New to raising rabbits- trying to appease HOA

[WilliamsHomeRabbits]

Hello!
My husband and I are new to raising meat rabbits, and we have an HOA that requires we go through an approval process to keep rabbits outside on our property. We live in a slab home with a garage (but it has no natural light sources, poor ventilation, etc), we have a good sized yard, but no fence and it butts up to three other backyards that are also not fenced. We have no sheds or out buildings and if we were to build such, it may be a bigger headache than it's worth because of HOA architectural regulations. Our backyard is in full sun 99% of the time. Did I mention, we are in NW Georgia? Summers are hot and humid and our winters have no rhyme or reason. Keeping the rabbits in the back of our house is an option, but I'd be very concerned about being able to keep them shaded and cool enough all season. The coolest side of our house (and the side we'd prefer to put them on as it is very level) is the county road street side (as opposed to the subdivision street side that is the front of the house)- as we are a "corner" lot and the first house in the neighborhood! Our HOA regulations have "restrictions with the exception of specific approvals" on certain things like "livestock"; however, our county zoning ordinances do not define rabbits as being "livestock". It actually says explicitly, that they are categorized as common pets like cats and dogs, hamsters, guinea pigs, etc, etc. Our biggest hurdle will be housing the little guys in a way that is humane and even very comfortable for the rabbits. Our goals are to raise meat rabbits, but in the best conditions we could possibly afford them. We want them to be as zen as possible when it comes time to cull and we want them to live happy little lives.

The million dollar question is: What would be a good hutch/run/ark design that could appease our HOA into allowing us to have our rabbits and still be economical, functional, and aesthetically pleasing?

 

[Miss M]

When we were in a similar situation, we opted for a stealth rabbitry.

HOAs can be capricious, and tend to reign based on emotions. Is there anyone else in your neighborhood who has livestock of any kind? Anybody with meat rabbits?

I'd probably improve the garage, and keep them in there, without saying a word. But you know your HOA better than I do... I have never heard pleasant stories about them. Only how they make the lives of normal people frustrating and difficult. Demanding that veterans take down their American flags. Trying to force someone displaying a flag INSIDE, through their front window, to take it down. Demanding that a woman remove the pink cancer awareness ribbon from her foyer inside her front door. Bristling at a couple for not clearing their back deck with the HOA -- until the couple informed them that the deck was there before they moved in.

I despise HOAs.

 

[LPH_NY]

I 100% agree with Miss M. HOAs can be ruthless and cost you a lot of money in fines. I would also opt for inside the garage. I would probably do hanging cages along the wall on whichever side stays the coolest in the summer and make it a point to crack the garage door as often and as long as possible. Are there any additional windows in the garage that can be opened for more airflow? I would also have at least 2 fans in there to help circulate the air during the warm/hot months.

 

[ckcs]

I agree with making the garage work if you can. If you are planning on just raising for personal use say a trio you may wish to consider moving them indoors or moving them indoors just during the peak hot months. I raise and breed 17 rabbits plus litters indoors. I mainly use 3 tier racks to save space. Odor is not a major issue if I clean out the urine soaked litter every 3 to 4 days. You can also clean groups of cages each day so that you cycle them all every 3-4 days. When I have done that my guest couldn't smell the rabbits which are in my living room, dining room area.

Barring those options getting the HOA approval may prove to be very difficult.

 

[the reluctant farmer]

If you were to keep them outside, I'd suggest getting some big shrubs and other vegetation to screen them. Invest in a fence. Good fences definitely make good neighbors; the taller, the better (speaking of the fence, not the neighbors.) Since they are classified as pets, you could have one "cute" wooden run with a hutch slightly visible, and then other cages/hutches behind screens with vegetation or shrubs (preferably shrubs that the buns could eat the trimmings!) blocking them from view. That is unless your HOA regulations override county zoning. HOAs are a challenge. Even if your neighbors are tolerant, as soon as the HOA representatives change you could be in a whole new situation. Watch out if you have any "Mouth of the South" types who are watching your business with one eye while searching out phone numbers with the other and calling everyone in creation. You can find yourself with the ideal set-up and have one person ruin it all. In Georgia summers your garage is gonna get HOT if it's built like typical homes with little insulation, and specially if there are no shade trees around. Cheap air conditioner set at a higher temp so it doesn't get in the upper 90's+, keep the buns in nice wire hutches in the garage and put the poop in a compost or even indoor worm bin? Not ideal, but discreet.

One more thought: if you put the buns on the county road/cool side, put one of those screening fences made of lattice that is used to mask power boxes and such around them, then put in some nice blueberry bushes or maybe thorny blackberrys or roses so it's tough to get close to but pretty to look at, would that be enough of a disguise? I'm envisioning a few different neighborhood styles and HOA groups and trying to figure out just how restrictive your particular one is.

 

[Ramjet]

When we were in a similar situation, we opted for a stealth rabbitry.

