# Rolling rabbits



## StuUSA (Jan 26, 2012)

Hello
Just discovered this forum a few weeks ago  what a treasure!
I have a newbie question.  I would like to raise rabbits for meat, but just as important, for garden fertilizer.  I have this hare-brained (sorry, couldnt resist) scheme of making a kind of mobile rabbit hutch that can be moved from place to place.  What I am visualizing in my mind is four hanging cages under a roof with legs long enough to have the cages about three feet off the ground.  The legs would be splayed outward a bit for stability and to be able to straddle four foot by eight foot raised garden beds.  I would have some sort of wheel mounted at each corner so that the whole thing can roll.  In the spring I would roll the contraption out and start fertilizing, moving from one raised bed to the next over a period of several weeks, letting the rabbit droppings fall down through the bottom of the cage directly on to the soil.
I tried to do a search to see if anyone has ever done this but could find nothing.  This kind of tells me that there is something inherently faulty with my idea.  So looking for your comments and thanking you in advance.


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## Legacy (Jan 27, 2012)

I dunno. I'm sure it would work. It just occurs to me that perhaps, moving a bucket of fertilizer when needed/wanted is a lot easier than building to specific design and then moving them often. It just seems like you would have to make provisions and address concerns while building to make it work for not-a-huge-reward. *shrug* maybe I am wrong.

I guess it would depend on your property too. We have to protect from neighbor dogs and predators in such a way that wouldn't allow for us to move our cages that easily.


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## Bunnylady (Jan 27, 2012)

Well people make a million different kinds of "chicken tractors;" the idea isn't that different. I can see a few things to consider, though.

Rabbits don't usually deposit their "brown gold" evenly over the cage floor. Some do scatter droppings around, but the majority of the poop will wind up in "the dirty corner." This translates into piles in some spots, and nothing at all in others. You will still have to redistribute the droppings on a regular basis.  

The rabbits would probably freak out from the bumpy ride while being moved from place to place. A cage this large would be clumsy to move, so it would probably involve at least two people to move it.


Unless the entire garden is fenced in, some kind of provision would have to be made to keep dogs and such from getting under the cages. If you haven't ever seen what can happen when a dog can get under a rabbit cage - trust me, you don't want to!

Gardens are usually sunny spots, which can get hot in the summer. Rabbits don't do well with heat. I usually recommend siting rabbit cages where they get as much shade as possible. If I had cages situated in my garden, I could just about count on losing rabbits to heatstroke at some time between May and September.

Those are difficulties that I see right off the bat. If you can work those things out, it could be do-able. The tinkerer in me is working on a similar design for some chicken cages and my pasture!


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## Bossroo (Jan 27, 2012)

Legacy said:
			
		

> I dunno. I'm sure it would work. It just occurs to me that perhaps, moving a bucket of fertilizer when needed/wanted is a lot easier than building to specific design and then moving them often. It just seems like you would have to make provisions and address concerns while building to make it work for not-a-huge-reward. *shrug* maybe I am wrong.
> 
> I guess it would depend on your property too. We have to protect from neighbor dogs and predators in such a way that wouldn't allow for us to move our cages that easily.


So... what is your plan to avoid the poo poo and pee pee from comming in contact with  the edible portions of the edible plants ???      The excriment cover on the produce is perfect environment for bacteria/ virus to infect YOUR intended consumption.         Or have you not read/ heard about some of the illnesses caused by animal/ human    fecal/ urine  contamination in commercial food production fields  resulting in severe illness/ death and resulting lawsuits ?


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## secuono (Jan 27, 2012)

It would be easier to just place large rubber bins under each rabbit's potty spot and then use a shovel to spread it on the garden.
Rabbits do not poo evenly, they pee/poo in one special spot and it really can pile up. 
Plus all the plants would be covered in urine and fecal matter....I wouldn't want to eat tomatoes which were peed on, would you?


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## StuUSA (Jan 27, 2012)

Well thanks to all for your input!  

