Post by bluebar23 on Jun 11, 2020 14:48:04 GMT -5
Libelle asked about our meat rabbit colony, so here's some pics!
Everything I know I learned from this Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/MeatRabbitsinColonies/
I will also say, however, that I am fully aware that we did not build our colony according to the ideal.
Size-wise it is ample, about twice the recommended square footage for the number of breeders I'm keeping in there (1 buck and 3 does). We have an old chicken coop we use as a separate grow-out pen for the youngsters after weaning.
Our perimeter fence is mostly woven-wire fencing on t-posts, reinforced with an interior apron of 48" chicken wire (there's one stretch that's a piece of cattle panel, and another stretch that is a wooden "stile" that serves as our gate-way; those also have the chicken wire on them, of course). The chicken wire runs about 30" up the base fencing and the other 18" lays over the ground on the interior of the pen, to discourage anyone from digging out. (Ample space and housing/furniture placed to the interior of the pen also helps with that.)
Disclaimer here: The chicken wire is one of the things we (willingly) did "wrong." (It "should" be hail screen/hardware cloth.)
The chicken wire is attached to the woven fencing with wire--that probably took the longest of anything, wiring it all on by hand. Hog rings or j-clips would be much faster, if you have the clips and pliers on hand or want to buy them (I didn't).
The immediate interior of the fence, then (on top of the chicken wire that's on the ground) is heavy pavers, stones, and cinder blocks, both to hold the wire down and to discourage dig-outs. This was the back-breaking part of the job!
Several inches of wire was still visible on the ground inside of the rocks; we opted to cover it with a layer of sudan-grass straw. Again, I'm sure this is not what you're "supposed" to do, but it's what we had on hand. We will see what happens to it over time. Interestingly, the rabbits LOVE it; they treat it like a little perimeter path and run all along it.
For shelter/housing, we have two small structures. One is an old pickup calf-hauling box, about 3’x4'; we're feeding and watering them in that, so that when we need to round rabbits up we have a central location we can close them up in. The other is a three-sided hut about twice that size; that's where we have nest boxes, tucked under old dog-kennel halves. Both are located under a VERY large fir tree that provides additional general shade and shelter to the central area of the pen.
Other "furniture" (i.e., the "bunny playground") consists of a plywood platform, a galvanized window well turned on its side, some old clay drainage tiles... stuff like that.
In terms of proper guidelines for how you "should" do things, the Facebook page I mentioned above has all the info. We are cheap and lazy and opted to go with what we had on hand. We will see how it works for us and adjust as needed! If the basic system works well, this fencing and the location we chose will enable us to easily add more space to the pen in the future if we want.
Oh, one other very important feature... our highly reliable LGD. She keeps predators out of the equation. Without a solid LGD, there's a whole other range of things to take into consideration. Beyond just keeping bunnies in, you have to keep everyone else out!!
Everything I know I learned from this Facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/MeatRabbitsinColonies/
I will also say, however, that I am fully aware that we did not build our colony according to the ideal.
Size-wise it is ample, about twice the recommended square footage for the number of breeders I'm keeping in there (1 buck and 3 does). We have an old chicken coop we use as a separate grow-out pen for the youngsters after weaning.
Our perimeter fence is mostly woven-wire fencing on t-posts, reinforced with an interior apron of 48" chicken wire (there's one stretch that's a piece of cattle panel, and another stretch that is a wooden "stile" that serves as our gate-way; those also have the chicken wire on them, of course). The chicken wire runs about 30" up the base fencing and the other 18" lays over the ground on the interior of the pen, to discourage anyone from digging out. (Ample space and housing/furniture placed to the interior of the pen also helps with that.)
Disclaimer here: The chicken wire is one of the things we (willingly) did "wrong." (It "should" be hail screen/hardware cloth.)
The chicken wire is attached to the woven fencing with wire--that probably took the longest of anything, wiring it all on by hand. Hog rings or j-clips would be much faster, if you have the clips and pliers on hand or want to buy them (I didn't).
The immediate interior of the fence, then (on top of the chicken wire that's on the ground) is heavy pavers, stones, and cinder blocks, both to hold the wire down and to discourage dig-outs. This was the back-breaking part of the job!
Several inches of wire was still visible on the ground inside of the rocks; we opted to cover it with a layer of sudan-grass straw. Again, I'm sure this is not what you're "supposed" to do, but it's what we had on hand. We will see what happens to it over time. Interestingly, the rabbits LOVE it; they treat it like a little perimeter path and run all along it.
For shelter/housing, we have two small structures. One is an old pickup calf-hauling box, about 3’x4'; we're feeding and watering them in that, so that when we need to round rabbits up we have a central location we can close them up in. The other is a three-sided hut about twice that size; that's where we have nest boxes, tucked under old dog-kennel halves. Both are located under a VERY large fir tree that provides additional general shade and shelter to the central area of the pen.
Other "furniture" (i.e., the "bunny playground") consists of a plywood platform, a galvanized window well turned on its side, some old clay drainage tiles... stuff like that.
In terms of proper guidelines for how you "should" do things, the Facebook page I mentioned above has all the info. We are cheap and lazy and opted to go with what we had on hand. We will see how it works for us and adjust as needed! If the basic system works well, this fencing and the location we chose will enable us to easily add more space to the pen in the future if we want.
Oh, one other very important feature... our highly reliable LGD. She keeps predators out of the equation. Without a solid LGD, there's a whole other range of things to take into consideration. Beyond just keeping bunnies in, you have to keep everyone else out!!