# Design a Perfect Rabbit Colony



## Studhauler

I have read though alot of the post here about rabbits. I would like to know from experienced rabbit breeder, who has colonies, how their perfect rabbit colony would be constructed. Just interested in the physical structures.

Lets assume 2 does and one buck on an intensive breading plan. 

Lets also assume there is a horse barn, and a chicken coop on the farm, or you could build your own rabbit shed, if that is what you want.

Edit;
lets also assume an outdoor environment or indoor/outdoor environment. 
What size would you make the pens?
How big for the buck? (momma will need a break from time to time) How big for momma rabbits? How big of an outgrow pen?
How many pens would you have?
What would you make them out of?
Would you have a hard floor or let them tunnel?
How would you keep them from tunneling out?


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## akane

Personally I prefer a concrete or heavy mat covered floor with pine pellets and/or shavings and fake nest tunnels instead of letting them dig. The inability to check the kits, remove dead ones, and how wild they are when they come out after not being handled is not worth letting the rabbits be more natural. The one batch we had at the end of winter where we didn't want to open the nest to check on them in the cold and we got busy moving houses in the spring (rabbits are at the horse stable not where we live) were the nastiest rabbits to butcher. I was so torn up after catching and butchering that bunch I was afraid I was going to end up at the ER trying to explain that no I did not try to commit suicide by cutting my wrists it was wild rabbits. They screamed, they bit, they rolled up in balls... Even though they saw me twice a day in the colony bringing them food and water. Never again. All rabbits get handled as kits.

Aside from that I would like 3 or 4 separate pens/colonies. My current 2 are 12x12' horse stalls and I'm thinking of using an 8x8' building for the bucks. Right now I have an adult doe in each colony, 1 of her offspring I'm keeping to breed in spring, and 1 checkered giant x NZW I got at 7weeks old so they are raised with the adult does in each colony. Then there are some mini rex that float between colonies depend which buck I'm releasing. If you didn't plan to expand and the does got along you could put both in 1 colony area but it's easier if you are getting adult does to let each doe be the start of that colony and keep her daughter. The buck will need a small pen or cage to spend at least some of his time in so the does can take breaks. For right now we use 2x4' cages for large bucks and 2x2' cages for mini rex. It's a good idea to keep a back up buck and that means a 2nd small colony or 2 cages/pens. Then it would be nice to have a growout colony I can pull the oldest litters out to when I check genders and assign tattoos at 8weeks. 2 grow out colonies so I can either separate genders or keep offspring from each colony separate would be even better. For now I have just 2 colonies so I butcher the bucks early to prevent unplanned breeding and grow the does out in whichever colony currently doesn't have an adult buck in it. The bucks take turns in cages.


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## Macybaby

hmmm - "dream" . . .

I think the key here is "Intensive breeding" if I was looking at getting a most product, then I'd do like akane posted (hey, that is about what I'm doing).

If my goal was to build a secure, nature home and then occasionally harvest rabbits (fun target practice too) then I might consider somethign that allowed the rabbits to dig. However that requires good drainage, which takes my property out of consideration. Most tunnels on my property are flooded out completey during the spring months, and any hole deeper than 6' will get water seeping in, unless we are having a dry year. 

If I wanted a natural home and had the right land and lots of money, I'd dig down and put in footings and pour cement walls (about 6' deep and above grade 2 feet) to keep the rabbits from digging out, and everything else from digging in. I would put up something like chain link fence mounted on top of the cement, going up at least 4 more feet. It would be strong enough to contain a big dog, and on the inside I'd put smaller welded wire to keep smaller animals from climbing through. I'd put at least two rows of hot wire on it to keep climbers out. I'd take my chances with flying preditors, hoping the rabbits were smart enough to head for cover is something was overhead.

As to a shed, I would have that outside the enclosure so teh rabbits couldn't chew on it. Inside there would be an assortment of structures for the rabbits to lay on/dig under and provide shade. 

Of course, before I did anything I'd make sure that this idea would work during a snowy winter, or if I needed to do something else because of that consideration.

Of course, I'd never recoup the costs of this during my lifetime. It's also one of the main reasons I decided NOT to try to give my rabbits the ability to dig, or be outside. I've seen my 90 lb lab when she's determined to get at something (wildlife, she leaves the farm animals alone). I've seen her bite onto a large log and actually move it, I've seen her get a mouthful of welded wire and yank on it until I thought her teeth would bleed, and it's bent all out of shape. I've seen her dig down a foot or two in no time, and who knows how deep she would go if motivated. 

I've seen her go up and over anything under 4' tall, though now that she's much older she can't hardly jump into the bed of the 4x4 truck.

It's so much easier to contain animals when you just shut and latch the door behind you.


