# rotational rabbit pen setup?



## Sydney (Nov 21, 2010)

I want get into raising meat rabbits one day and I want them to be able to supplement a large portion of their diet with plants.  So I was thinking of having them in a setup where i would rotate them through different pens like some chicken coops have so that they would always have fresh grass to eat.  Their would be a secure shelter in the center where the bunnies could go into for rainy or cold weather.  I would have the food, water and nest boxes in here and their would be thick bedding to keep the does and their kits warm in the winter.  one each of the 4 sides their would be a small door to let the bunnies go into the pens.  Only one door would be open at a time so that they could have access to one pen.  This way when the pen they are currently in was getting low on grass I could rotate them to the next pen.  I want to grow plants in each pen so that they could have plenty of different types of vegetable to eat.  Their would be wire a few feet down under the pen so the rabbits could dig but not escape.  do you think this would work for raising rabbits and has anyone every tried something like this?  Is it safe to let a doe raise her babies in a nest box around other rabbits?  Is their a certain breed of rabbit that does best at foraging for most of its food?  How much space does each doe and her litter need?


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## Cargo (Nov 21, 2010)

A place to start:
http://www.rabbitgeek.com/articles/clny_valerie.html


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## Bossroo (Nov 22, 2010)

I started out thinking very similar to yours for colony breeding... after all rabbits have done so in the wild for centuries.  Great on paper, but in the real world not  so much. Littermates grow up great together, but when hormones start to kick in furr starts to fly.  Does are very terratorial and will fight to the death, so they need lots of space to claim their very own corner of the world.   I bought 3 does and a buck rabbit and put them together in a large pen after a period of 3 days of cage next to other cage. All seamed fine , then I left for 15 minutes, and upon my return I found one doe litterally skinned alive and one hind quarter eaten by the others. A month later one doe kindled and the other one destroyed all of the kits. I asked around and heard similar results.  End of social experiment.  I have raised rabbits by the hundreds in individual cages and found that to be the most cost effective way to do so in terms of time, health and breeding management as well as in feed and feeding time and cleaning efficiency. I would spend more time caring for the 3 original rabbits and 10 times more space than for 25 individual caged rabbits.  Colony feeding results in quite a bit of food waste when one rabbit decides to dig out the feed onto the floor so that the others can't eat from the feeder and becomes soiled and not very palatable.. Also rabbits will jump into the feeder and urinate on the feed to prevent the others from eating it. Similar with water, one will drink , then immediately spill the rest. Etc. In my opinion ... just not worth it.


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## CrimsonRose (Nov 24, 2010)

Bossroo said:
			
		

> Colony feeding results in quite a bit of food waste when one rabbit decides to dig out the feed onto the floor so that the others can't eat from the feeder and becomes soiled and not very palatable.. Also rabbits will jump into the feeder and urinate on the feed to prevent the others from eating it. Similar with water, one will drink , then immediately spill the rest. Etc. In my opinion ... just not worth it.


Ugh! I hate when they start doing that! I left the babies in with mom one time a little too long and they kept peeing in the feeder!  once I moved them to their own space with own food source they were fine no issues. So yeah... colony rabbits will be a no go for me... little pigs eat enough food without having them waste it too... LOL


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