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Pastured Rabbits Get an Upgrade

September 5, 2010 By Linda Medero View Comments

Goldilocks here….  the floor to the pen was just not to my liking in the long run.  The rabbits didn’t escape, but  I kept looking for a way for them to get the most grazing that they can and a little more comfortable on their feet.  And having one big roof was a wind catcher whenever I raised it in the winter to feed the rabbits.

So here is the newest version.  On the floor, I have strips of flat aluminum .75″ wide, .125″ thick, 72″ long placed with a 2″ space between them, except for the first one on either side is closer to the edge, just to make sure they can’t get out if (when) there are lumpy spots in the field. This allows the rabbits to rest comfortably on the ground without the strips being above the ground or thick enough to be uneven with the ground as wood would be.

I screwed the middle of each strip to a 2×2 piece of lumbar that was part of the frame so when I lift it up, the weight of the rabbits don’t make the aluminum bow. One end has a 2′ x 4′ “house”/box with a separate hinged roof.  The main roof is PVC lattice work, only because I had it lying around in the barn, so I used it.  Additional pens will be with wire as on the sides and I’ll add shade cloth for summer time if necessary.  

I used 1″ x1″ vinyl coated chicken wire (which I HATE to have to stretch) for the sides.  Think I may go with hardware cloth next time.

 I created a hay rack out of 2″x2″ fencing with wood top and bottom to keep it flat.  I found that 2″ x 4″ is big enough for the rabbits to push thru and literally sit in the hay rack and eat.. and poo and pee… 1″ x 2″ wire is possible to use, but it is kinda tough for the bunnies to get the hay.  2″x 2″ seems a perfect size.  The hay rack goes all the way up to the top so again, the rabbits can’t jump in the rack and sit and eat. It is big enough to put a whole flake of alfalfa in.  The bottom is angled in but stops about 2 ” above the floor and is open so the rabbits can get at the hay very easily but can’t climb in (I don’t think…)  

Looking down into the box, you can see the plastic grid flooring, which is supported underneath all four edges as well as in the center to prevent bowing under the rabbit weight.  You can see the alfalfa in the hay rack as well.

The front of the house is closed off half way to give some shelter from wind and rain in the winter.  I will place nest boxes in that corner.

I switched to gravity drip waterers attached to 5 gallon buckets, which in the winter should weigh the pen down enough not to blow away, and the opaque color HOPEFULLY will prevent algea growth… something else I hate dealing with.

We’ll see if 2″ spaces are too big or if they are j-u-u-u-u-s-t right !

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The Eleventh Rabbit Hole

June 20, 2010 By Linda Medero View Comments
As I write this I’m holding my breath…. it could be, maybe, possibly, the last of the Rabbit Holes.  Not that I won’t write about the rabbits after this, but it won’t be about yet another failure to get them on pasture, at least during the warmer weather. I’m hoping that part of the experiment is over… 

I had tried that rabbit fencing I mentioned in an earlier post. BLAH! That was a mess. With all the connecting of 28″ fence to a 48″ bottom it was not pretty.  And the center holes were large enough that if a young bunny wanted to, he could get out. That plus it was pretty fragile wire, breaking here and there even as I attached it to the pen.  

I switched to the coated 2 x 3 wire.  Latex, vinyl, pvc, who remembers, its coated green.  I staggered two layers on the bottom so that the openings were 1 x 3.  I stapled it to the bottom of the pen and then sandwiched it with a second 1 x 2 strip of wood over it.  This allowed me to pull the pen without the wire catching on grass or whatever.   

Newest Floor for Rabbit Pen

When I flipped the pen over, the wire billowed up like  puffy pillow with all the long grass and weeds and such lying flat underneath.  I thought, “This will never do.”  I remember reading Joel Salatin’s book on farming and how rabbits won’t eat the grass unless it’s standing up and unless it’s relatively short. It had been one of the problems I had hoped to avoid.  Maybe with a field of short clover that wouldn’t happen, but that’s not what I have.  

