Space

[Cali]

I apologize in advance if this has already been covered.. I am wondering how much space I need per rabbit. I plan to have NZs, Californians, and if I can find them, Silver Fox. I will be breeding them to produce meat. If I have good enough stock I will sell excess to 4H and FFA kids. I want to start with a buck and two does for now.

Currently we have a "frame" of a structure left on the property by the previous owner. It was a storage bin, but I want to repurpose it into a hutch and am wondering how many rabbits I can have in it comfortably. (It will be sectioned off). The dimensions are 2'5" by 6'11". Any input is much appreciated!

 

[OneAcreFarm]

I apologize in advance if this has already been covered.. I am wondering how much space I need per rabbit. I plan to have NZs, Californians, and if I can find them, Silver Fox. I will be breeding them to produce meat. If I have good enough stock I will sell excess to 4H and FFA kids. I want to start with a buck and two does for now.

Currently we have a "frame" of a structure left on the property by the previous owner. It was a storage bin, but I want to repurpose it into a hutch and am wondering how many rabbits I can have in it comfortably. (It will be sectioned off). The dimensions are 2'5" by 6'11". Any input is much appreciated!

Instead of making it a "hutch" style, I would recommend hanging cages. Like these...

 

[Cali]

I don't know if hutch is the best way to describe it. The next cages we build will be much more like the ones you posted, however I really want to use what we have for now and would like to know how many rabbits can comfortably fit in the space. Here is a picture of it, sorry for the quality as its from a phone.

The bottom is open currently, will be wiring everything up and it will be up off the ground but not too high as the top is the door, its on hinges.

 

[OneAcreFarm]

You can make two or three, maybe four holes in that space, if you are going to have rabbits as big as Cals...Will they be on the ground? That does not look like it would be very sanitary and looks difficult to clean under.

 

[ladysown]

probably three cages. you do need to consider how you will clean it out. looks a tad awkward to work with, but you could possibly scavenge the wood and repurpose it into something that might work for you better long term.

 

[Basenji43]

If I were you, I would remove the wood structure and use that wood to make a structure for hanging cages or stacking cages with pull out trays underneath. Way way way easier to clean....trust meThat metal building surrounding it will be perfect for blocking the weather elements. Good luck!

 

[OneAcreFarm]

If I were you, I would remove the wood structure and use that wood to make a structure for hanging cages or stacking cages with pull out trays underneath. Way way way easier to clean....trust meThat metal building surrounding it will be perfect for blocking the weather elements. Good luck!

:yeahthat:

 

[Amy]

Do you garden? You could collect the rabbits droppings and add worms to help decompose the droppings.
Maybe you could attach the cages to the top of the wood structure, below the cages you could have a deep litter system with red worms underneath the cages.
May not work for you? But, that's what I'd do!

Also, Rabbits tend to eat wooden structures.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

:welcome: Cali!

I second Amy's idea! You really wouldn't use much more cage wire that way, and then you would only have to worry about cleanliness issues along the frame of the wood which will be enough to worry about. If you bought a few 2" X 4"s you could attach one to each side with a cross piece along the top and hang the cages from that which would solve that problem.

I know the feeling of wanting to utilize what is available, but you will soon regret building cages inside of the bin. It will get nasty very quickly from urine and droppings and will be impossible to keep sanitary, and your rabbit keeping will be more of a chore than a pleasure.

 

[Cali]

Thanks everyone for the input!
I may not have explained it very well.. The bottom of the bin is actually completely open (the previous owner used it simply to keep hay in without letting her horse get to it- it was closed in originally, I took the metal off of it). I had planned for a wire floor and to have it up on legs or braced somehow so that the droppings and urine would fall through. The plan was to have some bins under that for worms. I'm not sure now if I'll use it. I did find someone locally who builds wire hanging cages. Maybe I could still use it as a grow out pen for babies.