Rabbit tractor v3.0

[Cottie]

We've been reading up a lot on tractor designs. Polyface Farms portable grow-out pen is the most common, but I'm looking for a solution for all the rabbits. We're working on a large tractor for 2 breeding does. This was is designed for a single buck. What I'm liking about it is even if the rabbit operation is a failure, we can remove every other slat and reuse it to pasture 5 to 10 broilers securely.



Dimensions are approximately 3' x 4'. The hiding area is 16" tall, 18" deep and 37" inches wide. We used a heavy rubber window well frame with 1/2" holes cut almost dead center on the top, since rain rarely falls straight down, and because I've noticed my other pastured buns tend to hide in corners.



The back wall is 1/4" exterior grade plywood with several 1/2" holes drilled at the top.



The door, as well as the cover for the section between the frame and the shelter uses the same plywood.

The runners are 1" x 2" furring strips. They are placed approximately 2" apart (I used a slat as the separating guide) per Polyface Farm's model. This allows the grass to stay up, which encourages bunny nibbling. The horizontally attached board is drilled straight into the window well cover, to prevent pushing/prying.



We tested it out by placing a pork shoulder I'd cooked for someone else (who shall remain nameless) to serve for dinner. That someone forgot about it. It was then shoved in the (back of) the fridge and forgotten. Something attempted to get in, but failed, as you can see here.



We need to add another hasp or lock at top and bottom. With repeated raccoon prying, the door will splinter and/or come off. The chicken wire wasn't an issue for whatever critter tried to get in, or for my dogs who decided they wanted a snack. I'm not declaring it a total success until we make it through another night with the bait.

Total cost was under $40 - major expenses were the window well ($13) and the plywood ($10). I purchased a too large piece and ended up wasting some. It's extremely light, less than 25 pounds. I can easily pick it up on my own and my kids can drag it with the attached rope.

Changes we'll make for v3.1

• 1/2" plywood
• 1" x 1" welded wire/hardware cloth rather than chicken wire OR double layer chicken wire.
• Smaller door with smaller hasps at top and bottom.
• Ledge in the hiding area to escape wet ground/wooden slats. This will be a fully enclosed area with a 5" x 5" circle cut to jump up and into.
• Wrapping the wire around the frame before securing other items. We put the divider on first, when it should have been put on last to secure the wire more.

 

[Kyle@theWintertime]

I like it!!!! Very cool. Do let us know if the predators get in or not though, I would worry some about the chicken wire.

 

[MaggieJ]

Nice... but I agree with Kyle about the chicken wire. A dog, raccoon etc. could tear through it in no time.

 

[JessiL]

Great idea with the baiting method! That's a lot less harrowing than the first few nights of rabbit occupancy...

Definitely swap out the chicken wire - unless the only predators you expect are wild chickens. We have two tractors out on trial right now, one with ducklings and the other with rabbits. Both have 1/2" x 1/2" hardware cloth for the open sides, with mostly staples from a staple gun holding it in place, but also reinforced at corners and every foot or so with larger hammered-in fence staples. I hear that raccoons can reach through 1" square holes.

I'd also suggest covering even the top of the run with something solid/opaque. With rabbits being so sensitive to heat, ours seem to not use the open area when there's sun shining in. Our current rabbit tractor is fully covered, but there's direct sunlight in the run morning and evening, and the rabbits obviously avoid it. We currently have metal roofing on top (we had scrap around), but there seems to be no reason fiberglass roof panels or even canvas or plastic sheeting/tarp over a hardware cloth backing couldn't work.

Looking good, however. Keep us posted!

And we'll post soon once we build our tractor v.3.0, having learned a lot from both 1.0 and 2.0.
-Jessi

 

[Fire-Man]

[We tested it out by placing a pork shoulder I'd cooked for someone else (who shall remain nameless) to serve for dinner. That someone forgot about it. It was then shoved in the (back of) the fridge and forgotten. Something attempted to get in, but failed, as you can see here.

Just some helpful info---This picture of the wood being chipped happen when it was sawed. My dog would go through that wire faster than you could open the door for him. I would for Sure put some stronger wire on it before I put one of my rabbits in it.

 

[Cottie]

[We tested it out by placing a pork shoulder I'd cooked for someone else (who shall remain nameless) to serve for dinner. That someone forgot about it. It was then shoved in the (back of) the fridge and forgotten. Something attempted to get in, but failed, as you can see here.

Just some helpful info---This picture of the wood being chipped happen when it was sawed. My dog would go through that wire faster than you could open the door for him. I would for Sure put some stronger wire on it before I put one of my rabbits in it.

I sanded it down after each cut - that wasn't there when we put it out last night. I think was happened was a coon tried to pry in and ripped off some of the saw-weakened area. We did hear an animal scratching around over there last night.

I understand that chicken wire isn't secure. However, I have to question the idea that it should *never* be used since most of the large pastured-animal farms use it for everything - chickens, turkeys, rabbits, etc.

http://livingthefrugallife.blogspot.com ... sture.html

The rabbit pens used at Polyface Farms are 3'x8' and about 2' high. They are designed hold 10 rabbits at a time, but usually hold one litter each. The frame is constructed from 2x2's with chickenwire siding. The roof is made from corrugated aluminum roofing, which is admittedly expensive but extremely durable, and can be re-used for decades. The bottom of the pen has long thin wooden slats running the 8' length of the pen with a reinforcing cross bar on top of the slats in the middle of the pen. When asked, Daniel claimed the slats are set about 1.5"-2" apart, although they looked more widely spaced than that to me, based on the pictures he showed. I would have guessed they were about 3" apart. But I'll go with the stated spacing when we construct our pens.