 HA! is all I can say.  By the next day that grass had been pulled out and eaten by the rabbits.  The “pillow” of green was gone. Eaten down.  I sat and watched the rabbits after I moved the pen to a new spot.  The openings in the wire was large enough to get their mouths in but not so much that their entire heads could fit thru. I watched as they would grab a hold of a stalk of grass and yank that sucker out and chomp on this long stem, until it got sucked into their mouths and gone. ALL RIGHT!!!  

Another myth busted.   

Pillow of Green Pasture in the Pen

The small guys were light enough not to even depress the wire, so there was some space to allow this pulling of grass out.  I had put a wood board on one end of the pen to place the waterer and also to see if they moved off the wire onto wood. NOPE!  So apparently it doesn’t bother them, at least right now  

Though, quite honestly, if there was a manufacturer that made flat wire with 1 x 3 openings I’d probably get that, but there is no such thing.  Anyone out there a wire maker?? LOL! Hey, my bunnies need comfort.   

I also found a 2 x 4 ft grid thingy for dog kennel floors that I tried on a second pen.  I like that better than the wood for the waterer or resting place for rabbits as it allows poo and urine to drop thru to the ground. But it’s pricey at $28 a panel.  So I plan to use up what scraps of wood I have first and if things go well then I’ll think further on that.    

Next up. Yesterday, after work I put the wire on a second pen and put 2 does, their kits and a buck.  Poor buck.  He was used to his bachelor pad and now all of a sudden had a family.  I could almost hear him saying, “they’re not mine are they?”  Yeah, sweetie, all yours!   

A Family Once Again

I put an 8″ diameter plastic irrigation pipe about 4 ft long in the pen so the everyone could escape everyone else for a few days.  Once they are in together for a while it will all will quiet down.  

The larger rabbits do put some pressure on the wire and looking at their feet it doesn’t look the most comfortable, but they don’t go immediately to the platform, so I’m guessing at least now, in the beginning, it’s not bothersome. Time will tell.   

I’d be doing a third pen right now if it hadn’t decided to rain…  

There’s still things I’d like to change for long-term. Like the roof, while nice for shade during the summer, catches the wind too easily in the winter, so if I ever plan to do this year round, I have to reduce the amount of roof but still offer plenty of shade and protection from rain.  

Anyway, it isn’t perfect and I can only hope the PVC prevents rusting.  So, while I can tweak the design from time to time to get it, as Goldilocks would say, “Juuuust right!” I think this is good enough for right now.  As long as they can’t get out and they can eat the grass, I’m happy. I can use the barn and cages in the winter if need be.  

Getting the Grass

WHOO HOO! Stopped raining, off to do a third pen. Here’s the rest of the photos….. I’m pretty sure if you click on the photos itwill let you see it blown up so the detail of the wire is easier to see.   

Dinner!

Pasture Raised Rabbits!

Chicken Meets Rabbits

Pastured Rabbits with Irrigation Pipe for Hiding

It Ain't Pretty But We Call It Home

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The Tenth Rabbit Hole

June 1, 2010 By Linda Medero View Comments

I have to wonder how many “Rabbit Holes” I’ll write about before I get these rabbits in the freakin’ pasture pens for good.  Summer’s coming and I’ve got to get them on the ground before it gets hot. 

So, I was thinking the other day, as I was busy shoveling poo out from under the rabbit cages in the barn about what it would take to end this odyssey.  Then it occurred to me… looking at the cages with the 1 x 2 welded wire sides and top….  Hmmmm, do ya think that maybe somewhere in the past whoever first tried to cage rabbits found that the largest open welded wire he could allow and NOT have rabbits get out was 1 x 2??? DUH!!!!!!!!! 

I’m guessing that whoever it was, didn’t want to spend anymore money on wire then he had to, but anything larger than 1 x 2 and the rabbits got out. Hell, the baby kits can get out of 1×2 when they are a few weeks old. (Hence the “babysaver wire” on some rabbit cages).  So I’ve probably been staring at the answer all along…  The question is, do I dare go back to wire on the ground?  Is there anything else that would last longer, not rust, not get chewed through? How will the rabbits be able to graze through those small openings.  It’s possible, but it can’t be fun grazing that way… oh, stop laughing!  

