Exercising rabbits...

[Libertyangora]

I may get a harness for my buck and keep putting the doe in the play pen. The buck is more tolerant than the doe so as long as there's food he'll go anywhere . I would love to see any pictures you have of your set up.

 

[Lamb Lover]

Haha sounds like a typical boy. Ok so the pen as you can see isn't very big but it is tall. Three sides are zip tied together so I can move it around the yard and one end have bungee cords incase I need to open it up. I'm 5"8 and it comes up to my waist so I just step over if I need to get in. The boards on the ground are to hold a tarp on the top because Monkey likes to escapse. The dog crate is for a large dog and they sleep in that with a heat lamp when it's really cold. Then there's the hutch. It's handmade. There's a tray on the bottom that I put a liner in, the floor is mesh like the sides and the top opens up. I fill it with straw after I line the bottom with news paper and I've hung toys from the lid but those were destroyed. Clover has anger issues. At night I cover the mesh sides with two thick curtains, then I put a tarp over the top and hold it down with a rake or broom. They don't get hot but they stay warm. The water bottle is weatherproof so I've had no issues with cracking or anything and I just have a ceramic bowl for their pellets. They eat hay in the dog crate. I line that with puppy pads and newspaper as well. They receive their fruit and veggies in the house and they have play time in here when it's cold. That was a lot but that's how I take care of my bunnies. The brown one in the hutch is Monkey and the black one is Clover.

 

[Libertyangora]

I think I may get a roll of hardware cloth and use zip ties to keep it together. I was thinking about trying to find used dog crates and somehow putting them together into one big pen but, I think hardware cloth would be cheaper and easier.

 

[Lamb Lover]

Yeah for sure. I can try and get you the measurements and materials for my pen if you want. You could always make it bigger and it's relatively cheap. Another thing you could do is run chicken wire through your yard like a tunnel. That way they can run and eat but they can't get away. I've seen it done with chickens, check it out on Pintrest if you have it.

 

[Libertyangora]

I do have a Pinterest so I'll check it out on there tonight. The reason I'm thinking about using hardware cloth is because I'm nervous my barn cats might stick their paws through the holes.

 

[Lamb Lover]

Yeah that's true. Whatever works best for you. Pinterest has some really good ideas. I might have to build a new hutch or get another pen because my rabbits are fighting (One got hurt really bad today, almost cut to the bone) so if I find anything I'll let you know.

 

[Libertyangora]

That doesn't sound good! Hope your rabbit gets better! I'll look some more today to see if I find anything better.

 

[Pastor Dave]

I think I may get a roll of hardware cloth and use zip ties to keep it together. I was thinking about trying to find used dog crates and somehow putting them together into one big pen but, I think hardware cloth would be cheaper and easier.

I have a roll of hardware cloth or mesh that is the same guage as my cages. It is probably 1" x 3" at the top. 28"-30" tall, and between 1/2" x 1" and 1" x 1" at the bottom. It is intended to keep rabbits out of gardens, but I plan to connect it to my chain link fence in the corner to make a nice sized area. I also got a pretty long roll of chicken wire that is 48" wide to fasten to the top to keep hawks and cats, etc out.

 

[Libertyangora]

My plan is to just have walls made out of hardware cloth and have no floors or roof. They'd only be out in the pen for about a half hour day and the pen would be set about 8 feet away from my garden so while they were out in the pen I would garden while they were playing.

 

[Pastor Dave]

Mine will have no floor either. They made the roll of mesh a smaller size near the bottom than they did at the top for some reason. The smaller spaces at the bottom are probably between 1/2" x 1" & 1" x 1".
I will have chicken wire over the top though. I have eagles and hawks here that would swoop in and nab one for sure.
I just saw a hawk the other day swoop down by our bird feeder and make an attempt, but I do not think it got any birds.
It was so fast, I barely saw the action. Just a streak of feathers to an obviously much bigger bird than usually visits our feeder.