Do any of you raise rabbits "cage free"?

I prefer a more natural setting when I can, but I just wanted to mention that not every individual rabbit is suited for it. Many have really lost all social instincts through hundreds of generations of cage raising. I have owned many rabbits who just would not do it. Even when you raise them together, sometimes they'll still fight. Adults of both sexes can be very territorial and I have had does who were flat out DONE with their kits at 6 weeks or so.

So if you do try a colony, be prepared to sell, cull or cage several rabbits. Watch very carefully for fighting. There's really never a time when you can stop watching for it, every time a doe gets flirty, gets bred, kindles, weans or just has a bad hair day the dynamic can change and a rabbit bite will nearly always get nastily infected and rabbits can outright kill other rabbits who can't get away from them. If a buck gets to a nest he may kill kits. Not trying to be a downer, but protecting our animals does sometimes mean from the same species.

How I used to do it was I had a couple of huge, movable pens that the rabbits took turns in. They were caged at night. Does with litters popping out of the nest box got out there with their litters and the litters when weaned got to go in giant colony cages till they went to new homes, freezer camp or I decided to keep them for breeding, then they got their own digs and were rotated out on the lawn or screen porch for exercise and grazing. I couldn't do it with a big herd, but with 6 does and 3 bucks and their litters it wasn't much trouble. Sometimes you have to find a happy compromise. Also, since they were only out for the morning or afternoon, I didn't have dig-outs.

We just started raising rabbits in September. I have 15 cages which I have kept the does that I would like to start breeding for now. The younger ones that I dont want for breeding are loose in a colony setting. At feeding time it is a challenge not to step on some of them. LOL I spend a little time each nite with a bowl of oats or pellets and they have to come to me to eat. That has gotten alot of the nervousness out of them. I really enjoy feeding time with a dozen bunnies at my feet eating almost out of my hands. I have been doing this feeding for about 2 weeks, before that the bunch was pretty skittish and stayed out of my way. Now I have everybody looking for me nudging my feet. LOL Now dont think they dont have feed down for them and they are dying to be fed. They have free access to hay at all times and after they come to me for some feed I put down their regular pan of feed. But not till I get to play with them a bit. They really like their oats. They think its candy I think. I can also pick up without to much trouble the ones I want to get a closer look at. There is a couple of exceptions but these are were a bit older when I got them. For those when I need to catch them I use Toms large fishing net on a pole. Good for catching the bullys. Only had a few that needed to be taken out for the peace of the whole bunch.

Linda and Tom

MaggieJ said:

I believe Turtlehead withholds food for a few hours, so that they are eager and less cautious than they would be otherwise. She seems to be able to just reach down and nab the ones she wants.

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Yup, I feed them in a hutch - a little short "building" with just three sides, wire floor, and a slanted roof to keep the food dry. I take the food away around noon one day and then the next morning when I put the food out again they're so busy digging for food that they ignore me picking them up. I drop them into a large clean trash can and haul them wherever I need to.

If my husband is available on butchering day, he just picks them off with the air rifle. We go out early in the morning when they're active; in the middle of the afternoon they're frequently under shelters or in burrows and you can't see them. He's a great shot, much better than I am, and can take them out with one shot if he's standing beside the colony fence.

They seem to go through phases. The itty bitty ones, at 2-3 weeks, startle easily and run from everything. Then around 5 or 6 weeks they get extraordinarily brave and are underfoot so much it's hard not to step on them sometimes. They sniff my jeans and boots and everything about me. If I try to touch them they run away though. I still touch them occasionally, just to get them used to it, but they never get "tame". Then at about 8 or 10 weeks they get real cautious again and keep their distance.