I’m thinking pvc coated wire is the best compromise.  Coated chicken wire might be too thin, though.  Something a little heavier to stand up to rabbit teeth. Oh wait, maybe that garden fencing to keep rabbits out??? smaller openings on the bottom wider on the top, about 28″ high, so I’d use one on each long edge.  That might keep them in but allow a little more munching in the center of the pen…..  

Maybe this stuff will work?

It’s 1″ wide at the bottom, but I can’t tell how long.  Of course then there is still the problem of them getting their legs tangled up in the wire when the pen gets lifted to move.  Or maybe just 1 x2 wire around the perimeter under the wood slats…..??? UGH!  It seems that the corners are where the big gaps are. I’m gonna sleep on it…. what do you think? What else could I try?

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The Ninth Rabbit Hole

May 10, 2010 By Linda Medero View Comments

Most  normal people would probably be embarrassed by now to say they tried something different and failed yet again.  Not me. Guess I’m too stubborn to know when to give up.  I decided to try Joel and Daniel Salatin’s rabbit pen design.  At least the floor part.  So, I applied 1×2 strips of lumber to the bottom of a single pen approximately 2″ apart lengthwise.  Put the newest litter of rabbits in the pen. Gave them supplemental feed and water.  Needless to say, they LOVED the fresh grass and I moved them daily.  They quickly learned to straddle the open areas of the floor and put their feet on the strips of wood to be carried along when the pen was moved.  This surprised me, as they weren’t particularly smart about not getting squished by the back of the moving pen in previous models. 

But then the other day about 2 weeks into the use of this pen,  I suddenly found only six rabbits left in the pen, of which I was able to find and recapture both escapees.  Today there were only 2 left in the pen. My neighbor mentioned today about finding a few white bunnies on his side of the fence. BLAH!!! 

 ’Course he also told me that his house cat decided to climb the fence and tried to harass my chickens, so I guess we are even.  Anyway, back in the cages the two remaining rabbits go, and back to the drawing board for me….   

I guess the trick is to keep the openings smaller than the rabbit’s skull, which is pretty darn small when they are young…. at least along the perimeters of the pen…..

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The Eighth Rabbit Hole

April 25, 2010 By Linda Medero View Comments

I should take sleeping pills. I think too much when I’m lying in bed.

After several months of no rabbits, (I had put all the ones left after the Great Escape in the freezer for dog dinners) I decided it was time to try again.  I missed the possibility of raising my own meat… So I began churning over in my mind the pitfalls so far.  The babies would get out when I lifted the pen to move it or the babies would get crushed if I just pulled the pen along the ground.  Everyone dug their way out even in a matter of hours some days, so some sort of bottom on the pens would be needed.  Wire did not suit me as it would rust quickly and when the pens were moved I was worried the rabbits feet and legs would get tangled in it and broken.  It needed to be open enough to let the grass pop up thru it and allow poop to drop thru it. 

Nothing seemed to suit perfectly, but I got the brainy idea that rather than move the pens, I should move the rabbits…. “If the mountain won’t come to Mohammad, then Mohammad….” well, you get it…. That would alleviate the problems with the little ones for sure. I pictured a long row of pens with connecting doorways in the wire that could be opened when it was time to move the rabbits to the next area, and a floor that would allow the grass to GROW thru openings.  I wouldn’t have to worry about the grass getting squished by whatever flooring  I used because the pen wouldn’t move, grass could grow straight up.  In order for that to happen there could be no roof on the unused pens or insufficient rain and sunlight would hit the ground.  One moveable roof to follow the rabbits.  Not hinged but held down by  some sort of bungee cord or metal clip or clamp and SLID from pen to pen.  That would avoid the roof getting blown over when it was opened.  The flooring, I decided would be the plastic 4×8 lattice-work, as it wouldn’t absorb urine,  had holes small enough to prevent rabbits from getting out but allow grass to grow thru.  God, I’m a genius!!  How could this POSSIBLY fail?!?!?!

