Noise sensitivity

[LoveMyBarnyard]

We are new to rabbit breeding and just planning to purchase our first meat rabbits. We have been planning to use a small outbuilding for a small starter rabbitry. This building used to house our goats and is perfect for the rabbits except that my husband has started using the front room for woodwork. It just dawned on me that the sound of the machinery might literally frighten the rabbits to death. Am I right or can they be normalized to live with it?

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

Not sure how the sound compares to that machinery but I've only had a few rabbits who got scared from the noise of a loud vacuum

How far away is the room? How separate is it from where the rabbits will go?

 

[LoveMyBarnyard]

Not sure how the sound compares to that machinery but I've only had a few rabbits who got scared from the noise of a loud vacuum

How far away is the room? How separate is it from where the rabbits will go?

It was built as a small animal barn and we just put a very thin wood "wall" up to section off the pen. (We had our baby chicks in this penned area a few months ago.) It will be loud woodworking noises. So your vacuum cleaner experience may confirm what I am worried about. The other option is we revert back to our original idea to have them outside. We live in Central Texas, so it's doable, just not as comfortable for them. Also that is more investment for us, as we were going to wait on building cages to start since we already have 5 little pens sectored off. The idea is to first keep things simple and small while we try out the rabbits to see how we like it...

 

[Graceful Rabbitry]

We are new to rabbit breeding and just planning to purchase our first meat rabbits. We have been planning to use a small outbuilding for a small starter rabbitry. This building used to house our goats and is perfect for the rabbits except that my husband has started using the front room for woodwork. It just dawned on me that the sound of the machinery might literally frighten the rabbits to death. Am I right or can they be normalized to live with it?

Most of my rabbits don’t mind we have literally been in their cage before with a battery powered screw driver to close off the hole to their ramp so the babies would stay up there eat and they were just fine kept their distance but never
hunkered down and seemed to be scared. They are fine with the noise of the saw as well when working on other projects. They best way I like to get my rabbits used to noise is by playing music and slowing turning it up it helps if you plan to show rabbits as well because of the noise in show rooms. So l would just start with playing music and seeing how they react or watch their behavior in loud storm if you can.

 

[LoveMyBarnyard]

Wow, that's wonderful! We'll give it a try. After mulling on this all day, our solution was we would frequently put them in cages and take them outside so they were used to being moved in and out. That way we could take them out for periods when he was doing woodwork. But I love your music method more!! Thank you.

 

[Graceful Rabbitry]

Glad I could help

 

[dlynn]

We are new to rabbit breeding and just planning to purchase our first meat rabbits. We have been planning to use a small outbuilding for a small starter rabbitry. This building used to house our goats and is perfect for the rabbits except that my husband has started using the front room for woodwork. It just dawned on me that the sound of the machinery might literally frighten the rabbits to death. Am I right or can they be normalized to live with it?

I remember an old book called "baby taming" it was written rather humorously but premise was if you make everyone be extra quiet when baby sleeps, you train them to startle and wake at every little noise. They advocated making noise, running vaccum etc. I used the same principle with the rabbits. Was building an aviary next to them. Made multiple alterations to their space (with them in it). They had to deal with screw guns, drills, hammering... first few times they retreated to the other side. Eventually they seemed more curious than afraid. Would come nuzzle me( if I had crawled in their space) or any tools I set down. We tend to be loud. Someone here had said start them as you plan to continue. They were talking feeding I think but that idea gets applied to other things as well. Different animals have different personalities. So don't know till you try.Good luck with your " baby taming"

 

[LoveMyBarnyard]

I love this. I'm feeling so much more confident we can make this work! Thank you! We did put up a wall of T-11 boards so that their lungs would not be bombarded with saw dust. It was a bit of a bummer because we have to go into the pen area to see them but, it does feel protected and they do have windows to the outdoors inside the pen so it will feel really nice with fresh air for them.

 

[LoveMyBarnyard]

I remember an old book called "baby taming" it was written rather humorously but premise was if you make everyone be extra quiet when baby sleeps, you train them to startle and wake at every little noise. They advocated making noise, running vaccum etc. I used the same principle with the rabbits. Was building an aviary next to them. Made multiple alterations to their space (with them in it). They had to deal with screw guns, drills, hammering... first few times they retreated to the other side. Eventually they seemed more curious than afraid. Would come nuzzle me( if I had crawled in their space) or any tools I set down. We tend to be loud. Someone here had said start them as you plan to continue. They were talking feeding I think but that idea gets applied to other things as well. Different animals have different personalities. So don't know till you try.Good luck with your " baby taming"

 

[Keag]

I have had no problems with our rabbits & noise. We have 10 dogs & lots of barking. We use chainsaws to cut our wood, a wood splitter, snow thrower & me knocking the snow off the roof of their enclosure. The more noise they get acclimated too. We also have Mustangs very close to them & they often kick the metal fencing & no problem.

 

[user 8990]

Mine are well acclimated to noise too. We have 5 dogs and we’re always working on something. I think you’ll be fine with the setup you described, especially with the wall you mentioned. Sounds lovely!

 

[UFCreel]

Mine deal with radio, saws, lawn mowers, weed whips, barking dogs. Never had an issue. Exposure to noise is a good thing.

 

[eco2pia]

When we built the current rabbit house, we finished it with the first rabbits IN it--using a nail gun, air compressor, and skill saw right next to them, sometimes the vibrations of hammering would jostle the whole structure. Not only did they not die, they raised their first litter in the construction zone.

Recently I re-ran the automatic water system pipes, and had to hammer and drill on the cage supports themselves. My biggest worry was accidentally drilling into a rabbit, they were curious and in the way, trying to sniff tools while I was using them. Standard meat breeds become accustomed to many things easily, I find.

 

[hotzcatz]

On another note, though, a friend of mine was trying to breed rabbits near her dog kennel and the rabbits wouldn't breed. They were all wire cages suspended in the air really close to barking dogs, so I can see why the poor things didn't get around to breeding. When she remembered she "didn't like rabbits when she was a kid and why does she have them now?", I bought her out of rabbiting. They were placed in a quieter but not quiet area (much more chicken noise than dog noise) and in a hutch that had a bit more to it than just wire along with a couple of hiding spots and then they decided to have litters.

 

[Olbunny]

Yes rabbits are very susceptible to stress. Just my experience. Moving a cage, having the buck not near the does. Any sudden changes around them.
Different rabbits are different. Just like dogs n loud noise. Some cower very bad. Some never notice. We always break them in carefully. Just in case.
Does loud sound, noise bother them absolutely. So does the sound waves in their sensitive ears.
I would prefer to not expose our rabbitry to that. Just not worth the chances on a working rabbitry.