Rabbit Hutches

German Angora Rabbit

Now that I have finished the drawings I can have them build (or build them myself over Easter may be?) I am planning to keep Angora Rabbits. The plan is to keep always two females in two hutches next to each other, so that the offspring of the two grow up "together" and are used to each other. This way they won't fight when they are sharing the same rabbit run. The two hutches will be placed inside a rabbit run as I don't like the idea of keeping rabbits caged full time. The smell in a barn full of rabbit cages is also something I don't fancy. So here are my drawings. Pictures will follow once they are build. 

The frame

The back wall and the hay feeder

The door

Nestbox and plan for cutting the wood

The side walls and how to place the two hutches next to each other

The rabbit run

The two hutches will be placed in a rabbit run that needs to be fenced well to keep the rabbits in and predators out. I will probably even cover the floor with wire as rabbits tend to dig their way out. The grass can easily grow through the wire. The run will be 6 m wide and 5 m deep. In front of the hutches I will place poles on which the doors can rest when fully open.on the side of the hutches I will construct a ramp that will allow the rabbits to climb in and out of their hutches, 

Hutch with open door and ramp at the side

The length of the ramp needs to be 2 m long to allow for an angle that isn't too steep. 

The roof 

The roof needs to be a plywood sheet that covers both hutches, completely including the hay feeder and nest box in the back. It should also have a bit of overhang on the outsides (not on the inside where the two hutches touch) and the front. Therefore the plywood sheets need to be 130 cm x 130 cm. This plywood sheet can then be covered with a bati sheet, tar paper or a strong plastic sheet to make it water proof. I plan to attach a gutter to the back side of the roof to prevent water from running into the nestbox and also to collect rain water. 

Water

Rabbits need to have access to drinking water at all times. Inside the hutch it is best provided with a bottle that is fixed to the wire wall to avoid that the water gets dirty. These can be purchased in a pet shop.

shop-bought water bottle for rabbits

But there are also some simple and cheap and some more sophisticated homemade solutions available. An instruction for a more sophisticated solution that includes water storage can be found here: ​http://theadventurebite.com/rabbit-watering-system/

Water feeder made from water bottle and tin can

Installed water and pellet feeders made from tin cans

The rain water that will be collected in the rain gutter at the back of the hutch should be collected in an underground cistern so that it can be fed into a kind of basin from which the rabbits can drink while outside the hutches. A small solar pump can be used to pump the water up from the cistern. I hope you can make sense of my drawing...

It is basically a shallow concrete basin above a concrete cistern. The basin has a hole in the side wall that allows the rain water that comes down from the gutter via a chain to overflow into the cistern, once the basin fills up. The edge of the basin is made out of mazera slabs. A pipe goes from the bottom of the cistern up into the basin again and is connected with a small solar pump, that pumps the water from the cistern back into the basin . 

Plants for the rabbit run

The fence around the run should be covered with plants so that the rabbits can't be disturbed by cats and dogs on the other side of the fence. These plants can add protection like blackberries, raspberries and roses, but they should also all be feed sources for rabbits. The floor of the run should also be covered with grass and herbs that are favourite rabbit feeds. The main feed source for rabbit while in the hutch should be hay. It should be given ad libitum (meaning available to the rabbit at all times) and it needs to be free of mold. The rabbit run should provide as much other feed sources as possible to reduce the feeding cost (rabbit pallets are not the healthiest but certainly the most expensive option) and also to give the rabbits a range of free choices according to their needs. This way they can be easily kept healthy. See the list of plants below:

Added value

Underneath the rabbit hutches I want to have containers on wheels that contain earthworms. The rabbit waste that will fall through the wire floor of the hutches will collect in these containers and be composted by the worms (vermibins). This will serve as excellent potting soil. The containers should have a tap at the bottom and be filled with a bottom layer of gravel, which is then covered by a net, and then with some soil and organic materials to get the worms started. The earthworm urine will seep through the layers and collect at the bottom from where it can then be harvested through the tap. 

From time to time the vermibins can be removed and chicks can be kept for a few days under the hutches. They will scratch through any waste that has fallen to the floor between the containers and feed on insects that will have started to collect in there. They can share the run with he rabbits for some time. This way the area under the hutches and in the run can be kept clean easily.