Bossroo, you especially will be relieved to hear that the 'Rolling Rabbit' project has officially been put on hold.  I certainly do not want a lawsuit on my hands, although the only people who would eat produce from our garden would be my wife and teenage children (each of whom has more money than I do anyway).  

But in my defense (lawyer term), I think some of you folks failed to noticed the key word SPRING.  I would only do this in the SPRING.  So no plants yet.  No summer heat yet.

Still, all in all, I see that it's going to make a lot more sense to just shovel, carry, dump, spread.

Thanks again to each of you for taking the time to answer.  I feel like I have some new friends.


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## Bossroo (Jan 27, 2012)

SPRING can mean different things in different parts of the country.  IN S Cal. , Florida, Hawaii, and similar locals, one may only have SPRING and SUMMER, where one  plants a garden year round then harvest when ready  !   Some areas of the  PNW , one may have spring, fall and winter.   NE USA, one has 4 seasons... etc..   Of cource, 1,000 ft difference in elevation, proximity to mountains, desert and/or water will give one microclimates too.


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## PinkFox (Jan 27, 2012)

wow this forum was not a place i expected to se people freeking out about some FERTILIZER possibly comming into contact with their veggies.
assuming your rabbits are kept worm free there it less risk from good rabbit poop touching your veggies than there is from comercial fertilizers that get sprayed on beds (including on fruits leafy greens ect) on a regular basis on most famrs/things being delivered to the grocery store...

a little rabbit poop falling on your lettuce is nothign to be freeked out over, just make sure you wash your greens just as you would if buying from a store.  im less afraid of rabbit poop om my maters than i am of comercial fertilizers on EVERYTHING...lol.

in terms of your idea...while it could work i think it would be alot of work to figure out the right angles (and alot of wood to lol).
id love to see pics though if you did figure it out


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## StuUSA (Jan 28, 2012)

Good point, Bossroo.  I kind of forgot how big and varied the world is.  I probably should have given myself the name StuLowerMichiganAndIDon'tTravelMuch.

PinkFox, yeah, I'm not really worried about poop on the petunias.  But don't hold your breath for any pictures.  This thing probably won't be built unless I can work out the several issues brought up here.  The whole idea was this was going to be a labor-saving machine...but it's starting to look like it would be a Rube Goldberg machine.


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## mama24 (Jan 28, 2012)

No, I agree with Bossroo on the poo/pee issue. People who actually use manure as fertilizer on their gardens COMPOST it first. Throw your rabbit (and chicken, goat, etc) manure onto a compost pile and collect composted matter from the bottom when you want to fertilize your garden! Or plough it into the soil in the fall and spring before/after the growing season. This is the way I was always taught to do it. I have never had to fertilize anything other than tomatoes during the actual growing season. Fertilizer is usually applied before or during planting.


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## nmred (Jan 28, 2012)

Sorry, mama24, but I have to respectfully disagree.  One of the great things about using rabbit manure is that it does not have to be composted before using it!  It can be directly applied to your garden soil with no ill effects.  However, it should be scattered on the ground, not put on top of the plants.  Many people sell their rabbit poop as a "natural fertilizer" just for this purpose.  As PinkFox said, you don't really have to worry about it if it should touch your plants, just wash it good as I'm sure you would anyway.  BTW, if you make manure tea with your rabbit manure, it will give your plants (tomatoes) an even bigger boost during the growing season.


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## mama24 (Jan 28, 2012)

I have never seen anyone make manure tea out of fresh manure, only composted manure and other compost. I think I'll stick with doing it that way.


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## terri9630 (Jan 28, 2012)

mama24 said:
			
		

> I have never seen anyone make manure tea out of fresh manure, only composted manure and other compost. I think I'll stick with doing it that way.


Most manure is composted because fresh it will burn the plants.  Fresh rabbit manure won't burn the plants.


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## mama24 (Jan 29, 2012)

terri9630 said:
			
		

> mama24 said:
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I didn't know that! Thanks for the info.