So I started 4 rows of pens using what I already had.  I figured that was small enough to be able to get going… 4 long rows of pens….. 

Then winter came. The wind that blew the rain horizontal, the rabbits eating whatever grass had been there faster than I could build more pens, the holes in the lattice-work too small to offer enough grass even in the best of seasons, the mud I had to slip thru to get supplemental feed to the bunnies, the freakin’ roofs that wouldn’t slide from pen to pen without multiple adjustments, the poo that built up too fast and had to be raked out. Carting 3 gallon waterers out to them because the hoses freeze. I remember standing there one day, staring out to the far end of the field and thinking about how many more pens I’d have to build and thinking how flippin’ nuts I was to think acres of pens was a sane project.   

The next day I ordered rabbit cages.

I think I’ve learned my lesson about rabbits out in the winter.  TOO MUCH WORK!!!!

Then late one night, in bed, as I listened to the wind howl thru the pine trees, for all the world sounding like it had hit hurricane force, and I am grateful I no longer slog thru the wind and rain and mud and muck to visit my rabbits daily.  They are safe and sound in my far-from-new metal barn.  It leaks here and there, it moans, it groans.  But the rabbits are dry.  The barn is close to the house with all the feed and hay right there.    If the hose freezes I’m close to the kitchen faucet. I congratulate myself on doing the practical thing.  To stop worrying about how happy the rabbits are.  After all, I’m the one doing the work.  They just sit and eat and poop and drink and sleep, and hopefully have babies. I sleep well that night.

But spring comes, and the grass is now lush and green. And I think of hot summers in the barn and freezing pop bottles for the rabbits. S**T!!  This is where I started 5 years ago!

I tell myself that obviously, rabbits outside on pasture in the winter is a no-go….. but… but…. surely I can have them out in the good weather…. can’t I?!?!?

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The Seventh Rabbit Hole

April 23, 2010 By Linda Medero View Comments

I wasn’t willing to give up on the idea of pasture raised rabbits just yet, in spite of the ludicrous picture of multiple pvc pens flipped over and crushed by the winds and rabbits hiding here, there and everywhere.  And in spite of my neighbors who weren’t thrilled with the babies that took residence under their sheds since their dogs found it great entertainment to try to catch them.  Unlike my Trevor who just chased but never hurt them, the dogs next door knew a good dinner when they saw one, alive or not. Not that I blamed my neighbors, I just couldn’t catch them all within a day or two.  Sometimes it took weeks with the live traps.  

Anyway, I purchased 1 x 2 x 8 ft lengths of lumber, deck screws, chicken wire and attempted to put together a 4 x 8 ft pen with cedar picket planks covering one end and part of the sides as a place of shelter.  The roof was hinged on the 4 ft side, and several slats of wood were placed width wise across the inside bottom, similar to the pvc pens for a place to put the nest boxes and waterers.

Okey, dokey. Next was to see if I could drag the sucker across the not-so-level pasture with clumpy grass.  Not so much…. the wood didn’t glide like the pvc and my building skills created a pen that wouldn’t stay square when pulled.  It eventually weakened the places where the screws were placed… not to mention that deck screws tended to split the wood.

Then I got lucky.  There is a company that produces these nifty braces for all sorts of configurations and I found a 3 way corner brace for 2 x 2 lumbar.  WHAAA HOO!!! 2×2 was just minimally more expensive than the 1 x2 wood.  The corners using the braces were relatively square and sturdy, so building pens became relatively simple. I found screws that dug into the wood without splitting and I was on my way. 

I switched from chicken wire stapled to the sides because I found it annoying to try to stretch it over the frame and the rabbits eventually leaned on it enough to bow it out after a while.  I went back to the 1×2 rabbit wire and got a cordless electric staple gun to nail it to the frame on 3 sides and on the last 8 ft side I applied a wall of plywood to use as a wind/rain protection for both the rabbits and the trough feeder that held with pelleted food.  The plywood also added a little more weight to prevent flying rabbit pens.  Very nice!  

