Issues this am...

[Ceres Hil]

So we had a very steady and heavy drizzle all last night. Usually it comes from the south, so the buns have stayed dry. All face north at the north side of the garage with rudementary covers over them. Last night--no wind, many were quite damp this am. The worst news was that ------'s next box got wet! The fur on top looked like wet cotton, I found another box, got fresh hay and pulled the kits. All 7 were plump and happy and seemed warm. They are started to sprout fur too. I added plenty of fresh hay on top and replaced the box. Mom of course hardly noticed.

The other doe (Amer Chin/NZ hit 28 days on Tues. her box was soaked! So I cleaned it out, added fresh hay and replaced. The entire dog kennel was washed clean, all pans changed and buns fed.

I am starting to up ------'s feed as she is clearly nursing well and needs to calories.

Happy THanksgiving to all!
CH

[MaggieJ]

Fortunately, pulled fur provides a lot of insulation, even when damp. I'm very glad the kits didn't get chilled. You might want to improve the roof a bit, maybe adding more overhang with hooks for tarps in case you get a wet windy night from the north. Just a thought. (Hard to conceive of an area where buns need more protection from the south than from the north.)

[Ceres Hil]

Hi Maggie,

Here the weather comes in from the south... North wind brings high pressure and either cool dry (winter) or warm hot (summer). I will likely take more of the herd south to teh farm prior to year end... We are retrofitting teh barn to finish ducks and will be hanging rabbit cages above. We figure we have room for 60 cages in 2/3 of the barn...

Right now the small rabbit barn has 11 cages! Yikes...

[Terry W]

Originally Posted by Ceres Hil

Hi Maggie,

Here the weather comes in from the south... North wind brings high pressure and either cool dry (winter) or warm hot (summer). I will likely take more of the herd south to teh farm prior to year end... We are retrofitting teh barn to finish ducks and will be hanging rabbit cages above. We figure we have room for 60 cages in 2/3 of the barn...

Right now the small rabbit barn has 11 cages! Yikes...

Is someone going to build more cages, so they can get more rabbits, so they need to build more cages, so they can get.... you know the scenario....

[o&itw]

Originally Posted by Terry W

Is someone going to build more cages, so they can get more rabbits, so they need to build more cages, so they can get.... you know the scenario....

Yep, I just built some new cages, Including a couple of extras for "grow out" pens. er.....they now have junior does in them.

[Ceres Hil]

what do you figure your cost is to build cages?

[Wisconsin Ann]

It is costing us $18 per cage to build from scratch. 3'x4', wood frame, floor wire, hinges, door, side cage wire. We use chicken wire for the top and sides, with welded wire for the ends and doors. the most expensive part is the floor...the heavy duty 1/2 x 1 galvanized welded wire. And then a solid piece of cementacious board over 1/2 of the floor. The floor costs 1/2 of the total price.