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## terri9630 (Jan 29, 2012)

mama24 said:
			
		

> terri9630 said:
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No problem.


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## Snowfie (Jan 29, 2012)

secuono said:
			
		

> It would be easier to just place large rubber bins under each rabbit's potty spot and then use a shovel to spread it on the garden.
> Rabbits do not poo evenly, they pee/poo in one special spot and it really can pile up.
> Plus all the plants would be covered in urine and fecal matter....I wouldn't want to eat tomatoes which were peed on, would you?


Not to mention rabbits would probably eat anything you put their "tractor" over.

Better to spread out the pellets.  more control that way.

If you get a rabbit cage with a litter tray, use newspapers as litter in their special corners.  the newspapers are very absorbant and it's easier to collect the pellets than with wood shavings.


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## Legacy (Jan 30, 2012)

wowza! lawsuits and all huh? sheeeesh. I didn't have a clue this thread would be so controversial. The obvious winner of this thread is StuLowerMichiganAndIDon'tTravelMuch for his placement of the phrase "Rube Goldberg Machine" . Which seems fitting since this thread seemed to become a Rube Goldberg machine itself. LOL

He just had an idea he thought might work and wanted some feed back not a stinking lawsuit.  Good grief. The best advice came from Bunnylady who clearly said things I couldn't articulate or think of.


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## StuUSA (Jan 30, 2012)

In all fairness, Bossroo's statement about lawsuits was just mentioned as an example of what can happen in a commercial food production setting.  Me moving this lawsuit example to the family garden situation was just my quirky sense of humor coming out.  So I plead guilty (lawyer term) for the Rube Goldberg characteristics of this thread.

And yeah, a special thanks to Bunnylady.  But I'm learning from all of you.


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## smiles-n-sunshine (Jan 31, 2012)

Rabbit urine is not something I'd want on my plants.  The stuff is nasty!


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## AZ Rabbits (Jan 31, 2012)

Bossroo said:
			
		

> Or have you not read/ heard about some of the illnesses caused by animal/ human    fecal/ urine  contamination in commercial food production fields  resulting in severe illness/ death and resulting lawsuits ?


Human excrement is different than animal excrement. And carnivore's is different than herbivore's as well. You're not going to find very many instances of human illnesses from rabbit droppings. Those instances are usually from human waste being used as fertilizer in 3rd world countries. I've lived where they do that before and it's pretty nasty. Although, people got sick far less than you'd expect. But I'd shy away from eating stuff that was fertilized with human waste.



			
				mama24 said:
			
		

> People who actually use manure as fertilizer on their gardens COMPOST it first. Throw your rabbit (and chicken, goat, etc) manure onto a compost pile and collect composted matter from the bottom when you want to fertilize your garden! Or plough it into the soil in the fall and spring before/after the growing season. This is the way I was always taught to do it. I have never had to fertilize anything other than tomatoes during the actual growing season. Fertilizer is usually applied before or during planting.


I do both, mainly because of the amount of fertilizer I get. I compost to mix in my boxes, but also throw it directly in my growing garden and tree wells. It breaks down really fast. You do not need to compost rabbit manure first like you would other manures (like chicken manure... although if you do it properly, you don't need to compost chicken manure either). And for some plants, it's like steroids... they grow like crazy! Especially rose gardens.

However, I wouldn't grow plants under a rabbit cage. You don't want them peeing directly on your veges. But my gardens get rabbit droppings added to them all year long.


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## hoodat (Feb 1, 2012)

When I have enough available I pile it between my plants so thick it acts as a mulch to smother weeds between my veggies. I have yet to have any burning from it. A bonus is that you will see more worms under it than you ever saw before.


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## lovinglife (Feb 3, 2012)

One of the reasons I got into rabbits was for the pellets, my garden just loves them!  Straight from the catch bucket to the garden plants.  I have great hopes for my garlic this year, it is totally mulched with bunny stuff....


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