I've been busy the last few weeks researching, designing and building this set up.  This cage houses my 4 (one buck and 3 does) American Blue Rabbits.  Hopefully having my own steady source of rabbit manure will help make my figs (and other plants) the happiest on the block.

The American Blue rabbits are listed as an endangered livestock and had almost died out.  They are on the come back as there is a resurgence of people getting tired of the ever increasing cost of food at the grocery store.  I believe the most popular time for the American Blue's (and backyard rabbitry in general) was during the world wars. 

Does anyone else on here raise rabbits?  Are fig leaves okay to feed to them? 

dang those are cute. are they being kept for the poops only or will be part of dinner some day?

Megan, I have one Jasmine, I rescued her. She is potty trained and eats everything  from lillies, daisies, rasberry and blackberry leaves, she discriminates nothing.  Every drop of her waste is gold for my plants. I soak it for a couple of days ( her liter box with sawdust and shavings, poop and pee with water) it becomes brow and stinky. I dilute it further and water everything. Baby figs get to soak from the bottom onto that stinky brown water, all extras goes to my other plants - straight to the garden. Occasionally I let her run loose, her cage sits on a pit with dirt, so she digs back and forth.  Not much of a pet, but she lets you pet her nose. If wrapped in a towel, she enjoys being held like  a baby. I hope you enjoy your bunnies.

They are a meat rabbit.  These are just babies.  When they are full grown they will be 11 lbs or so.  Each female can have 4 - 5 litters a year, with 7 - 12 kits in a litter.  Should have a nice supply of meat along with an excellent source of fertilizer for the garden.

hope they grow well and provide lots of little ones in the future. 

Beautiful rabbits, Meghan, and one of the nicest hutches I've seen! I think a few fig leaves would be fine for bunnies, Aaron makes tea from them. See how they like them. Nice that you are helping to preserve the breed also. Gary in CA

really cute indeed...I would never be able to start a rabbit mini farm because no one here can kill a leaving thang. I just can't imagine me putting a knife on those gentle furry necks. I'd rather eat a hay sandwich, LOL

Meghan, Very nice the rabbits and structure! My grandma used to have the rabbits and she had some rules as to what as kids we could feed to the creatures. I think the big no was the wet grass, if I remember correctly. Where does the poop is going to be collected underneath the cages ? It looks like you have a corrugated sheet of metal, but from there, it drops to the ground?

Difference in upbringing.  I grew up in the country where hunting and farming was common placed.  I've eaten loads of wild rabbit, but never raised them before.  Guess I'll see how that part of the process goes in November when I have the first round of fryer size rabbits to harvest.  Of course I would like to sell and get others raising the breed too.  Hopefully bringing them into the area I can get the schools 4H and farm clubs interested in them. 

In the whole area of Houston there are only 2 other breeders that raise and sell these rabbits.   They are out in the country (not a suburban backyard like me) and have quite the set up going.  Large barn full of cages with 20 or more breeding does. 

Meghan,

Been having it rough as of late. Bad luck after bad luck.
I can you use foot or two.

Want to trade?

All jokes aside,
This is a nice setup.

greenfig, I am debating on if I want to just pile some leaves and set up a worm bed under the hutch, or if I want to put some large plastic tubs under there to collect everything and make spreading easier.  Right now I could go either way. 

The corrugated metal is a shield between the two levels.  It works great to direct all the droppings, food and hay from the top rabbits down to the ground.  All I have to do is once a week go and hose it off. 

The whole hutch was made from raw cut untreated pine lumber.  I went with a waterbased stain to help protect the wood not only from the rain and humidity here in Houston, but also to keep it from soaking up the urine and smelling.  The whole inside of the hutch is wrapped in hardware cloth to prevent / discourage the rabbits from chewing on the wood.  I provide lots of pine cones for them to chew up. 

Here are some pics of the building process.  It took me 8 days to build it.  I started with the pallets.  Those were $10 each for 8' x 4' pallets (made to ship cars!)  Then I found a load of the rabbit baby saver wire at lowes on sale for $12 / roll.  It took 8 rolls to do the cages.  And the corrugated metal was $12 / sheet and I needed 4.  Boy did they think I was crazy getting the 12' sections of metal into my minivan. 

The fun part was when I was buying rabbits.  On of the rabbit breeders showed an interest in growing fruit trees.  So I traded one of the rabbits for a couple of small fig trees.  I spent the afternoon asking question to them about raising rabbits and they took me to every tree in the yard and were asking questions about that.

Great setup. It's a better scenario for protein and a low-carbon footprint than larger stock. I used to raise French Lop and Angora rabbits as pets, so I am hesitant to add rabbits for meat. I can kill, just maybe not those fluffy babies. Although, I have considered possibly trying cuy (guinea pig) as an option. Very popular in South and Central American cuisine and very self-reliant.

I love the idea of having a source of fresh meat at home. We are raising ducks, chickens and geese and are soon adding guinea fowl. Right now, they are for eggs and more hatchlings, but if anyone gets out of line, they will get the block. Bottom line - Sweet birds live; surly fowl are dinner. It's only a matter of time.

