i wonder if dirt vs no dirt colonies vary on rats?
 
In Florida, I had to put roofing metal [it was 38 inches wide] sideways around my enclosure to keep rats ,and snakes out. The "master-rib" type that was available at "Home Depot" [in the US]- The rats would drag the young out and eat them-- the snakes would just make some disappear each day. One day I was moving things around in the enclosure, and found a huge rat snake, with several young rabbits inside, hiding in the rabbit inclosure. After I put the metal sides on-- I had no more problem.
 
Yikes, michael4gardens, that must have been annoying (and distressing).
I guess where there are rats there are snakes. I'll be getting the mesh done shortly. :)
 
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