Is it possible/advisable to house rabbits & chickens in the same barn?

[trcarlton]

I'm dealing with a small space for my rabbits (4 adults, 7 kits) and chickens (9 hens, 5 chicks). Chickens are currently in a chicken tractor, rabbits are in 2'x3' hutches. My husband intended to build a 6'x8' shed to house the chickens to replace our now too small chicken tractor, but I'm seriously considering going back to a total of no more than 8 hens since they're going through pellet/oyster shell/cracked corn mix so fast, which makes me think they're not foraging much (they are allowed to free range daily in our fenced yard), and the eggs aren't selling very well. I increased prices on my eggs to be more competitive with local egg sales. I'd love to keep the critters all in one structure (rabbits on one side in their individual cages, chicken roosts/nest boxes/feeder/waterer on the other) provided everyone has plenty of space and ventilation to keep cleaning and winter maintenance simpler...what do you think?

 

[secuono]

Unless you are noticing weak egg shells, you should not give them too much oyster shell, most dump it anyway. And for corn, save that for treats to scratch instead. Stick with the pellets as a supplemental feed when free ranging or having them in tractors. Feed them right before they go up to bed just enough to sustain them and make them find their own food.
My birds took awhile[2-3mo] of free ranging 24/7 before they really started finding and eating their own bugs and grasses. I have 10 birds, LF and banty, as well as 9 big ducks. I now only toss out 4 cups of pellets a night, they can get all the rest of the feed they need on their own.
How you keep the yard and it's size also affects how much they can gather on their own.

Rabbits must always be above the chickens. So if you plan to let the birds sleep in the rafters, you must put a very steep and removable board over all the rabbit cages. Otherwise, the birds will walk/sleep and poop all over the rabbits and any board that is not steep enough they will still be able to walk on.

 

[trcarlton]

Hi secuono, I noticed the start of a pest problem (likely rat) when I was free feeding the hens (6 chickens total at that time), so I removed their automatic feeder and was tossing out a couple large scoops each morning for them; they dropped weight alarmingly, even when I upped the amount I was giving them each morning, so I'm hesitant about forcing them to forage, although that is what I would prefer they do :/ I'm willing to try, just nervous about it. The amount of corn in their feed mix is negligible; it was what I had left at the bottom of that bag when I purchased 100# of feed, so I mixed the corn in as I poured it into the storage bin. I will probably use a separate dish of shell for them to use if they want it next time; there has been a horrific amount of waste with having it mixed in with the feed >< We have a large fenced yard with grass, plus the potato tire tower they decimated (oops), lots of weeds/seed heads to graze on, so I don't think there's an issue there, I honestly think I've trained them to be lazy because I've been free feeding them all this time.
I'm kicking around ideas for the combo rabbit/chicken barn: LOTS of ventilation, probably integrating my 4 hole rabbit hutch on the outside as a kind of rabbit run, with smaller solid housing on the inside for them to sleep/stay warm in - hoping this will help prevent the water from freezing in the winter, since the barn will be insulated. Thanks for the suggestion about a steeply slanted board above the bunnies, since chickens will get on anything they can lol

 

[secuono]

Mine did the same thing, dropped weight when I told them to find their own breakfasts, lol.
But if you can do it slowly, even feed every other day or skip random days so they learn food is always out in pasture, but not guaranteed to just show up w/o any work on their part.
I like to mix the shell with scrambled eggs once a week or just scramble eggs with the egg shells and feed them back. My chickens are really picky, oysters or shells alone they ignore. Go totally nuts if anything is mixed with them, hah.
I also at the start, would really fling the pellets out in the grass. They ended up spending a lot of time in the tall grass looking for the pellets and in the process, realized that crickets, slugs and other bugs were also tasty.
Last year and before this summer, they hated most bugs, especially the bitter tasting ones like stink bugs. But now they will bulldoze other chickens out of the way for them. I love that because those nasty stinkers hibernate in my house! Ughh, I'm the only one in my family that can smell them, makes getting rid of them so hard!

But yea, good ventilation and no poop on the rabbits and they should be fine in a coop. That's where I have my Winter expecting rabbit pens. Makes it much warmer for the new born kits. Water took longer to freeze in there, but we had a weak Winter this year and I use crocks with no insulation in the coop.

Same reason I had to stop free feeding my pastured rabbits. The mice were robbing feeders clean every night! Now I toss them pellets 2hrs before it gets dark. More pellets for pens with more rabbits and adjusted to make sure the rabbits eat it all before it's dark and the mice come out.

 

[trcarlton]

Ok, now I feel better; I was freaked out with the weight loss, but it makes sense if I do it slower they will handle it better
Sooo...I got motivated about figuring out the combo rabbit/chicken barn...I made a 3d model LOL I'm so weird Too much time on my hands, obviously! I think it will actually work, and it uses the original 4 hole rabbit hutch we're using now.
There are 2'x3' outdoor runs for the bunnies, almost entirely wire, with access doors outside (lockable latches), and a sleeping area inside the barn where their feeders and water bottles will be.
For the rabbits, the only thing I don't have the room to add on is a maternity hutch, but we have a separate one that we can easily continue using, assuming I continue breeding (Had my first litter 6/19, 7 kits all healthy and happy...and all but 1 are homeless )
I think the number of chickens we have now will work, with this setup, and gradually weaning them off the free feed.
Here's the current hutch, 4 holes, so this would be backed up to the side of the barn and attached, then an access door made so they could get into the interior part of the hutch:

Here's the model:

This is from the original hutch side. You can see the nest boxes and roosts (nest boxes would have some kind of anti perching thing on them)

You can kind of see the interior bunny hutches on the right and the chicken roosts on the left.

Here you can see the interior rabbit hutches with doors, feeders and water bottles.

Here's the entrance.
There are 2 windows, the door has a window with screen in it also, and there will be ventilation areas near the ceiling on all sides. The entire thing will be predator proof, a sturdy little 6'x8' shed with full roof, solid floor and insulation.
This was fun to plan and make lol
What do you think of it?

 

[trcarlton]

Oh and the hanging thing in the back between the rabbits and chickens is the hanging water bucket for the chickens

 

[trcarlton]

My husband has the computer programs to make something like this just on screen or printable...do I know how to use it? No, no I do not. Hence the scribbled out, scissored out, taped together rendering lol

 

[ksalvagno]

I think the biggest concern for me would be the dust that chickens create. I think it would be too much dust for the rabbits.

 

[trcarlton]

Hmmm, good point, ksalvagno. Would additional windows/ventilation areas help keep the dust from becoming an issue for the rabbits?

 

[secuono]

Love the paper model!
I would extend the board to cover the food/water from any stray poops. If you don't want them in the rafters, you'll need to make the roof high and free of jumping points. Or you can tack on a ceiling of plywood so there's no access to it.

I have a window, human door and then a mini window always open. In the mini window there is an oscillating fan on Spring through Fall to cool the place and to get any dust moving out. During Winter, when the fan is off, I do notice more dust. So I'd say have a small one on all the time to shove the dust out the doors/windows.

Ugly pics of my coop.
It's different now, no random cages or wires all over, lol.