Cage-free/Colony Living?

[Ness]

I'm still new to rabbits, so please excuse me if my inexperience is showing here; and no offence intended to people who do choose to keep their rabbits in cages. We'd really prefer not too.

So I've been keeping our rabbits in a community situation for a little over a month now (really new to rabbits!), and it's going very well. We have 3 does and 2 bucks, they are all on the younger side but they get along great.


(Set-up is still temporary as we figure out what we want to do)

We've already had 2 litters (1 after this picture was taken), one of which came from the doe being bred when we bought her. So I've removed those two does & kits to separate cages. The first babies are about 3 weeks now and ready to move back in to the main cage, I'm sure because they keep escaping into it... yah I have some work to do this week!!

The other rabbits (2.1) are in pretty much a dog pen on the floor of my barn loft (actually that's exactly where they are). They've got things to jump on & hide in (so they can get away from each other) and things are going well. I realize 2.1 is not a great ratio, but one of the bucks is getting sold this weekend.

I would like to create a worm system for my chickens, by raising the rabbits up over bins, yadda yadda yadda, but I really don't like the idea of keeping the rabbits in cages (except the does with their kits - and then I'm only caging them to keep them away from the bucks, we'd love if they could stay in the community set up really).

Does anyone have an alternative community set up, which they've also been able to use to create a worm system?
Is that asking too much?

I'd also love to see some other community set ups & how you've organized them.

I'd like to eventually move the rabbits into the chicken's coop, but we haven't figured out what we want to keep them in yet...

Thanks!

[KSALguy]

adult bucks fully mature will not tollerate another adult buck in their territory, there will be fighting, and when you bring the doe back to the colony expect some fighting as she has been gone and no longer part of the social group, adult does dont like new adult does that have not been raised up in the colony, there are alot of differint things you can do to set up a workable colony, the easyest way to have worms and a colony is to clean the colony floor and put it in the compost where your worms are,

My colony was outside and they were allowed to dig their own warren to have their kits, each doe dug her own tunnels to add to the warren complex with a nest chamber at the end, a new nest each time, there were no issues of loosing kits from other rabbits messing with the nest as each time she left the nest it was backfilled with dirt and everyone had their own tunnels to worry about,

in an indoor setting there are ways to make the does think they have tunnels to use for their warren and leave everyone in the colony, the first and simplist is to make long wooden nest boxes with an entrance at one end and a peek'a'boo door at the other to check on the litter, one member here uses this set up but had an issue where an older doe took dominance over the younger in the colony when the younger deliverd first and would take her nest tunnel, its still workable if you time your breedings but for that member it works better to have each doe in her own room in the barn with alternateing bucks,

you can take cinderblocks or bricks/wood blocks and make a maze with nest boxes at the end of several of the tunnels, lay a sheet of plywood over top and cover with hay,

or simply take several hay bales and arange them loosely togather again with a sheet of plywood over top, the rabbits will squeese and dig into the hay bales to make their own nests and tunnels,

rabbits keep the tunnels relatively clean except the nest will get a messy thats why does dig new ones each time,

Bucks dont bother the kits if left in the colony, they actually are normally quite good with the kits letting them crawl all over them, and most does will breed back on their own schedual, haveing several back to back litters then takeing a break, as long as they are kept in good condition there is nothing wrong with this, but some people choose to take the buck out for a few weeks to space the litters appart more to their likeing,

[Ness]

Thanks Ksal,

I really like the idea of keeping the rabbits in this type of more 'natural' set-up. Ideally I'd be keeping them in the chicken coop run, but I lost that argument (and rightfully so, right now that fence isn't dug down deep enough & we're having fox problems already).

We're selling one of the bucks this weekend, so the plan is to keep 1.3 over winter.
(hope that's not confusing people it's males.females.unknown)

I have heard of people just throwing their rabbits into the middle of a round-bale and letting them sort it out, I guess that would sort of work then .

How crazy would it be to put the rabbits into a large hay-bay?
What I mean by that is, our barn is very old, and we have two bays on either side of where they are now. This would have been used to store loose hay when the barn was first built (at least 100, probably a lot more, years ago). Both sides are filled with very old hay, which is taking me forever to clear out because it's such a pain. The rabbits would mostly be enclosed by stone walls on 2 sides, I'm worried they'd do damage to the wooden support structure so I'd be putting fence down on the other 2 sides.

I was thinking of doing tunnels for them (unless we put them in the hay-bay, they could make their own). Any experience with plastic tunnels? Will they just chew them apart?