HOAs can be capricious, and tend to reign based on emotions. Is there anyone else in your neighborhood who has livestock of any kind? Anybody with meat rabbits?

My HOA is the reason I went with rabbits to begin with. I wanted chickens but they don't allow them , even made one of my neighbors get rid of theirs.

I didn't believe they would approve of rabbits either .... being that I'm in a large metropolitan area , just outside the city limits in a suburban setting.

I started out with a hutch I built to fit under my patio cover but that didn't last long as it was only 2 holes (large holes) , I use it as a grow out cage now.

My solution was to build a semi-open structure that is just a bit shorter than my fence , to use Miss M's term , a stealth rabbitry. Neighbors cant see it from the sides or back and it cant be seen from the street. I just have to make sure the smell doesn't get strong and that the flies are kept down so no one complains. So far , so good .... two years in.


As for the OP , not having a fence complicates matters. A possible solution is a colony in a rabbit tractor style enclosure, keeping things low to the ground and allowing the rabbits to burrow to escape the heat .... the drawback is that it makes individually caging & tracking breeding difficult.

I despise HOAs.

You and me both , the house I lived in before this one had a silly strict HOA , I had a hole in the screen on a window about the size of a dime ..... Behind an oak tree that was ~6ft around and very large azalea's .... they called me to tell me about it (I knew it was there). I went off on them , telling them if they were close enough to my house to see a dime sized hole in the screen behind a huge oak tree and azalea's they were too bleeping close to my bleeping house and might get filled with bleeping hot lead creeping around like a peeping tom in the bushes.

They never came back in my yard after that phone call.

 

[Comet007]

I SO agree with everyone about HOA's. When I was a loan officer I used to read peoples' CC&R's on properties they were buying, and it convinced me that I never wanted to live in a neighborhood with restrictions. When we bought our property last year, we didn't even consider a single home if it had CC&R's on it from a HOA. The communities on the island we live on generally tell you how many cars can be visible from the street, where you can and can't park boats (crazy - we live on an ISLAND, people have boats!) and the two biggest ones also say you can't run a business from your home! Never mind livestock - that's totally not allowed here.

I like the idea of the lattice with some kind of plantings as a screen, or some other stealth operation. I'd also agree - build a fence! Even though we don't have CC&R's, we live at the beginning of a dead end road, with only 6 houses below ours. Every time we are working in our back yard every single neighbor drives by super slow multiple times a day and rubber necks us. When we built our berry patch a few weeks ago and put 18 4x4 posts in the ground, one neighbor finally stopped his car and walked 80-100 feet across our yard because he said he just couldn't stand it, he had to know what we were building!! I tell DH that I want an 8 foot fence, but then they would probably just bring a ladder. :angry:

Good luck, I hope you figure something out that works well for you!

 

[Sagebrush]

What you could do Commet007 is build a 4ft brick fence and install a 4ft chain link fence on top of it that you would then grow blackberry or raspberry brambles on it. At least then it would hurt them when they tried to look over it! :twisted: <br /><br /> -- Fri May 16, 2014 6:23 pm -- <br /><br /> Oh I also found that the rabbits love the canes from both blackberry and raspberry brambles!

 

[Comet007]

What you could do Commet007 is build a 4ft brick fence and install a 4ft chain link fence on top of it that you would then grow blackberry or raspberry brambles on it. At least then it would hurt them when they tried to look over it! :twisted:

-- Fri May 16, 2014 6:23 pm --

Oh I also found that the rabbits love the canes from both blackberry and raspberry brambles!

Love it! :rotfl: :rotfl:

 

[Miss M]

What you could do Commet007 is build a 4ft brick fence and install a 4ft chain link fence on top of it that you would then grow blackberry or raspberry brambles on it. At least then it would hurt them when they tried to look over it! :twisted:

Oh, that is excellent! :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: I like the way you think! <br /><br /> -- Fri May 16, 2014 11:11 pm -- <br /><br />

the house I lived in before this one had a silly strict HOA , I had a hole in the screen on a window about the size of a dime ..... Behind an oak tree that was ~6ft around and very large azalea's .... they called me to tell me about it (I knew it was there). I went off on them , telling them if they were close enough to my house to see a dime sized hole in the screen behind a huge oak tree and azalea's they were too bleeping close to my bleeping house and might get filled with bleeping hot lead creeping around like a peeping tom in the bushes.

They never came back in my yard after that phone call.

Oh... my... goodness. :shock:

I'd have lost it. Kinda like you did.

 

[grumpy]

Thank Heaven's I've lived nearly my entire life "outside" of the city limits.
NO HOA's.........NO city ordinances......No intrusive neighbors that I'd be
tempted to shoot.

Only one small, brief period of 4 months, have I EVER lived inside a city.
That was all it took for me to tell the Missus we either move back to our
old house, "Or, we find a place in the country." She found one and we
skedaddled our fannies in short order. I'll have NO ONE telling me what I
can, or cannot do.

