what kind of floor?

[SherryR]

What kind of floor is best for rabbitry side of our almost done henhouse/ rabbitry? Husband wants to raise level of floor (kind of in a little depression) with sand or gravel with flat paving stones ontop. would this work best? what're your suggestions?

thanks Sherry

[rzrubek]

Hi Sherry,

with sand or gravel with flat paving stones ontop. would this work best? what're your suggestions?

Honestly this would be about the worst kind of floor for a rabbitry. Anything with gaps like tile would have trap droppins and collect them and it would be hard to clean. Dirt works real well in that it absorbs moisture and odors and is cheap. Mine is dirt under the cages and I have a concrete walkway down the middle that is about 4-5 inches above the dirt. I built a scraper out of a hoe and use it to pull all the droppings to one end and then scoop them out into a wheelbarrow to get rid of them. Pros sometimes use concrete with a gutter type system and wash the waste out that way. That would cost alot of money though. I hope you are not housing the rabbits and chickens together? Do not let the chickens on the rabbit cages at all. Good luck with it and I'm sure somebody else will have some other ideas also. Randy

[SherryR]

Hey Randy,
thanks for your post, I appreciate it, no there will be a separation between the rabs and chickens. What do you pputdown on dirt floor? You're right, we're doing it as cheaply as possible. concrete would be nice but it isn't happening. Do you worry about anything diggingg under the foundation? what about the cold?
I live in ME.

sincerely,
Sherry

[rzrubek]

I don't put anything on the floor. Our problem here is heat, rabbits like the cold. How cold do your winters get? We don't have a predator problem so i don't know about animals digging under. We don't have any problems with it.

[terry stewart]

why cant you put rabbits and chicken in the same area

[Tucker]

Originally Posted by terry stewart

why cant you put rabbits and chicken in the same area

the theory is that chickens 'give' diseases to the rabbits ,,

actually the problem is you don't want the chickens to be able to fly on top of the cages to poop or get any dirty crap on the wire of the cages where the rabbits can lick or transfer anything to their fur that they might lick and thereby injest ,,

and if you have open top feeders attatched to the sides of your hanging cages a theiving chicken will eat / poop and scratch in those even if you have full chicken feeders a few feet away ,, if it agraviates YOU and they are NOT supposed to eat it thats what they want ,,

cocci is species specific ,, but if 1 rabbit in a herd has cocci and its in its droppings and the chickens are scratching around in the stuff ,, as they are fond of doing ,, then getting on the other cages ,, then the other rabbits 'catch' it ,,,

same with worms ,, caged rabbits rarely get worms ,, but if a chicken leaves dirt with worm eggs in it that a rabbit happens to lick ,, thats also the chance you take with pulling grass / fresh weeds to give as treats to your rabbits too ,,

I have had chickens and rabbits 'together' for 4+ years with no problems at all ,,, but my outside hutches have metal tops so the chickens just keep the underneith stirred up well ,, keeping down smells and insects ,, they are pretty good at cleaning up most of the waste too ,, & the worm population is fine lol ,,,


when I had hanging cages inside my henhouse running along one wall ,, I used 'plastic' wire to run along the top and my chickens could not fly on top of the cages ,,

A Warning tho ,, you will also have to keep the bales of hay and straw you use / feed the rabbits covered ,, I put flakes of hay on top of my wire cages for them to nibble on and a scratching hen can destroy a flake in a few minutes LOL ,,

I keep my bales of straw for nesting material and hay for feeding in my tool building and have to keep them well covered with a tarp ,, or the chickens will sneak into the building just to sneak a nest and lay eggs in the bales ,, and scratching and pooping on them at the same time the 12 hole nestbox they have isn't good enough