[KSALguy]

rabbits that are able to run around and dig dont really have issues chewing, my colony lived under the chicken coop and never chewed on any of the wood, if the old hay is not moldy at all and the foundation is nice and deep it would not be a problem to put them in there, what are the deminsions? you could very easily use one for breeders and then take the young out before things get too crouded with the next batch and put them in the other to grow out for butcher, or what ever your raising them for, OR use BOTH sides for breeding and make a grow out pen some place else,

[Ness]

They won't chew on wood just for the heck of it, if they've got other options? Maybe I'll just chuck 'em in there then .

The hay isn't moldy but it's very old & very dusty, there is one section we fed out the hay (can't believe my cows ate it!! nothing wrong with it, just old) and the hay underneath has rotten down to dirt pretty much.

Dimensions? lol, maybe 40' x 30' or something, think my biggest problem would be catching them again.

I'd ideally like to give them access to outdoors but we haven't figured out a tractor system that works for us yet.

Not the best but kinda shows what I'm talking about, the hay we fed out is deep enough there is 3' maybe more of stone work exposed. I think it's 7' or so from the ground now to climb back up to where the bunnies are now.



It's open underneath so they could run to the other side



Anyone tried something like this before?

[KSALguy]

i think that will work great, i would put cinderblocks or something down to block the underneath so they are only on one side, as far as catching them you can build a little corral with blocks and such that you feed them in and when you need to catch them feed them, then block the entrance and its like fish in a barrel lol,

if your going to work on a tractor i would only put your fryers in there, not your breeders, you can bring all they fresh cut weeds/grass/greens etc in to them all you want, mine ate mostly fresh cut stuff, hay and some chicken grain,

[pancho]

Originally Posted by Ness

They won't chew on wood just for the heck of it, if they've got other options? Maybe I'll just chuck 'em in there then .

The hay isn't moldy but it's very old & very dusty, there is one section we fed out the hay (can't believe my cows ate it!! nothing wrong with it, just old) and the hay underneath has rotten down to dirt pretty much.

Dimensions? lol, maybe 40' x 30' or something, think my biggest problem would be catching them again.

I'd ideally like to give them access to outdoors but we haven't figured out a tractor system that works for us yet.

Not the best but kinda shows what I'm talking about, the hay we fed out is deep enough there is 3' maybe more of stone work exposed. I think it's 7' or so from the ground now to climb back up to where the bunnies are now.



It's open underneath so they could run to the other side



Anyone tried something like this before?

My rabbits run free in my back yard. They are easy to catch, just reach down and pick them up. If you feed them and give them treats and do not let other people chase and bother them they will become very tame.
I have two small blue rabbits from the last litter that have learned how to come in the doggie door into my back deck. They go and come when they want. I usually feed them and give them treats in there and they have decided they like it.
The grown rabbits will come when I call and let me pet them.
If you don't give them a reason to fear you they wont.

[Ness]

Actually I can't feeding them weeds, we're hurting so bad for rain right now even the weeds aren't growing! It's unbelievable!
But otherwise, yeah we're trying to raise them more on grass & weeds, they only get pellets as a treat, that works pretty well getting them to come to me.

Great, hubs wins another one... that was his first suggestion just to stick them in the bays! Well, it'll save me from trying to figure something else out to keep the 3 week olds IN their pen!

pancho - you don't have predator problems? Or do you have a fence?
We've got dogs, I don't think I could let the bunnies loose in the same area, they'd probably eat them given the chance.

[pancho]

Originally Posted by Ness

Actually I can't feeding them weeds, we're hurting so bad for rain right now even the weeds aren't growing! It's unbelievable!
But otherwise, yeah we're trying to raise them more on grass & weeds, they only get pellets as a treat, that works pretty well getting them to come to me.

Great, hubs wins another one... that was his first suggestion just to stick them in the bays! Well, it'll save me from trying to figure something else out to keep the 3 week olds IN their pen!

pancho - you don't have predator problems? Or do you have a fence?
We've got dogs, I don't think I could let the bunnies loose in the same area, they'd probably eat them given the chance.

Yes, I have a 6ft. privacy fence with an electric wire on top.
Never had much predator before, mainly housecats.
My dog won't bother anything I own. At first she didn't like the rabbits coming in the back deck and would carry them back outside. She finally had to give up because as soon as she put them down they came back in.

[arnie]

Yes ,make a corrall like area for feed n water so you ca catch em . I'v raised a few rabbits by just giving them free range on the homestead and had a couple NZW does that would come up and beg for treats , saltine crackers or carrots but preators .eventualy got em . My dogs now do a very good job of stoping the varmit problem but .a rabbit on the ground is considered there's . To control breeding you can put the buck in and out .the does will dig holes in the dirt .I'm useing hanging cages with autowatering in a shead but if I had a safe area like your bin i'd like to try a coliny :-) god luck in this venture

[Ness]

So far so good:


(anyone have suggestions what these guys might be crossed with? They are very soft. Doe is a NZW, came to us bred, could be ANYTHING)


Didn't move the new doe & kits, or the buck we're about to sell. Doe we'll move around 3 weeks like these little guys are.


