Well we went ahead and did it . Thanks to countryside girl and her mom, we got a new buck on Sunday. Saturday before we went to get him, we turned the girls loose in the chicken pen, and set their hutch up inside the coop. So far, so good. They haven't tried digging out yet, thankfully. They've been eating their own food, as well as chicken food and table scraps that I throw out to the chickens. Most of the hot part of the day, they spend either in their nestboxes inside their hutch, or inside the chicken house in a dark corner. I worried about them finding water and such for the first couple days, but they seem to be doing well. I haven't noticed them drinking out of their water bottles, but I have seen them drinking out of the chickens' water bowls.

We set Mr. Buck up in a hutch of his own, which is about 4 ft. square. Inside he has his own little nest box, his food, and a water bottle. He seems to be doing well. I didn't want to let him run loose too, for fear of having babies year round . That, and the fact that it's too hot right now, and I don't want them breeding until the weather cools some.

I'm so glad we let the girls loose in the pen. Early in the morning and late in the evening they're running everywhere . They seem happy. Last night after dark I looked out on them (our yard's security light brightens the area enough to see from the back porch), and since almost all of the chickens were inside for the night, the rabbits had full run of the coop with nobody bothering them. They were playing and jumping . Happy rabbits.

Kathy

Im interested in hearing how the rabbits are doing too.

altho I'm not ready for livestock yet, I've pretty much decided on rabbits and goats, because I do not want to care for chickens.

I'm so sorry to hear the rabbits dug out! But that's what they do, they dig. Did the rabbits and chickens get along ok with no fighting? How many total animals were in what size pen?

I really like the idea of a moveable pen, so that I don't have to feed them, they just eat the grass that I rotate them to that day or so. Hard to capture manure, but where are we going to find rabbit feed after PO? Don't need to fertilize the grass, anyway.

I've seen these moveable cages used for chickens as well, so I could see having two of these. Chicken wire on the bottom allows access to the grass, but keeps the rabbits/chickens from escaping.

And a lightweight roof over a portion of it along with a hutch box allows them to get out of the weather when it's inclement.

Some links with moveable cages for chickens that could be modified to include rabbits;
http://www.austinprogressivecalendar.co ... ickens.htm
http://www.styleweekly.com/article.asp?idarticle=8214
http://www.2silos.com/content/pastured_poultry.php

Good articles on care of rabbits, including diet, ignore 'pet' focus;
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Conten ... &C=0&A=673
http://www.hrschicago.org/articleslay2.html

And don't forget about rabbit pelts, or spinning fiber if they are Angora;
http://www.fao.org/docrep/t1690E/t1690e0a.htm

Cute link about chickens and rabbits in a moveable cage;
http://www.abc.net.au/rural/telegraph/v ... 140158.htm

I know this isn't the kind of bunny you were talking about but I was hoping the picture would brighten your day.

Looks like a cross between Java the Hut, Yoda, and an albino Chewbacca.

One would almost have to put that on a large spit with an apple in its mouth. But I'm sure it would murmur some sage piece of wisdom at the right moment to deflect its demise.

Now THAT is a fluffy bunny!!!

Hi Shanny,
Sorry for the delay in responding - I'm not on line much these days. Tonight I'm staying with dad, and on line for just a few minutes. My bunnies are doing great. The ladies have not even tried to dig out so far. I remember you saying that your buck was the one digging, and the doe was staying in the hutch. That may be why I haven't had any problems. My buck is not running loose in the pen with the does and chickens. He lives in the bunny bachelor pad . His hutch is separate, and I'll introduce the ladies to him one at a time when we're ready for babies. For now, the ladies hang out in the pen or in the chickens' house during the day, and have the run of the place at night. They share food with the chickens - seem to love cracked corn - and get along fine. The only time anyone acts even remotely irritates is when the buns decide to run amuck. Then the chickens, including the roosters, get out of their way. It's working well so far.

Sorry to hear yours escaped. You might try keeping the buck in a hutch separate and see if that helps when you get replacement bunnies - so far the ladies have shown no desire to get out.
Kathy

What a great idea! Don't know why I didn't think of this. I built a chicken pen and coop next to where the rabbits are going to be, which I had intended to keep seperate in hutches. But penning them up together sounds like a good idea and workable. I hadn't enclosed either one of these areas yet (still building!), so making this modification should be easy - and save me some money too.

I've been looking for used pens, but nobody wants to sell them for a fair price, so I've held off buying any rabbits. Maybe now I'll only need to have a couple of pens to keep breeders together for the few seconds it takes to "breed like a bunny"!

What about seperating bucks and does in an open pen by simply stringing wire? Should work I'd think if you can keep them on their side of the fence.

I just found out that rabbits do very poorly on a diet of tall fescue grass, which is what my lawn and pastures are primarily composed of. So unless I decide to buy hay from someone, I'll hold off trying meat rabbits.

What a sad mood I'm in right now. I went out to make the morning rounds feeding all the critters, and found Bugs the Bachelor Bunny dead in his cage. He hasn't shown any signs of being sick or anything, and was fine last night when I checked on everyone. I don't know what happened. Everytime something like this happens, I begin to wonder if I need to be caring for animals at all.

When my baby ducks were having such a hard time of it and several died, I wanted to get rid of all the ducks. Now, I'm wondering if I can raise happy healthy rabbits too .

The poor girls don't have a boyfriend now. Guess I won't be raising any baby bunnies anytime soon.
Kathy

Looks like most it you've got figured out. Pros and cons of seperate or with chickens.
1 Chicken sh.. and rabbit fur. A bit of a con.

2 Rabbits do dig when nesting, looking for shelter and cooler or warmer temps ... Dig down and lay galvanized chicken wire. They'd appreciate at least 18" of dirt. Carefull after they've been digging for a while, you may collapse a tunnel. Bad for the rabbit maybe and tough on ankles too. A bit of pro and con.

Seperate housing.
1. Cleaner pelts. Pro Maybe
2. Less chance of dease. Pro
3. Probably no place to dig, May overheat. Con

Remember if you plan on tanning the pelts, wait to butcher untill after the first hard freeze so the hair will be 'set'.

Oh, and DO seperate the does and buck. Does could be injured and or killed. Not a good thing.

Here is a website that gives some ideas about creating a colony style rabbitry.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/library/ ... se_Rabbits

hey PO'er

Rabbits are in Europe dying from the "famous" Chinese-disease, their numbers are increasing and especially wild rabbits are suffering, so keep yours inside where they cannot be in contact with wild rabbits of flies who spread this virus. ask your Vet about it.
good luck!!
mermaid

We've had rabbit here. Stew of course. We all think it is quite tasty, but no one, especially me, can get over the fact that that little rabbit body looks surprisingly what a cat would look like skinned and in the pot.

EEWWWW!!!

Drew