The plastic roofing was screwed to the hinged roof frame and a simple piece of 2×2 was used to hold the roof open when I needed to get inside. Some wire with the ends attached to each of the front bottom  corners of the pen and  a snap hook in the center  that could attach to the handle on the roof, kept everything closed snug but easy to get inside when I needed to.  I made the pens only 18″ high as I had spent way too many winter nights lying in bed listening to the wind whipping around and worrying about flying pens. 

The next challenge was getting the pens to move easily.  I tried a variety of wheels and “axles” to raise the pen just enough off the ground to move it, but not so high as to let the rabbits escape.  And how to attach the wheels to the pen… hmmmm, and how expensive 2 wheels per pen was going to be, YUK!!  I eventually settled on one set of removable  10″ wheels (like for garden carts) on a 6 ft long axle so the wheels would sit on the outside of the pens and the axle was inside a steel pipe (the axle that fit in the wheel hub was so narrow/thin that it would bend and the wheels would tilt in with any weight applied to the center of the axle.  The metal pipe kept it rigid).  I tried clamps, hooks, screws wire, all sorts of ways to attach the axle to the pen just long enough to move the pen and settled on… you will laugh…. the rafter hooks that look like extra large squared off “s” hooks.  They fit snuggly to the bottom 2×2 of the pen and I just lifted the pen high enough to plop the other hooked side onto the axle… it was a perfect height to move the pen.  Babies still got out from time to time but no one got hurt and adults didn’t escape at all.  On the other side of the pen, I tried just a rope handle but found it difficult to control the movement of the pen.  What worked absolutely perfect was a hand truck.  I slipped the platform under the front bottom 2×2, tilted the hand truck and that lifted the pen, and was able to move things in a jiffy.

One thing that surprised me, was that while the rabbits did gnaw on the wood (some more than others) it wasn’t as much of an issue as I thought it would be.  Not a single pen needed to be re-built because of that.

 This was my best attempt and I was pretty darn satisfied for close to a year and had built up to 12 pens.  Then I had to move the pens to another field for fresh grass and the land was so uneven the escapes began again.  This time is was a constant battle.  It was a “throw-up-my-hands-and-cry-Uncle” moment.  I just was soooo tired of the battle.  At that point, I decided it was time for a hiatus and give myself time to re-invent the wheel, so to speak.

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Backing Out of the Sixth Rabbit Hole

April 5, 2010 By Linda Medero View Comments

So, what went wrong with the PVC pens?

1) It was nice they were light enough to drag along the ground and slide up over most clumps of grass BUT the connections wouldn’t hold regardless of the type glue used.

2)Baby rabbits don’t know to “move along” when they feel the bottom of the pen hit their butts and they can get run over even when you go slow because remember you have a roof obstructing your view of the back of the pen. Getting run over by something, even as light as the pvc, injured some kits to the point of having to put them down.

3) Feed would get wet, whether using the traditional feeder with top or the trough feeder.   I tried draping plastic over the ends where the traditional feeder was  sticking out from the pen which helped some but in order to protect the feeder enough the plastic had to cover it so well, it would be difficult to get to the feeder without getting my arms soaked and just plain annoyed with flapping plastic.  Eventually the wind began ripping the plastic off.

4) Expensive, and dependent on someone else to build them when they had time not when I needed them.

5) Even with a crossbar halfway between the ends, the plastic roofing would bow under the weight of the rain and start leaking thru to the pen.

6)The wind was able to lift the pens unless there were 2 nest boxes and a full 3 gallon waterer weighing it down.  I found them turned upside down halfway across the field more than once. Eventually, some cracked from the stress…. me too!

I’m sure there were other problems I have since forgotten to mention, but if you have an interest about a particular point, ask me, I will let you know if I experienced it.

At any rate, it was back to the drawing board and I decided to try wood in spite of the gnawing issue with rabbits.

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The Sixth Rabbit Hole

March 16, 2010 By Linda Medero View Comments

And I’m no where near finishing the experiment…. BLAH!  