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## FoxyWench

im personally planning on doing what my cousin does with his in the UK.

he has 4 10 x 10 dog run type set ups, the floor of these kennels has a layer of the coated wire fencing (2x1 holes) it allow the grass to grow through and doesnt put any strain on the feet, but dosnt alow any downward digging.

he makes lidded nest boxes (size dependant on breed) and then cuts a hole in the wire floor and burries the nest box so that only the lid is acessable and then runs drainage pipe from the hole to the box to the surface of the ground (under the wire) (hope that makes sense)
the does happily use these ready made warrens rather than digging their own, and he can simply lift the lids to check on babies he puts in a slot so that if nessicary he can close the tunnels off from the box too (keep momma in or out ect) he also keeps the tunnels short so that in the event of a chase hes not stuck with a rabbit down 6 ft of pipe lol.

he keeps 2 active female only groups, the other 2 pens are grow out pens so he can seperate babies by sex (he sells to petstores and also grows for meat and fur) these 2 pens can also be divided into 2 5x10 sections

he keeps the bucks in rabbit arcs that can be moved to new grass as needed.

im hoping to do something very similar to this as the rabbits get the best of all worlds, they get grass underfoot and a 'natural" nest box, but you dont have to worry about digging out. he keeps 3 adult does per group in his 10x10's and hasnt had any issues.


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## KSALguy

perfect set up for me would be a sandy loam well drained open area, i would have it no smaller than 20x20 feet, partly shaded with a large tree, i would have a low shed for a feeding station up on cinder blocks big enough to trap the young rabbits as they are ready to harvest, and a mound of earth beside it, both the mound and the feeding hutch would be in the center of the enclosure, the rabbits will focus their burrows in this secure area and as long as you keep the number of breeding females down to a managable level they wont spiral outward very far and wont have to strike out and start new burrows elseweare in the enclosure that could end up outside the perimiter fence, given the shade from a tree and the burrows under the feeding hutch the rabbits can maintain their temp safely and not over heat and continue breeding on their own schedual, the does will know when they need to break, normally for a month of two in the heat of the summer, the enclosure will be big enough to keep some grass cover as long as its not over run, plus they will get all the Kudzu and cut clover etc they can eat, all will stay in the colony untill the young are harvested, 

this is basically how i kept my original colony in my chicken run, it worked great for me,


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## Studhauler

I am not planning on doing intensive breading, but want the option. So I will have a separate pen for the buck.

Akane
If you are going to use an 8 x 8 building for the bucks (2 right), would you keep them together? 
Why do people keep a back-up buck? It seems like one more mouth to feed. I can understand if you want different blood lines. Is it so you don't have to go buy one if your only buck dies or something? 


Macybaby
How deep do rabbits dig?
I like the idea of cement footing and chain link fence.
Do you think 20 x 20 is big enough to keep grass growing in a pen for two does if the kits are move to a grow-out pen?

FoxyWench
With 3 does in each pen, did he keep grass growing in these pens all the time, or did he have to move the pen when the grass is all gone?
I like the idea of burring ready made warrens.

KSALguy
Did your rabbits have access inside of any building? Or was the feeding hutch and burrows cover enough?
What would the rabbits do when there was lots of rain?


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## FoxyWench

100sq ft for 3, seems to keep grass coverage pretty well from what hes told me, but he doesnt always have babies so will sometimes rotate the does into the grow out pens and scatter some clover seed and give it a couple weeks before moving them back in.
he doesnt feed pellets at all, just grass, timothy hay (doesnt go through much) and all the fresh produce he can grow for them...he has abot 200sqft dedicated to growing beds wth a square foot method specifically for the buns.

and i can tell you that grass fed bunny tastes delicious!


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## KSALguy

my set up was in the chicken coop/pen, the chicken coop was up on cinderblocks and was 8x8, they had access inside and under it, when it rained they were all under the coop or in the coop, this was fine, also the pen/coop was on a slope so all the run off went down hill away from the coop, no flooding no drown bunnys,


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## SquashNut

I'd have a shed with 3 doors going out to 3 pens. The doors could be regular people doors with doggy size doors in them.
Inside would be divided into 4 stalls. one each for the pens and one for feed and supplies. I would be able to reach the hopper feeders/ hay feeders/ nest boxes from the supply stall. I would have a couple of wire cages in the supply room for the buck or if I needed to seperate rabbits for some reason. Not sure if I would butcher there or not.
I would have a watering system to go to the 3 pens.
The pens would get planted in grain grass as needed.


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## akane

> If you are going to use an 8 x 8 building for the bucks (2 right), would you keep them together?
> Why do people keep a back-up buck? It seems like one more mouth to feed. I can understand if you want different blood lines. Is it so you don't have to go buy one if your only buck dies or something?


Bucks can all be together if they have enough space and no does around. I actually have 4 bucks and I've had less issues putting bucks together than putting does together. I have 2mini rex and 2 for meat rabbits. Back up bucks are important when you have a line of rabbits you really like. If you've bred several generations and love what you've accomplished or even just bought some from out of state you aren't going to be able to replace your buck with an equivalent one very easily should something happen. You will be introducing new lines which is sometimes about the same as breeding 2 different breeds together. The results are unpredictable unless someone has done that cross many times before. You might lose all the good traits in both lines and be back at square one with your breeding operation. Your other option might be running out of state again to get a replacement buck from the same breeder. If the breeder you bought from is close and you know they aren't going to sell out that breed (happens a lot) then a backup buck is less important until you get many generations in and your rabbits start to have their own traits separate from the original rabbits.


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