And I love trades. I recently got seven Muscovy ducklings for a few small fig trees. It was a win-win, as I made a new friend; and we both got what we wanted/needed for no cash. If more folks would do this, we'd have stronger communities and less economic stress.

I had pet rabbits.  They are great pets but understanding their behavior/communication takes some reading.  Once you do they're as fun as any other pet.  The House Rabbit Handbook is the best I've seen, many years ago.  I'm sure there are equally good references around now.  There are several rabbit fora online as well.  Feeding a rabit a lot of something unusual is a sure way to kill it.

Rabbit with a fig sauce baste is a real culinary delight.  I don't care about the pet issue, pets are animals that aren't generally used for food, rabbit is a great source for protein.  Learning how today could be timely, not just a grocery bill issue.

Thanks Danny!  I read in a magazine once of an old farmer talking about rabbits.  She said that she doesn't make a pet out of something she can eat. 

Nicely done Megan! I have been talking about getting rabbits for food for months now. I guess I just needed the inspiration. 
Excellent job on the hutch as well....you go girl!

We had a lot of rabbit for dinner growing up in Germany. It's delicious! Those were wild big JackRabbits though.

When I visited sister acouple of years ago, her kids had a hutch outside that got infested with ticks and fleas.

We kept a white pet bunneh in our garage and it lived almost 12 years. It was a rescue on Easter morning, just a little baby. It got caught in some chicken wire and the neighbors cat tried to catch it.

Meghan,

Excellent looking hutch:)  If you have raccoon's  you may have a problem with them getting under the cages.  It scares the rabbits and they are high strung anyway but worse the coons will grab the bunnies toes and tear them off.  On small bunnies just out of the nest they will do much worse.  

This was my setup.   The metal directed the manure in to the collection buckets.  The metal was perforated so the urine would drip out.  The coons though would go up the metal ramps and after a couple bunnies lost toes I removed it and just put bins directly under the cages.  


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WillsC, I've never seen sign of raccoons here, but I'll have to keep an eye out.  Does electric fence keep them out of gardens?  That has been something I've considered using to "close off" the underside of the hutch.  My stupid dog thinks all that under there is a great treat.

That is a great set up!  I love how it is up off the ground.  What did you use for the trays under the rabbit cages?

Meghan,

I would imagine an electric fence would work...or just bins under it to collect the manure would act as a barrier as well.   I built mine high to try to keep the snakes out, rat snakes like little rabbits.   You mean after I removed the metal ramp?  Half 55 gallon blue plastic barrels worked great to collect the manure.   BTW given your location if you use the half barrels you will almost certainly attract Black soldier flies.  It is a good thing:)   They look like a inch long black wasp with white feet.  They don't sting, land on you or cause any problems at all, in fact they don't even have a mouth.  They just breed and die but the larvae are the most awesome composters.  They will turn the rabbit droppings in to a cornmeal textured fertilizer wonder.  They reduce the volume of the manure and keep house fly larvae out of it.  In addition you can add things to the bins and they will compost it for you.  I would add the scraps, skeletons from the rabbits to the bins and in a day the skulls would be clean, no meat left on them or in them.  We would also add the skeletons from the fish we caught and same thing cleaned and all that extra energy added back to the compost and to the soil.   Just something to watch for and not try to get rid of when they do show up.  They look like a maggot but much larger, inch long or so.  Some people sell them online as they make great reptile food.  They sell for like $30 for 500?  At any given time I bet I had 100,000 of them lol.  

Back on the farm we had 20 does and it was the kids job to care for them.  Dispatching for food is never easy but that is life.   You learn not to name your food.

Mine used attached nestboxes that were inside my shop.  There was a metal door to keep the rabbits out when they were not using the box.

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only had rabbit once. some restaurant up in philadephia about 20 yrs ago. the cook must have had a bad day. the meat was dry and tasteless. it's very close to mickey d's chicken mclard. tho, they are selling rabbits around here now days. i should give it another chance. 

Hi cobb4861,
Nice addition . Don't feed them the fig leaves. Rabbits need their own food. Don't give them green grass (or fresh veggies) unless dried out first, and don't name them - just use
generic recognition things : big ear , dark one , light one ...
If they've been fed on sticks - keep them on sticks .
I could write a book on stories with rabbits ... When younger, we had some does that would always nest in front of the door - and some lay the new born all other their boxes - some doing two nests ...
It was fun, except for some diseases that can take them all in a month - like myxomatosis . So keeping wild beasts away is a must.
Good luck with them !

Rabbit is like venison.  It has no fat in the meat.  The mistake that a lot of people make is trying to cook it like they would chicken or beef.

WillsC, do you think I should set up another ramp / tray on the bottom cage like I have on the top cages then?  I could then add a collection system.  If that would be the safest route then I will do that. 

JDSFrance, I have them on pellets since that is what the breeders were feeding.  I only give a mint leave or a parsley leave once a day when I handle them.  Now that I have 4 I'll need to get a bigger pot of parsley.  I'll use up that tiny container I have growing in no time!  Oh and twice a week I give them some horse feed.  I think that is timothy grass. 

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:)