Official SS Rabbit Thread

[Aidenbaby]

Went out to feed everyone this morning and I think I may have made too many changes too fast. Poor bunny is hiding in the coop refusing to come out. Poor chickens are outside (although enjoying being in the run, lots of scratch was thrown down yesterday) and refuse to go in the coop. When I go near the bunny, she bolts like I'm straight up going to kill her. This won't do as my family is very hands-on with all of our animals. I have a wire cage that we used temporarily, until we could afford one of those really nice ones, with one of our ferrets many moons ago. It has a sliding tray and everything. I can't remember the size but I think it's actually bigger than the one the lady had. I was thinking about putting her in that and bringing it inside until we get her better about human contact. After that, the weather will be warmer as well so going from house to outside will not be an issue, put the cage in the run with the hens so that they can get used to her and she to them. Being outside at the moment isn't an issue as she was in a HUGE 3 sided shed in a cage at the property we got them from. I'd really like to keep her in the coop (or at some point build her a rabbit Taj Mahal) eventually as it gives her moer room to moved and be a rabbit. Does this sound like a good plan to you guys or should I change the order around or what do you think?

I haven't flipped her over yet. I didn't want to stress her out too much. I know it "hypnotizes" them though. Hmm.. Still on the fence.

One more thing, I ended up letting the chicken go into the back yard so as to appease everyone. I may shut the coop/run door and open the coop/yard door so they can lay without worrying about her.

 

[tortoise]

Went out to feed everyone this morning and I think I may have made too many changes too fast. Poor bunny is hiding in the coop refusing to come out. Poor chickens are outside (although enjoying being in the run, lots of scratch was thrown down yesterday) and refuse to go in the coop. When I go near the bunny, she bolts like I'm straight up going to kill her. This won't do as my family is very hands-on with all of our animals. I have a wire cage that we used temporarily, until we could afford one of those really nice ones, with one of our ferrets many moons ago. It has a sliding tray and everything. I can't remember the size but I think it's actually bigger than the one the lady had. I was thinking about putting her in that and bringing it inside until we get her better about human contact. After that, the weather will be warmer as well so going from house to outside will not be an issue, put the cage in the run with the hens so that they can get used to her and she to them. Being outside at the moment isn't an issue as she was in a HUGE 3 sided shed in a cage at the property we got them from. I'd really like to keep her in the coop (or at some point build her a rabbit Taj Mahal) eventually as it gives her moer room to moved and be a rabbit. Does this sound like a good plan to you guys or should I change the order around or what do you think?

I haven't flipped her over yet. I didn't want to stress her out too much. I know it "hypnotizes" them though. Hmm.. Still on the fence.

One more thing, I ended up letting the chicken go into the back yard so as to appease everyone. I may shut the coop/run door and open the coop/yard door so they can lay without worrying about her.

Relax. lol. Go out at night and shine a flashlight in her eyes, she will freeze and you can catch her. Don't chase a rabbit, you'll never catch it and you can hurt them. You can calmly and slowly herd her into a corner. Put a flat hand in her face and quickly scruff her and pick her up. Be careful not to stress her or it will make future catching harder.

With my free-range rabbits, I used a "catch box". It's like a little dog house that the lid opens on top. I fed them all kinds of treats in there so they liked it and they would run in there so they were easy to catch.

I kept 6 or so free-range rabbits in with 3 chickens with no issues.

 

[Bettacreek]

Sounds like a New Zealand x Californian...they get the gray in areas where the Californian is dark brown.

My cali's are white with grey/black points. how old is the bunn? If it is fully matured, if you separate and press down on the genitalia, if it is a male, a penis will protrude. if it is not fully matured, there will still be a bump sticking out, for a male and nothing sticking out if it is a female. I could give better descritptions if it weren't so late, and I could go check to describe it better. there are also drawings online.

I think the easiest way for me is buck = circle, doe = slit. I got 2 of 3 right in my first litter.

Yup. It's best to get hands on experience. I've seen many sexing pictures online, but couldn't sex a rabbit to save my life (unless I saw massive testicles, like my dutch has). I couldn't sex a rabbit until after I sexed my five rabbits. The circle at the tip of the buck's penis just BAM, obvious. So, go sex some bunnies until you spot one that looks different. Sexing, in many cases, really does take some practice, and most importantly, COMPARISON.

 

[Aidenbaby]

Here's my little bunny in the chicken run. I am actually building a makeshift cage/run for her right now. I'll take pics of my "creativity" as soon as I've finished. It's roughly 4 feet by 5 feet 6 inches. Oh and I've decided her name is Annabelle.

 

[Aidenbaby]

Many of you guys have rabbits and I'm wondering what kind of space a rabbit truly needs. I've heard everything from 1 1/2 times squared the stretched out length of the rabbit up to 5 acres (colony for mother and kits). Clearly, these are extremes. I was thinking about designing a hutch 3 feet by 3 feet with 1 foot by 3 feet of that being enclosed (I'm in Colorado, thought that might be warmer). In addition, having the enclosed door open into a ramp so that they'll have access to a run area below the hutches. Any thoughts?

 

[rebecca100]

3x3 sounds good, 1x3 enclosed sounds okay too. Remember though if you have a solid bottom your rabbit can get hutch burn from the moisture building up on its bottom and back legs. It turns into a red sore and the hair will fall out, but with a run that should give them enough room that its not as likely. But you should still keep a check for it.

 

[tortoise]

Animal Welfare Act regulations are:

less than 4.4 lb - 1.5 sq ft floor space - 14" tall
4.4 lb - 8.8 lb - 3 sq ft floor space - 14" tall
8.8 lb - 11.9 lb - 4 sq ft floor space - 14" tall
greater than 11.9 lb - 5 sq ft floor space - 14" tall

and number of square inches per rabbit:

3 - 5 lb -- 180
6 - 8 -- 360
9 - 11 --540
12+ -- 720

My rabbits max out at 10.5 lb. Their cages are 24x24x16 inches, which fit the guidelines above.

 

[Aidenbaby]

Tortoise, are yours for breeding? My current plans for my doe are to get her bred and raise the offspring for meat, so I want to make sure there's enough space to deal with that too.

 

[tortoise]

For does with a litter, the AWA sizes are by the weight of the doe

less than 4.4 lb - 4 sq ft (all sizes, min. 14" tall)
4.4 - 8.8 - 5 sq ft
8.8 - 11.9 - 6 sq ft
11.9 + - 7.5 sq ft

My last litter was only 3 (a surprise winter litter) so they did fine in the 24x24x16 cage. I have 2 does bred now, so I'm thinking about making a bigger cage, or maybe buying some 36x36x16 cages.

You can take the doe away at 5 - 6 weeks, so that handles them when they are quite small still. You need to separate does and bucks at 12 weeks or you could get more baby rabbits than you bargained for! If that splits the litter in half, you can probably make do with 24x24x16. (That's what I'm hoping for)

 

[Aidenbaby]

My thoughts are to have 3 connected hutches; one for the doe, one for a buck (when I get one), one for finishing raising offspring until ... or I can always put all the females in with the doe and leave all the males in the original.