The idea of long, low pens on pasture had occurred to me when I originally had bought the rabbits, but I had the unfortunate luck to talk about it to an experienced rabbit breeder, who insisted that rabbits are not migratory and would not tolerate it.  Of course, I was also told by some old-timer at the feed store when he overheard my conversation about the rabbits, that I shouldn’t give rabbits any water if I fed them real greens since they wouldn’t know when to stop drinking and would end up killing themselves…………HUH?I had abandoned the idea of pens as initially ridiculous, but was now returning to it with more enthusiasm.  My first attempt at a pen was to use only rabbit cage wire and j clips to build a bottomless 5×10 ft pen.  LOL!! It quickly became apparent that for that size, a frame would be necessary as moving it was like trying to keep control over jello.  The all-wire pen just flopped over every time I attempted to move it along the pasture.  Not to mention trying to find a way to attach a nestbox, waterer and feeder to the inside was impossible.  Knowing that rabbits love to chew, I bypassed the idea of a wood frame and focused on PVC.  It was also mentioned that PVC made pens for chickens slid over the ground and clumps of grass easier than wood, which sounded like a good thing to me.   

Further research on uses of PVC uncovered how the plumbing grade pvc became brittle during cold weather and would last only 1-2 yrs where the furniture grade should last 5-8 yrs.  So began the search for furniture grade PVC.  I knew of a local woman with a dog training business who was beginning to make dog agility equipment with the stuff and discussed my needs.  For a hefty fee (furniture grade PVC is not cheap, especially when it has to be shipped from across the country) she would make the frames for me.  We went through a few prototypes trying to get not only a bottom frame, but an attached hinged roof.   For whatever reason, which I can’t remember, we decided to put the hinges on the long side.

The pens were approximately 4×8 ft long and 2 ft high. A center support was placed in the middle of the 8 ft lengths to prevent sagging.  The roof also had a center cross support to prevent the plastic roof panels from sagging in the center.  The first problem was the fact that round pvc pipes do not like to rest on top of each other easily.  The roof panel kept slipping inside the pen until we made the width of the roof frame wider than the base of the pen.  

I then wrapped 1″x2”  welded wire around the pen, held on to the frame top and bottom by, you guessed it, electric cable ties.  The plastic roof panels were placed on the roof framing and holes drilled in them to allow attachment by ties as well. A rope with a snap clip was attached to the roof to lock it during windy weather and to prevent roof escapes.  Rope was also tied to the bottom corners  of the 4 ft wide side to create a handle of sorts that could be used to pull the pen along the ground.   

My biggest problem was the water, feed and nest boxes.  I didn’t want to have to empty out the pen each day before moving it.  So,  I placed several 1″x2″ lumber across the bottom width at one end… it fit very conveniently into the 1″x2″ wire.  I did this every few inches to create a grated flooring in which to place the nest box (the rubbermaid totes with an 8″ hole cut in the side and the bottom drilled with holes to drain urine continued to be a good bet), and a waterer. I placed another 1″x2″ piece of lumber about 18″ high, across the 4 ft width just under the rubbermaid handle to hold the 2 nest boxes securely in place. Then a traditional rabbit feeder with a hinged top was hung from the outside.  I figured the top would keep the feed dry from the rain. I found that the one gallon dog water towers were too tall and narrow to be steady during the daily moving of the pen.  It would tip over too easily.  The 3 gallon chicken waterers were ok, but the dish was so narrow that the rabbits had some trouble getting their mouths into the water.  The 3 gallon waterer for dogs with the bigger dish from which to drink continued to be what suited the rabbits best and it was squat and wide which prevented it tipping over. Yes, they did on occasion throw poo in it or some grass, but it was easy enough to tip the waterer over to empty the bowl and clean it out. Being slightly elevated from the ground helped as well.  

