whats better runs or hutches for Flemish does to kindle and raise the kits?

[ronzx]

I am going to set up some permanent runs for my wife's peacocks to raise there chicks in and thought about using them for the rabbits when the birds are not using them.
That way they would have fresh grass and think it would be cooler being on the ground in the shade when it get hot.
but she thinks it would be better if I made them hutches to kindle and raise the kits in. That would be in around the same area also in the shade.
We live in South Carolina and gets in the low 90 for most of the summer
The rest of the time the rabbits will be in a colony And might not breed them during the summer

 

[tambayo]

My concern with birds in the mix like that would be coccidia.

 

[ronzx]

I didn't even think about that.
They wouldn't be in there at the same time so the poop would be gone but didn't think about how long coccidia would live in the top layers of soil.
Our rabbits are still only 9 weeks old so have time to get everything figured out before we even think about breeding them.
With the birds we pretreat with cordid because once they start to show anything its already too late. is it the same with rabbits?

 

[Alaska Satin]

I didn't even think about that.
They wouldn't be in there at the same time so the poop would be gone but didn't think about how long coccidia would live in the top layers of soil.
Our rabbits are still only 9 weeks old so have time to get everything figured out before we even think about breeding them.
With the birds we pretreat with cordid because once they start to show anything its already too late. is it the same with rabbits?

I agree with @tambayo, coccidia would be my worry as well. It can live in the soil a pretty long time and can survive freezing. Coccidia is resistant to most common disinfectants, which makes it hard to remove from the environment. I've read that a 1 to 9 concentration of ammonia and water can kill it in kennels, but I don't know about spraying that all over the yard - it would probably kill the grass.

I just found an article about treating coccidia in yards, for what it's worth:
https://www.hunker.com/13406013/how-to-treat-your-yard-for-coccidia
I'm not a fan of using any drug prophylactically, though it sounds like you have good reason. But eventually you will probably create/confront a resistant variety, and coccidia are pretty adaptable - there's something like 400 varieties of it. With my chickens and rabbits I've had pretty good success treating for coccidiosis, but you do need to catch it early. It's much better to prevent it. That's one of the reasons I bring my rabbits up off the ground when it starts to rain - when I can't move the tractors to a clean dry spot is when coccidiosis becomes an issue for me.

 

[MnCanary]

My concern with birds in the mix like that would be coccidia.

Birds and rabbits get different coccidia. Coccidia are a huge group of organisms, and mostly species specific. (per the Merck Veterinary Manual).

 

[Alaska Satin]

Birds and rabbits get different coccidia. Coccidia are a huge group of organisms, and mostly species specific. (per the Merck Veterinary Manual).

That is what Merck says, but a few of us have had different experiences.

The worst outbreak of hepatic coccidiosis I've ever had in my rabbits was when the rabbit tractor got moved into an area where we had had our grow-out chicks. The chicks had had coccidiosis, which we cured with Corid. The rabbits were moved there a few months later (by mistake) and every bunny in the tractor had a huge belly and hip bones sticking out within a few weeks; when we butchered them, we found the tell-tale yellow spots on their livers. This was before the rainy season started, which is when I usually expect to see coccidiosis problems.

We have had chickens get into the rabbit shed/barn and we have had rabbits escape into the chicken run without consequence. But they did not live in each other's space for very long.

It could have been coincidental, and maybe we just had both rabbit-specific and chicken-specific coccidia in our lawn. But knowing how adaptable and changeable coccidia are, it would surprise me if some of them could not adapt. Having had the heartbreak of coccidia-ridden bunnies more than once, as far as I'm concerned, better safe than sorry. It does sound like there are clean-up practices that can address the possibility of coccidia as well as a number of other pathogens and parasites that may remain after the birds are gone.

 

[ronzx]

Birds and rabbits get different coccidia. Coccidia are a huge group of organisms, and mostly species specific. (per the Merck Veterinary Manual).

That is what Merck says, but a few of us have had different experiences

Both views are probably correct in my (un-edge-ja-ma-cay-tid) opinion
Rabbits are probably not affected by the type of coccidia that kills birds. But repeated high exposure could overwhelm the young kits
The kits could also have gotten sick and that allowed it to overwhelm the immune system.
I read/ heard somewhere that most people don't die from cancer but the actual cause of death is a cold, flue or pneumonia

 

[Alaska Satin]

Both views are probably correct in my (un-edge-ja-ma-cay-tid) opinion
Rabbits are probably not affected by the type of coccidia that kills birds. But repeated high exposure could overwhelm the young kits
The kits could also have gotten sick and that allowed it to overwhelm the immune system.
I read/ heard somewhere that most people don't die from cancer but the actual cause of death is a cold, flue or pneumonia

The kits didn't die of coccidiosis, they died of butchering. I have actually had very good luck treating coccidiosis in both rabbits and chickens (with Corid), and haven't had any die from it. The rabbits in question were near butchering age so I just went ahead with the harvest.

They all did, however, have very serious cases of hepatic coccidiosis. I did not do a culture, but the swollen bellies, extremely poor condition (ribs/spine/hips protruding), and especially the liver covered in yellow spots are all diagnostic of hepatic coccidiosis in rabbits. I have only sen this, before or since, in rabbits that are living in a tractor when there is no way to move them to a clean, dry area. But the rabbits in question were not in that situation; they were in a clean dry area, but it happened to be where the diseased chicks had lived a few months earlier.

Yes, repeated high exposure will produce the disease, but that means the animals are affected by the pathogen. Most rabbits encounter coccidia spores regularly; constant exposure (usually due to hygiene issues, e.g. living in a tractor on wet ground or a hutch full of dirty, wet hay, with no way to get to a clean area) is what produces the disease in otherwise healthy animals. Compromised individuals (stressed, malnourished, crowded, etc.) can succumb to lower levels of exposure than healthy individuals.

 

[ronzx]

With the birds they always have coccidia it is only a problem when it gets too high in chicks.
from what I have heard using cordid only knocks the amount of coccidia down in the chicks so it dont kill them before they can handle it
The peahen will encourage her chicks to eat her poop as soon as the leave the nest

Still not sure if I should treat my 9 week old rabbits
They have been here for a week and are growing fast and look real healthy
By now coccidia may no longer be a problem they are probably old enough that they should be fine on there own
But I haven't read up on it in rabbits yet all I know about is with the birds
Whenever someone brings a kid over we tell them "We don't have dirt here it just old poop" so the entire yard is affected with coccidia from the birds


started writing my post before I saw your post