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.
Attached Images
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WP_20140424_001_1.jpg (230194, 46 views)
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WP_20140416_002_1.jpg (223987, 44 views)
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