2 does and a buck were placed in the pen. We were off!! Literally!!!  WAAAHOOO!!  The bunnies loved the fresh pasture everyday and it was relatively easy to move the pens even with all the stuff inside.  Things went well for a little while… 

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The Fifth Rabbit Hole

March 12, 2010 By Linda Medero View Comments

The Mafia Connection

Not one to give up on something easily, and no alternative in mind at the time, I continued with the colony setting and even grew to a third pen with the offspring of the first two.  I’m not sure why, perhaps it was their increasing wildness, or maybe just the individual rabbits’ personalities, but this pen was dubbed “The Mafia” pen.  They had their own rules and nothing I did made a whit of difference to keep law and order. 

In spite of the fact they were populated with the same number of rabbits as the first two, they were not happy.  They were the first to begin digging out.  Rabbits, apparently are very aware of barriers restricting them and most burrows in this colony were dug along the kennel panel perimeters, unlike the first two colonies that were happy to dig in the center.  They dug down and then back up again and out they escaped!  It was a weird feeling to be walking out to the back pasture and see multiple light-colored “things” dotting the field, only to realize they were my rabbits!!

Don’t even think that refilling the holes would do anything.  The dirt was too soft then and the rabbits just re-dug quicker than the first time.  Oh, let’s throw big rocks in the hole, or gravel, yeah, ’cause that’s what everyone wants to add to their property. I tried it on a few holes though.  It worked for a while but they just dug a new tunnel.

Then I began putting 2×4 welded wire on the ground along the outside of the kennel to keep the rabbits in.  Worked for the adults but the babies just popped right thru.  So I put the wire down on the inside of the kennel to prevent the beginning of a burrow… they just dug further back…. I want to know how the hell they figure out which direction to dig when they are underground? Invariably they would end up outside the pen.  If it were me, I’d probably dig myself in a circle right back to the kennel.   I had heard advice about digging a trench and putting the wire in the ground vertically a foot or two to keep them in, but I have to admit the thought of all that digging made me tired.  ‘Course then there was always the issue of rusting wire in the ground.  The original wire in the barn as well as the wire from the first outdoor 5×10 sized pens were already beginning to rust… Hmmm, and how long was one supposed to expect buried wire to last??? And how were you to check on its integrity with it buried?  Just wait til the escapes began again?  Would I have to re-bury wire every 2 years?  YUK!!!!

So between catching escaped rabbits (a large fishing net helped), laying down extra wire, filling in holes with rocks gravel and dirt, and hauling wheelbarrows full of rabbit poo to outside the pens, replacing the wood pellets on the ground periodically, feeding and watering, I didn’t have a lot of time left for other stuff, like work or dogs or mowing or chickens or, or…. well you get it.

Then the day came when I went out to refill waterers and feeders and noticed a very tiny hole in the ground with an eye staring up at me, YOWZA! Made me take a leap back! On careful inspection, I realized it was a rabbit peering back at me.  It took a few seconds but it occurred to me that this rabbit had been buried alive by its colony mates!  And what a job they did.  I had to get a pick axe to carefully hack away at the small opening to get the rabbit out.  I thought that since it is normal rabbit behavior to fill in a burrow hole when kits are inside, (I’m going to guess that activity is to protect the kits from predators and weather) that the doe had accidently stayed in the burrow too long and someone else inadvertently covered the hole with her in it. That’s what I thought the first time.  When it happened again, and the same rabbit came out limping from having been buried many hours, the colony got the name “Mafia”.  No cement shoes here, “cousin Tony” will just bury ‘em alive.  Saving rabbits from each other wasn’t what I needed or expected.

It was time to rethink colony settings. 

I eventually decided to find a middle ground.  Fun for them while they lived and easy for me to capture.  Small enough numbers to be able to know if someone went missing or AWOL. Back to the drawing board…. I had read about Joel Salatin’s chicken tractors and his attempt at using them for rabbits.  His account was they kept burrowing out and spent more time chasing down escapees than was reasonable.  However, there were others that were continuing the attempt and I felt it would be the best compromise. 