I'll have to set up a chute, that's a good idea! For now they've just got a little feed area.

Decided to put them on the straw side instead of the empty side, because this side I can easily get into.

[KSALguy]

looks good to me, they will have a blast digging in all that bedding, and will soon have nests of bunnys, no reason not to put the doe and kits in with them, the longer you wait the more trouble trying to get her back into the colony,

[Ness]

I was just thinking the babies are only a week old.

The first doe with the older kits is VERY laid back, wouldn't care if I moved her bunnies, but the second is a little more skittish, I'm just worried about her rejecting them - think that will be a problem? They're in a dog kennel too, I'd like to move them into the nest box but the kennel works well enough really.

The buck already got out & is now hopping loose around the barn I don't even know how he got out but I'm sure he can get back in!

[KSALguy]

move the kennel and all into the enclosure, they should be fine, catch him and put him back, if he climbed out he might not be able to climb in, and its safer IN than OUT, any possible hole needs blocked

[Ness]

We found the hole, it was in the floor near the door, we didn't think it was connected to underneath and the bunnies showed us!!!

After a few days running all over the lawn, I went out late after they'd gone in & trapped them back in there. I think I got the last of the babies today.

We actually ended up forgetting to take our buck to the sale (poor thing had to sit in a box for a few hours back home...) so he's in there too, lots of space so no fighting yet. They are showing up with very dirty noses and feet though!!

[Ness]

This worked out terribly!! :lol:

The rabbits found holes, and then more holes and then more holes. We tried to fence them in there, but I now have white rabbits running all over my farm!

They are, however, doing very well, costing me nothing on feed & seem very happy & healthy! So as long as the fox doesn't figure out what's going on around here (and we have a fox, and haven't lost any yet... I think) we'll be okay until we can figure something else out .

[KSALguy]

i had some escape too, it happens, as long as you dont have preditor issues and dont mind them loose its fine, i would try and get a more secure enclosure for them though, how are they getting out? is there no solid foundation or are they getting out through holes in the wall?

[silverseeds]

Your mileage may vary, but I tried the colony set up also. I simply had to get the males into their own area. they just chased the females around all day, everyone as on edge. a colony for the males didnt work either, they just fought. So its large cages for my males. Probably best anyway, I can control breeding.

[lissapell]

My grandfather kept his rabbits like you are talking about. In the top of the hay barn. They allowed them to become more "wild" but they produced like crazy quickly. They had it set up this way for about 12 yrs. every so often he would pull out new breeding stock and butcher the rest. This is when he would clean it out and start over. ONly complaint he ever had was how difficult it was to keep up with breeding cycles. He decided to just let them do their thing instead. This might not be the best set up if it gets very hot where you are. He lived in MI and it worked fine. I live in south MS and it just gets so hot I am afraid it would steam the poor things unless they had extreme air flow.

Originally Posted by Ness

They won't chew on wood just for the heck of it, if they've got other options? Maybe I'll just chuck 'em in there then .

The hay isn't moldy but it's very old & very dusty, there is one section we fed out the hay (can't believe my cows ate it!! nothing wrong with it, just old) and the hay underneath has rotten down to dirt pretty much.

Dimensions? lol, maybe 40' x 30' or something, think my biggest problem would be catching them again.

I'd ideally like to give them access to outdoors but we haven't figured out a tractor system that works for us yet.

Not the best but kinda shows what I'm talking about, the hay we fed out is deep enough there is 3' maybe more of stone work exposed. I think it's 7' or so from the ground now to climb back up to where the bunnies are now.



It's open underneath so they could run to the other side



Anyone tried something like this before?

[secuono]

So cute!

I'm doing an outdoor pastured colonies. =D

[KSALguy]

one male per colony, males will fight to the death if your not careful, more than one adult breeding male in a colony is asking for trouble, now just one male is fine, everyone will calm down,

[silverseeds]

Originally Posted by KSALguy

one male per colony, males will fight to the death if your not careful, more than one adult breeding male in a colony is asking for trouble, now just one male is fine, everyone will calm down,

This didnt work for me unfortunately. He just chased the females all day apparently. they are much calmer with all the males out. I had one male I wanted to breed first round, and left him in there.

I had such a hard time sourcing quality breeding stock I want more then one male anyway, in case something happens to my lead buck.