I'd get arrested for assault if someone knocked on my door and TOLD me
what I needed to do. That ain't happening.

grumpy.

 

[WilliamsHomeRabbits]

Thanks ya'll for all the suggestions! To clear up some details:

We have no windows in our garage- it's basically a two-car sized, dark box. My husband is also sort of a stink-freak and is afraid that rabbits that close to our living areas would be really stinky or heaven forbid we smell it while getting in/out of the car in the mornings/evenings. He is also allergic to everything except our turtle. We are working on remedying that. But until then..

I suggested the lattice/plant screen idea and he doesn't think we would be allowed to do that because the rules on constructing a fence require you to bring the fence up to be in line with the backside of the house- no fencing in the side yards. With that being said, he is very skeptical we could get away with installing lattice on the sides, and probably not even as a patio screen area. The fence rules state that you may only install a wooden privacy fence of up to 6' high (made of cedar or treated wood); no pickets, chain link, or stone "fencing". Our HOA is not so concerned with general upkeep of our home (we have several small areas that need attention and no one really cares), but they do get flustered when we let the mulching from our landscaping beds wash out too much or the weeds get out of control, or the siding get a little green from wet weather. But they have rules about front lawns being sodded, and our next door neighbor put down ROCKS as a front yard, so they are clearly allowing exceptions on some things with submission of requests. I have almost memorized our "constitution" trying to find loopholes.
The opposite side of our house from the side we prefer to use, has shade from our neighbor's tree some of the day, and we have some larger shrubs and a big magnolia up in the front that does a good job of blocking the line of sight straight to the backyard. It's not 100% level and our AC unit sits on that side and can be a little noisy. I'm not sure how much that sound would bother rabbits on the day-to-day. I'm going to post pictures so I can get some more specific advice if there's any left to get. We are headed to a local rabbitry today to get a tour and have a Q&A session with the owners.

Thanks again!

 

[ladysown]

sound of the AC won't bother the rabbits, will become just back ground noise for them.

Honestly.. don't get bunnies until you can get things sorted out with the HOA. They sound a bit finicky. Don't forget.... you'll have to dispose of the rabbit waste as well... probably on a daily basis, and keep the trays clean to prevent any kind of odour. If they are outside... you don't want there to be issues.

 

[Comet007]

I agree that the sound won't bother the buns. In our short time with rabbits - 2 1/2 months lol - I've come to realize that they're not as fragile as we thought! When we first got them we acted like the least little thing would freak them out, and when we handled them we treated them like they were made of glass.

One day when DH decided to cut down some small trees without telling me first - some only ten feet from the bunny barn - I hustled down to see if the buns were upset. They were all doing their normal thing and didn't seem to even care!

As for odors - we have our cages suspended and have worm beds below. The bottom of the cages are about 3' above the top of the worm beds. The waste falls down directly into the worm beds, where we have layers of hay, and in our well ventilated bunny barn we have almost no odor! We just built an 8x10 "barn" and one wall is just hardware cloth, so open to breezes, and the other three have boards that are about 1/4" apart, so we get good ventilation so far. We do use OACV in the buns water, which is said to reduce ammonia odors in their urine, as well as providing health benefits. Some will say that it will rust your cages, but we've seen no signs of that so far!

There are all kinds of ways that you can build shelters, whether open or enclosed, and just make them look really nice. Tie the "look" and color of them into the color of your home, or make it look like an attractive yard feature and that should make neighbors less inclined to object. I hope that you can get approval from your HOA!

 

[Miss M]

We have no windows in our garage- it's basically a two-car sized, dark box. My husband is also sort of a stink-freak and is afraid that rabbits that close to our living areas would be really stinky or heaven forbid we smell it while getting in/out of the car in the mornings/evenings. He is also allergic to everything except our turtle. We are working on remedying that. But until then..

I actually meant adding windows to the garage, modifying it to be able to ventilate better than it does now. If you could put windows on two different sides, that would be ideal.

Peat moss and lime would help control odor in drop tubs. Or you could do a chute and gutter system, which would collect all the urine in a bucket (which could have some peat moss in it). This can be diluted I think 10:1 with water, and used to water plants or even the yard. The bunny berries can be collected and composted, or dumped in the garden, or used as "potting soil" to pot up a plant.

Chutes can be brushed or squeegeed off. They can also be rinsed. If you took a few minutes to empty the bucket and sweep the chutes every day, it wouldn't be much of a job.

So you could still have a stealth rabbitry without much odor.

As for allergies, few people are actually allergic to rabbits, even if they are allergic to dogs and cats.

 

[squidpop]

I think living in any sort of suburban setting, if you raise meat rabbits, you need to hide what your are doing or people are going to hassle you and the HOA just adds more hassle factor.
I don't understand the HOAs, America is supposed to be the land of the free so why would you buy a house in a place where you can't do what you want on your own property?