# My Hutch Set Up



## Marlom Perez (Dec 22, 2016)

Friends,

Thanks for reading! 

Please look at and critique my rabbit set up. I am anxious to see what others have to say about my set up. I will continuously


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 upload fixes and other updates.


----------



## Marlom Perez (Dec 22, 2016)

Pictures of the hutches coming soon.


----------



## DutchBunny03 (Dec 22, 2016)

From what i can see, it looks pretty good, but prepare to be replacing the plywood pretty regularly. Some rabbits are ok, but most chew any wood in the hutch to bits. I've had to replace pieces of hutches because of chewing.


----------



## Marlom Perez (Dec 23, 2016)

DutchBunny03,

Thanks for writing!

Yes, I thought about the wood and chewing. I provide wood blocks for them to chew on, but i know this will not be sufficient. On the inside of the ceder side shingles, they were already chewing. I solved this by taking wire screens and cutting them to size. As if to staple them on the inside. They have stopped chewing on that. I haven't seen any sores on their mouths or anything else to indicate that they are chewing on the metal in frustration. I plan on doing this to basically all the wood on the inside of the hutch. Can you see any issues with this?  

These here are my kits. They are one week and four days old.


----------



## DutchBunny03 (Dec 24, 2016)

Good! They may chew on the metal in frustration for a day or so, but will most likely stop after that. 
Try giving them maple or birth sticks to chew on. That can stop them from chewing on the hutch, because it tastes a lot better. Dont give the dam maple sticks until ou wean the kits, though. I've heard that maple dries up the doe's milk supply.
The kits are adorable!


----------



## Bossroo (Dec 24, 2016)

Marlom Perez said:


> DutchBunny03,
> 
> Thanks for writing!
> 
> ...


 Issue is that all types of pathogens ( insect and bacteria )  are given condo housing between the screen and wood , add rabbit hair , dust and moisture from the air and urine .  They then wait to attack their rabbit hosts.


----------



## Marlom Perez (Dec 25, 2016)

Bossroo,

Thanks for writing!

So your saying because of the wood hutches and the wire being defecated on and such causes bacteria. I hear you on that and I agree. But personally, I don't see there not being bacteria in any housing situation. I hear that a water, vinigar mix is a good cleaning solution for wood/wire houses? Perhaps a different suggestion, Bossroo? 

DutchBunny03, Thanks! They are so damn cute! Four of them were found out of the nest this morning. They were still really warm, just huddled up in pairs of two. I placed them back in the nest. I've had the doe for over a year now, so she is pretty comfortable with me handling them. As you can see, they are just in a plastic tote filled with pine shavings. The pine seems to be superior in preventing odors and absorbing water and pee. How often would one suggest in replacing the pine shaving? While there are kits nesting in it?


----------



## Lorri (Dec 26, 2016)

I use wood and wire hutches with no problems so far. I did buy a bale of straw that introduced fur mites to my buck. I am treating him and I have given him a new all wire cage to stay in while I am treating him and sanitizing/quarantining his hutch. I feel confident I will be able to put him back into his old hutch. Another reason I prefer wood and wire is that I can build it to withstand animal attack. I don't have a barn or big enough shop etc... to house them against predators and they would be sitting ducks in all metal cages otherwise. This is my first hutch I ever built. No dog can knock it over and a mountain lion would have enough trouble to get it open till I got there, that even they wouldn't be a problem. I'm in the process of expanding and I'm designing new cages, but they will be similar to this I think...Just better.


----------



## TAH (Dec 26, 2016)

Very nice!


----------



## Bunnylady (Dec 27, 2016)

I think anybody who builds a rabbit hutch needs to be aware that the wood, wire, staples, etc. that we build with really only keep the rabbits_ in_; any seriously interested predator would get through any type of hutch or cage in a matter of minutes. Some materials (like particle board) even the rabbits themselves will chew through.

I use 16-gauge 1"x 2" welded wire and 1/2" plywood for the sides, and I have had hutches "breached" by dogs - if they have time (like at night, while the owner is asleep) they can pull and chew their way in. A dog with a high predator drive will do it. Even if they don't rip their way in, they will bite at the rabbits' feet from underneath the cage; many rabbit owners have had rabbits lose toes and even their lives from this sort of slow torture (take my word for this, I've had it happen, and it's horrible). A hutch by itself won't protect your rabbit, you need a further level of security (a fence or building) to keep larger predators away from the hutches.


----------



## DutchBunny03 (Dec 27, 2016)

A mountain lion or  dog would have little or no trouble getting into almost any rabbit hutch. Caging wire is flimsy; all they have to do is tear it open.


----------



## DutchBunny03 (Dec 27, 2016)

With kits in the nestbox, probably adding more shavings or changing the shavings every 4 or 5 days would do, but it varies. Just do it whenever it looks dirty.


