Rabbit hutch plans

Honey... forget the wood.... (unless you just have some around) GO for all wire hutches! (1" x 2" welded wire) get some J-clips, and use 1/2" x 1" for the bottom.

OH.. but.. if you want to do something REALLY neat.... go to the Rabbit forum.. and I think it was MamaGeorgia????/ she posted some really neat pics of her bunny pen.. they're all loose but the buck!! neat pics!

 

While wire sides are fine, wire floors are for the comfort of the human, not the rabbit. How you would like to walk around all day on something like concrete reinforcing wire? How you you like sleeping on a wire screen with nothing underneath for warmth? In Croatia my cousin's cages had a metal floor with small slits for urine to drip through. Loose dried grass was used for bedding. It (and the pellets) were only cleaned out periodically. Does made their own nests.

Ken S. in WC TN

 

We use all wire cages too. It works well for us. We have the does in a smaller mesh wire cage that the bucks, so that when they have babies, they cant fall through. We are not real handy with a hammer and nails so we find this much easier. We do not like closed up bottoms of the cages because we dont want the rabbits on their own waist all the time. It cause more problems (for us anyhow). You should be able to get wire in small amounts from your local feed store. That is how we started and then eventually we had to just buy the whole roll. Good luck.

Belinda

 

For someone with plenty of time and just a few rabbits, there are a lot of different set ups that will work. However, if you need to spend your time on things other than scrubbing hutches and replacing bedding, the all wire cages are the way to go. Parasite control is the most important advantage. Put a pine board or a piece of sheet rock on the cage floor. If their feet get tired or bruised or if the wire gets too hot or cold, the rabbits will sit/lay on the board. Don't tie it down, they love to play with it. They will chew on it, which helps to keep their teeth trimmed down and in good shape. The calcium in the sheet rock is good for them. Just make sure it does NOT contain fiberglass. Keep extra boards, some rabbits will soil their boards. You will need to swap them out and clean them or you'll have the same problem you get with solid floors. If your raising Flemish Giants or Checkered Giants, you will need to use solid flooring. They are way too heavy for wire. Normal sized meat rabbits that constantly develop sore hocks, should be culled out. Buy your start up stock from an experienced commercial grower. They will have developed their strain of rabbits to handle the wire floor. You will have to develop your rabbits to meet your goals. You can start with show or pet type rabbits if you want to, but it will take you longer to develop a hardy strain. And again, rabbits love to play. We put yellow golf balls in the cages. We can hear them rolling the balls around in their cages all the way back at the house!

 

Note there is also a commercial rabbit forum here. Towards the bottom.

Ken Scharabok

 

OMG!! KEN!!! Have you gone all PETA on us? LOL! Maybe sleeping all over ones' own pooh is a nice way to live? I've had winning show rabbits in the past... all sizes/breeds. Some rabbits are just PIGS! That being said... I know of some breeders who insert nice pieces of wood and/or material for the bunnies to rest on.. also.. nice 'nests' can be put in. Geesh!! Chill out, dude! I think, too that splinters are so nice to try and pull out of bunny lips!! LOL! Come ON!!! :waa: Wire is better.. end of subject for my opinion and EXPERIENCE.

 

My Croatian cousins have raised rabbits this way for as long as they can remember. Nice, large, healthy rabbits with an average weaned litter size between ten and 12. They also don't feed any commercial feed unless you include stale bread crusts, nor salt. Feed is fresh cut forages when available, stack dried forages during winter, dried corn still on the cob, stale bread crusts and water. I didn't remember to ask if they received any garden trimmings at they weren't harvesting yet.

The weaned litter went into a stall with a concrete floor and sides where they stayed until freezer size. Bedding in it wasn't cleaned out except when a new litter was put in.

As long as the urine could drip away I frankly don't see a problem. It wasn't broke so I certainly wasn't going to tell them that's now how it is done in the U.S.

Ken S. in WC TN