When we went to build a rabbitry, we couldn't find any information on the web. There are as many different ways to build a rabbitry as there are breeds of rabbits. I just wanted to show you what we have done. The two pictures above are of our hand made cages complete with poop-shoots. Most of these cages measure 24" x 30". Our poop-shoots are constructed of 4'x8' sheets of plastic .They are riveted into square metal pipes. We slanted the shoots so that the droppings would run toward the back of the rabbitry and into a "ditch". We just run water from a hose down the shoot to clean- saving lots of time.We use the waste to fertilize our fields- spreading it with a manure spreader. The outside wire is 1" x 2" galvanized wire. The floor is 1/2" x 1" galvanized wire. We put mats in the cages for rabbits to get some relief from standing on the wire. The dividers between the cages are 1/4" hardware cloth (mistake). We wanted tiny holes so that the rabbits would not chew the fur on the rabbit in the next cage (which was a very good idea). However, hardware cloth is not strong enough to resist a rabbit pushing on it. Now, we are going back and adding 1/2" galvanized wire between the cages for more support for the hardware cloth. It would have been easier to have double-wired the dividers before the cages were finished.
We ordered the plastic door frames (liners) and door latches (finger springs) from DaMars.
Our rabbitry building is a metal carport with chicken wire completely surrounding the outside (to help keep predators out) and plastic (to protect them from the weather). My husband built a door frame, and it is also covered in chicken wire.
We have a total of 100 holes. This carport holds 36 cages, and the rest of our cages are located in the woods to provide shade.
Now about feeders and waterers... we have tried several different feeders and waterers. This is what we have found to work best and is the quickest to fill. The metal feeders that hang on the outside of the cage are the quickest to fill with a rabbitry under a roof. It also keeps the rabbit from tipping over its food, but it does not keep the rabbit from digging out its food.
We have tried several different kinds of waterers. The cheapest, easiest, and most maintainance-free waterers we have found are the plastic dog bowls at Wal-Mart for $.96 each. These bowls held up well even in the cold winter months. We carried jugs of warm water to fill the bowls and thaw what water did freeze.
We have changed the gravel floor to cement. Cement is easier to clean, and can hold up to a good bleaching & scrubbing! Feel free to use any of these ideas in your own rabbitry, or change them to fit your needs.
~Jan~
UPDATE 2008~ I have not updated this page for so long, but...
we have made changes to our rabbitry. We no longer use the poop shoots~ they were too messy & stinky. We have moved all of the cages outside & put roofs on them all. We added worms under the cages to help turn the manure into soil~ which we now use in our yard & garden. We cover the cages with plastic in the winter to shield the rabbits from the weather.
We prefer the metal bowls to any other feed container. They cost $8.00 a bowl, but they hold up so much nicer & are easy to clean. The rabbits tend to chew up the plastic bowls.
Hey, while you're here, check out our beautiful rabbits!