       

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The Fourth Rabbit Hole

March 4, 2010 By Linda Medero View Comments

OR… MY VERSION OF “THE MATRIX” 

I made two 20 x 25 ft colony areas.  (Oh, yes, by all means, lets move the kennel panels again!) I placed several of the Rubbermaid nest boxes inside and I attached plastic roofing panels to 4×8 ft plywood and rested that on top of the nest boxes to afford some shade in the summer. I put 5 does and 1 buck in each of the first two colonies. In order to feed a larger number of rabbits, I changed from the chicken troughs you see in the photos to the larger tube feeders that held a lot more feed and build a 4 ft x 4 ft x 2 ft high structure out of plywood, open on the fourth side for easy entrance but protection from the rain for the rabbits. This lean-to had a hinged roof so I could get to the feeder and interior enough to easily rake it clean. This went well for the summer, the feed staying dry, most of the time the rabbits didn’t dig into the feed like they did with dog food towers, not sure why, maybe the smaller trough area discouraged them from playing with their food.  The rabbits ate EVERYTHING green growing in their colony in no time flat, including the thistle, YUK!  Nothing but dirt was left in short order.  Wood pellets went down and eventually looked like it was a day on the beach for the rabbits.   I also switched from the small dog waterers you see in the photos to the big 3 gallon dog waterers as well. 

Matrix

 

Matrix

 

Roof Raised on "Dining Room" for Easy Cleaning

 

Dinner

 

It was fun to just sit and watch the rabbits live together.  They created burrows for hiding and babies, had fun running and jumping off the roofs, lying together taking naps, grooming each other.  It was truly rabbit heaven.  Not so much for the human, though. 

The burrows that they dig are shallow enough that when the ground gets wet, anyone walking over the area can cave in a burrow.  And then what do you do?  You have wet baby kits that if you move them to a new nest box mom won’t find and they die. Or leave them to get wet and cold and die. 

There was the never-ending problem of poo.  During the dry season it wasn’t too bad and as I said the wood pellets make raking easy enough but rainy season turned everything into slimy mud and poo eventually. Very nasty.  And once again, here I was raking poo into a wheelbarrow, carting it off just to dump it a few hundred yards away.  A lot of work and it just seemed absurd to me.    

There was also the realization as to the purpose of having the rabbits, which is for food. (You remember what The Matrix concept was all about…?) This means EVENTUALLY, they had to be captured, slaughtered and dressed out.  Try that with a colony of rabbits who know all the escape routes and burrows to hide in.  I will never understand it, but four short legs always outrun 2 long legs…. I tried placing a small enclosure as a “trap” of sorts inside the colony and placing food in that to entice them, but as soon as I came near, they exited the smaller enclosure.  The rabbits were quickly becoming wilder with the extra space and avoided me more than when they were more confined.  Except for one little guy….. 

Little story…. There was a little white bunny that escaped from the Matrix.  I would find him happily grazing just outside the pen… no obvious tunnels or holes, so I’d put him back.. he actually, LET me pick him up without a struggle or any chasing. Sure enough, the next day, he’d be out grazing.  I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how he did it so after multiple escapes, I just sat down and watched.  The little bugger would climb up the chicken wire I had place around the bottom 18″ of the kennel panels like a freakin’ monkey and wiggle right thru the chain link above it.  Well, call me lazy, but the thought of re-doing the pens with rabbit 1×2 wire was too much to bear so I put him in one of the old 5×10 rabbit pens that was empty that had 1×2 rabbit wire….  Next day, one of the dogs outside starts barking and won’t quit… I opened the back door to tell her to give it a rest, and there sitting on my back porch looking up at the door I just opened was the little white rabbit.  I named him Neo… Any rabbit smart enough to get out of the kennel, under a fence across about 50 feet of pasture, up my back porch and wait for me to open the door, not to mention, freaking the dog out,  needs a name. Neo, the hero of the Matrix, fit.  Anyway, eventually, I found him a girlfriend that I named Trinity, and I put them together in the kennel.  Neo would just “transport” himself to a different kennel any time he chose and then go back when he wished.  I figured, best to choose my battles… this one I wasn’t going to win.  As far as I know, there were no telephones in the kennels.  Neo and Trinity lived happily ever after for quite a while.   

 Neo Asleep in Nest Box

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