----------



## Lorri (Dec 27, 2016)

Bunnylady said:


> I think anybody who builds a rabbit hutch needs to be aware that the wood, wire, staples, etc. that we build with really only keep the rabbits_ in_; any seriously interested predator would get through any type of hutch or cage in a matter of minutes. Some materials (like particle board) even the rabbits themselves will chew through.
> 
> I use 16-gauge 1"x 2" welded wire and 1/2" plywood for the sides, and I have had hutches "breached" by dogs - if they have time (like at night, while the owner is asleep) they can pull and chew their way in. A dog with a high predator drive will do it. Even if they don't rip their way in, they will bite at the rabbits' feet from underneath the cage; many rabbit owners have had rabbits lose toes and even their lives from this sort of slow torture (take my word for this, I've had it happen, and it's horrible). A hutch by itself won't protect your rabbit, you need a further level of security (a fence or building) to keep larger predators away from the hutches.



Good advice! Perhaps that is why I have been lucky then. The hutch has always been by my window and I pretty much stay at home all the time. It weighs around 150lbs, I can't rock it, and I built it for under $110. We do have motion lights and the cage wire has been pulled through and sandwiched between 3 inches of wood on all sides with screws. The only staples used were on the brace bars. I tried to build the best hutch for the least amount of money that I could. The one above is over 2 years old now and pretty much looks the same now as it did new.


----------



## mygoldendoe (Dec 30, 2016)

Congradulafions on the babies! As far as hutch goes, if it works for u, it's a great choice. I had to switch to all wire cages bc the first hutch we used was my dad's tried and true wood one he had for years. I just had the unfortunate luck of getting an overactive spraying buck (I get average bout three sprays in one visit +the two other times I check them I the day) it gets stinky fast! We switching to a wooden shed that has tarp hung on wall for easy washing to house wire cages and I'm gonna put him lower to discourage his alpha mindset. Only problem we have is it keeps raining on weekend so that we can't get the shed built >< taking forever but we need the rain.


----------



## DutchBunny03 (Dec 30, 2016)

All wire cages are by far the best type of cage I have encountered for rabbits, but the wire can be REALLY expensive, one of the reasons my cages are not all wire. One plus that wood-and-wire cages have that all wire cages don't have is the ability to make specialized shapes and types of cage. With a wood-and-wire cage, you can make it however the heck you want. Rain can be a big pain when trying to make sheds. My shed is a converted wood shed(sort of a piece of junk), but its supposed to be temporary until next summer.


----------



## Claude (Dec 31, 2016)

I've been using cages for my breeders made of old pallets and chicken wire for the sides when I started this spring with no ill effects I'm finally slowly switching over to all wire cages slowly I got my first one finished and hung today will probably take me a few months to get them all switched over with what I can afford and when I can afford it my main reason is I was tired of scraping crap off the wood floor 2 or 3 times a day.  My buck does good and usually only poops on the wire but my 2 does for some reason like pooping on the wood only. Here's what I started with and what I just finished today for one of my does.


----------



## DutchBunny03 (Jan 1, 2017)

My rabbits do that too! It is SO ANNOYING.
Have you had any problems with rabbits chewing through chicken wire?


----------



## Claude (Jan 15, 2017)

DutchBunny03 said:


> My rabbits do that too! It is SO ANNOYING.
> Have you had any problems with rabbits chewing through chicken wire?


Nope so far none of them have even chewed on the chicken wire as far as I know the biggest problem I have had is with the salt wheel in the cages. When I clipped it on the side of the chicken wire it started rusting the wire within a week. But to fix that I just ran some bailing wire and hung out from the top of the cage so it wasn't in contact with any of the cage wire. It worked good. Although I'm starting to wonder why I even keep it in my does cages they hardly touch it where as my buck has gone through 2 and is working on his third one since I got them back in June.


----------



## DutchBunny03 (Jan 16, 2017)

As long as you give your rabbits pellets, they don't need salt wheels. They get all the salt they need from the pellets, so dont need any extra supplements, and don't even touch the salt wheel.


----------



## Marlom Perez (Jan 20, 2017)

You know, i'm glad this post is up actually because I have been noticing a lot of hair and dust build up on the wire and wood. Just as Bossroo said. I have been using a 3 parts water and 1 part apple Cider vinegar in a misting bottle. Then i use plastic thick bristle brushes to clean up after misting. I think Apple cider vinegar  is a disinfectant is it not? Any other ideas for cleaning wood/wire hutches?


----------



## samssimonsays (Jan 20, 2017)

I had some big wooden hutches that I got the idea from over in Europe but I modified them slightly from what I wanted. I LOVE them. I raised French Lops so the space needed was a lot more than an average sized rabbit and I also needed a sturdier wire due to their weight. 


Mine, You can see the opening in the bottom, that was for the trays to go in so that it had the function of wire bottom and trays for easy cleaning and then the solid door to the right is where I had plastic totes for nest boxes dropped down to give a lip so babies wouldn't fall out. These were 2ft tall inside the cage area each. and 5 ft long in all. I had a very sturdy wire for the floors. Due to harsh Minnesota winters, these worked wonderful in keeping them warm. The rabbits in these were much more comfortable than the those in solid wire cages when it came to staying warm and draft free. 



 
I got my idea from how they are done in Europe but I was unprepared to have solid bottomed cages at the time. 


 
This was another idea I liked but never implemented as my Rabbits weighed too much. I did a similar thing for a colony of Jr does I raised though.


----------