If it works for them...?

 

[Ivory]

I like it, but doubt I have the patience or skill to make one.

 

[Peach]

Wow! Impressive! Very cool

 

[JessiL]

Don't most of the big farms also have livestock guardian dogs, or at least a really good quality perimeter fence? Given that situation, I would think chicken wire would be more useful.

We had an incident here where our own dog broke through chicken wire to eat broilers out of a tractor. And something (still not sure if it was a coyote or a raccoon) pulled a few broilers from out between cattle panel holes that had been covered with chicken wire and tarp. And then after we had reinforced that same pen with metal flashing around the bottom, a raccoon climbed over the flashing and chicken wire to the top of the pen where it was only cattle panel, dropped inside, and was busy trying to carry off a broiler before we came out and flushed him out. The pen was then surrounded by a few Havahart traps until the broilers were ready to go.

So, decide how much risk you're willing to take on. I don't think that even our 1/2" by 1/2" wire sides could take a concentrated long-duration attack by a determined large dog. And then there's the stress with such an attack - if the rabbits freak out and run around like idiots, that might be enough to kill them. But I'd rather take that sort of chance then have them "protected" only by chicken wire. With our predator suite, I might as well just tether them out in the open as an offering. Oh, and I am currently using chicken wire as a divider in between the rooms of my rabbit tractor. I've had to patch it back together once already as the buck really wants to get with his lady neighbor. So rabbits can get through it as well...

We are considering running a few strands of hot wire around the whole rabbit yard area, since we are now running electric netting for the poultry and have plenty of fence charger juice to go around. That would go a long way to reassuring me that even the odd stray dog would leave the tractors alone. But that's hopefully overkill, and might not happen unless we end up with a problem.

 

[Cottie]

So, decide how much risk you're willing to take on. I don't think that even our 1/2" by 1/2" wire sides could take a concentrated long-duration attack by a determined large dog.

This is pretty much my thinking. I've seen a boxer open (somehow, not sure how he did it) a solid wood door, knock through a screen and barrel through an electric dog fence. The only thing that finally stopped it was the 120 pound Rott/Shep mix I had at the time.

So, really, the only thing that is going to stop a predator is a larger predator. I could construct a tractor of solid steel, with thick metal lattice, heavy duty hinges and 3 locked hasps. A truly predator proof way of cooking my rabbits without using electricity. :lol:

This is one of the reasons we're experimenting with metal lath now. It's a little sturdier than chicken wire, slightly less sturdy than 14 gauge wire, BUT it has sharp edges, and can be screwed rather than stapled. One of my big issues with wire in general is it must be stapled - and staples are about as effective against a raccoon as a loose piece of string. With chicken wire, the wire will rip; with standard wire, the staples will just pop out with a little pressure. Metal lath won't rip, and a screw won't just pop out.

We tried screwing in 16 gauge wire, but it always had just enough play that with determined attempts, it would pop off the screw.

We are considering electronetting for the area. It used to be pasture land, so there are very few trees for a critter to take advantage of. If we invest in that, we'd simply move the fence with the tractors.

 

[Marinea]

RJ, hubby says if you're going to use screws, make sure to get torque screws. He says they hold up a LOT better and are tougher to get out.

 

[Cottie]

Marinea, I don't know what kind I used. Fiancee just handed me a box and said they were the ones I wanted.

Here's the side view of v3.1, containing a 7 year old (she's checking to see if it gets too hot).


Updated
---

She and her two older sisters tested it out for half an hour. I oriented it so the open part was facing the west (aside from straight noon sun, it's the hottest part of the day). All of them reported it was a few degrees cooler inside than out. There are three sets of ventilation holes in the back, so heat can escape horizontally as well as rise.

The major weak point is the roof. When fiancee's back is no longer killing him, he said he'd tackle that one. For now, I'm going to either screw it down or place a few heavy boards on top. I do believe we've settled on a tractor design, though!



Roughly 3'x3'x2.5'. I'm watching the lop binky around, stand up and so all kinds of wonderful bunny things he couldn't do in his hutch (like nibble fresh grass). It's oriented with the hiding area facing west (reverse of how my girls were testing it). So the eastern side is entirely open, and the west is entirely shut.

• 1 window well wall (12") $13
• 1 sheet of metal lath $8.50
• 96" pet resistant window screening (no idea on cost, we had some in the barn)
• 1 2'x4' sheet of 1/2" plywood $8
• 6 1"x2" furring strips for runners ~$3.50
• 5 2"x2" furring strips for frame ~$6
• 1 set of hinges $3
• 2 small hasps $4
• 2 something-to-hold-the-hasps-closed-from-stuff-lying-around free

So $46 at retail, not including screws, staples, etc. I'm going to investigate cheaper options. I think I could bring the cost down to under $25 if I can find alternate sources. We used new materials for the prototype, though. Still no shelf, fiancee didn't like that idea, as it would pull on the well cover too much, so he's brainstorming another option.

 

[Marinea]

Looks good RJ. Hubby says you got a good deal on the wood supplies (he works at a building supply store).

As far as a ledge in the hidey area, maybe take a scrap piece of the plywood and cover a small part of the strips in there? Like a resting board maybe? It would be up off the ground on the strips and would be drier.