WillsC, are those New Zealand Whites?

A 4 foot long Rat snake in my egg box at night changed my ideas on raising chickens.
Yes they will bite i read.
I can not come up with a proper approach to keeping rat snakes out of my future bunnies.

Those look like Californian rabbits I raised as a kid.
edit, I thought I saw black ears and nose

Very nice hutch guys.

Doug

Doug, what size of cage wire did you have on your chicken coop? 

I used standard chicken wire for a pen for the chickens.

There will have to be a separate cage for nesting box.
I will have to buy hardware screen small enough to keep the rat snakes out of nesting box.
Using wire big enough to let pellets through but keeping snakes out will be what I need.

My wife and I decided if we did not want the snakes, the chickens would have to go.

No more gobble gobble in my back ground either.....

I envy you guys as I've not even finished my hutch plans yet....

Meghan,
When i built my chicken coop I used 1/4" hardware cloth. Reason being racoons, similar scenario to what Wills ways saying about the rabbit toes. Racoons will try grab chickens and slowly disassemble them through the chicken wire.

You may not have racoons yet, but if you have chickens they will eventually find you. "If you build it, they will come".

Yep, so I am debating what I want to do.  I'm thinking put in another tray / ramp on the bottom cage and then closing in the whole thing with some lattice.  Then I can put in some gutters for a collection system on the back of the hutch.  I'd rather be wary and safe rather than sorry later.  Thanks for the tips!

Meghan and Doug,

The does were New Zealand's and the bucks California's, so you were both right.  Using two different varieties leads to hybrid vigor.    The picture of the doe in the cage with the half grown kits that is a Florida white, look like New Zealand but smaller.  It was an experiment but saw no good reason to keep them.

You will get extra kits.....I have had the does throw up to 21.  I would make sure to always have two does bred the same day, that way if one had a big litter and one a small litter I would swap kits to balance but never let them have more than 8 max, 6 is ideal.  It is hard to cull out tiny babies but having the mother try to nurse a dozen kits is very hard on her and all the little ones.  Be careful some of those does can be very protective and rabbit bites HURT!

You do have to be careful with rabbits and too many wet greens.  While they love them it does tend to mess up the balance in their systems which leads to the runs and can lead often to a very quick death.  When you say horse feed/timothy grass is it dry hay?  If so it is great for them and can have it constantly if you want to. I had hay racks in the pens mounted on the walls.  Green grass would worry me a bit.  If you stick to just dry foods, pellets, hay, fruit tree sticks you will not have issues.  Give them a bunch of green foods, problems.  It seems counter intuitive but that is how it works.  

A ramp would work.....anything you can do to keep the coons out from under the pens.  

How are you watering them?  I started with the trigger bottles and very quickly disposed of them.  I ended up using irrigation line, a water timer and regular glass bowls.  The timer would kick on 3 times a day for 1 minute and refill all the bowls with enough extra to wash them out.  

The grass I'm giving is dry horse feed.  They love it!  The only greens are given sparingly.  Especially since they are soo young.  My oldest is the buck and he was born 1/14.  The does are a month to 6 weeks younger than him.  I don't plan to start breeding till this fall (to hot here in the summer anyhow).  So my first round of kits won't be till October. 

The watering system I set up is the rabbit watering nipples.  I have a 5 gal bucket mounted to the back of the cage and then a gravity system to bring water to all the cages.  That way I don't have to worry about them spilling a dish and being without water for hours in the summer heat.  I check them once in the morning and then again at night to make sure everyone has feed and water.

Another thing I'm testing and think I will set up for all the cages is a ice block.  I know people say they freeze litter bottles and give the rabbits  that.  But I've seen how they love to stretch out on the bottom of the cage.  So I have the large ice paks (the blue blocks like what you put in a cooler) and I have hooked one up to the underside of the cage.  If I put one out at 10 its still very cool at 6 in the evening.  So I will use some left over cage wire and some reflective insulation and make a holder to keep attached under the cages.  That way when its hot I just go slide one into place and they can lay on it to their hearts content.

If you like white rabbits I highly recommend you looking up the Americans.  The only other recognized color is the American White ( I have 3 blue and one black)  I decided on the Americans because they are a heritage breed that have very good mothering skills, are more heat tolerant than other breeds and they are known for being very friendly.  I'm sure one could still land me a nasty bite if I don't watch it.  But that would be the exception, not the norm for this breed.  Their meat to bone ratio is supposed to be higher then the California and NZW too.

This definitely isn't the best picture.  But I was trying to get it without disturbing the rabbit.  She was my tester for the ice block idea and this is what she thinks of it.  That location is now her favorite spot to lay even when no ice block is in place.  Being under the cage wire she can't move it and hopefully she can't chew on it.

Hi cobb4861,
Yesterday evening, I was thinking: There still a big difference between fig trees and rabbits : Rabbits like to stay fresh - like dogs or else they start breathing hard shaking their bodies forward and backward and tongue outside the mouth-, so I
would ask you : is that installation shaded ... under fig trees :) ?

I have a small fig tree growing next to the structure...  So someday it will be shaded by the fig tree!

Every time I see you hutch Meghan I am impressed all over again. You really did a wonderful job!

Thank you Tami! 

The fabric on the side is some panels that I sewed from sunbrella fabric that I had on hand.  We have a sprinkler system and I want to make sure they don't get sprayed by mistake. 

I'm coming over to see your bunnies (and trade some cuttings / figlets). I'll be back in a year to buy some fresh rabbit. : ). I had roasted rabbit with fennel in Italy. It was delish!!!

I'm always up for trading figs and you are more than welcome to come see them Steve. 

Hopefully I will have updated pictures later today.  I'm adding a lattice enclosure to the bottom of the hutch and adding a gutter to the top cages to help catch and contain the droppings from the top cage rabbits. 

My oldest daughter once raised a French Lop Bunny as a 4-H project in our backyard. I built a nice hutch for the rabbit, whose name was Thunder Bunny. The problem was that Thunder Bunny had this incredible desire to escape the hutch and worked hard on chewing her way to freedom. At the same time, our dog, Velvet, also had this great wish to see Thunder Bunny make her escape.

One day, they both got their wish.....

Now them are some good looking Cages!! ....Raised Rabbits several times for Meat and loved to Cross NZ Does with Champagne d'Argent Bucks ! Good Luck! :)

Rabbits are so tasty, braised rabbit, rabbit paella, rabbit stew are some of my favorites.

Finished adding the lattice and the gutter system to the hutch.  I have a hinge front so I can clean under the cage.

You do excellent meticulous work:)