temporary rabbit shed

[akane]

I've been moving the rabbits to the porch from the condo but it's small and that's not really a good place for them. Instead of moving the stuff off the porch to the shed for rabbit space I'm thinking of moving the rabbits to the shed. It's rather low but I'm only a little over 5' so it's not too difficult for me to do stuff in there. Footprint is 8x7'. It has no windows but it's well sheltered so I think I could leave a door open or both on a warm sunny day. Not that we have many warm sunny days this year. I will be using my solid bottom indoor cages. Any problems with that?



I hope to test plans for a 6 hole, 2 high outdoor cages soon. We still have stuff to move, clean the condo, and build a chicken tractor.

 

[Zass]

Ventilation seems like a possible issue. You might consider adding a fan to keep up air flow.

 

[akane]

I would be more concerned about ventilation if it were 90F out but it's 70-80F and about ready to start cooling down for the year. Hopefully not too relatively cold given the year so far. I didn't think there was any electricity out there but there is a heat lamp in the chicken coop. I just have to find out where it was being plugged in. I doubt they ran it from the house. Snow may be an issue in winter if I leave a door open. It travels more than rain.

 

[Miss M]

If it's in the sun, wouldn't it still get hot inside, even if it's not that hot outside, since it's a metal building?

 

[akane]

It's covered in trees (annoying black walnuts) along a fence covered in bushes. So far I haven't found it to be any hotter inside when I opened it to get chicken feed than outside. There hasn't been much sun though.

 

[ozemba]

Would it be too expensive or difficult to add vents to the sides/back of the building? I was just looking at vents for my shed, and soffit vents are pretty cheap, it's just how to install them on a metal shed instead of wooden soffits...

 

[Marinea]

Considering the mildish summer, I would try it, but I would get a good thermometer and put it in the shed to be sure first. Maybe hang it for a few days and check temps before you move them in?

 

[akane]

I wonder about cutting some vents. I think though we'd be better off just buying a second shed with ventilation. But then I don't want to use up that much yard. Josh wants to put in a large garage on an existing chunk of concrete. We'll see if the logistics work out.

 

[Miss M]

Sounds like it would work as a temporary to me, then... it probably would be good to keep tabs on the temp in there. Ventilation could be an issue, depending on how you deal with waste while they're in there, and how long they're in there. But it might work.

I have never seen a black walnut tree. I hear that a lot of things won't grow around them, but they're like the Mercedes of walnuts or something.

 

[akane]

Black walnuts are so hard I've heard of people throw them on the driveway so that running them over removes the outer layer. You then need a very good mallet or a special spring loaded nut cracker. They grow like weeds from squirrels planting them. Weeds that get as tall as me in a couple years. Few things grow around them and they are not useful as feed because of a compound called juglone. So I really hate black walnut.

 

[jimmywalt]

Considering the mildish summer, I would try it, but I would get a good thermometer and put it in the shed to be sure first. Maybe hang it for a few days and check temps before you move them in?

I agree!!!

You can get inexpensive vents and just cut the hole with tin snips and screw the vents in with sheet metal screws.

Here's what the vents look like that I put in a Chicken coop I built last year. This is what you need I believe.
http://cdn.backyardchickens.com/9/99/99 ... esize.jpeg

 

[akane]

I found a problem with the shed. I didn't think about predators in the middle of the city, there's the chance there's a raccoon but it would have to be in my area and find my rabbits, and then a cat came and spent all day staring at Sui's 2 week old kit. My cages are on the floor and if they weren't the cat could still jump. There's not really any way to attach some kind of barrier that lets air through.

 

[Miss M]

Oh...

 

[Marinea]

There's not really any way to attach some kind of barrier that lets air through.

We are remodeling our loft right now, and we need to keep our cats downstairs. We took some scrap 1x1 boards, sized them to fit the stairway, made it 4 feet tall, and stapled window screen to the frame. We have a similar frame we put up in the chicken coop when we have youngsters we want to keep enclosed. You may be able to do something similar with the shed. The window screening is really cheap.