Anyone have pictures of their rabbit pens?

[Mahlzeit]

I am looking to get some rabbits for meat for my family and would love to see some photographs of your setups. Thanks so much.

 

[P.O. in MO]

I raise mine in a shed I built specifically for this purpose. It is about 10 ft. wide and I have 36 x 30 cages for my breeders on the left and 30 x 30 on the right for my bucks and grow out cages. I made everything hanging from the wall on rails that can be moved up and down and sideways as I really didn't know how everything was going to work out so I wanted to be able to move things around if I needed to(which I did). I can go 3 high with this but would have to use a step stool to access the top tier. The first pic is before I had any rabbits but I have 16 cages now with 5 empty but hopefully 2 litters in about 3 weeks. You said rabbit pens so maybe you are going to raise them outside in a colony setting so maybe this is of no help. Good luck with your rabbit raising, this is an excellent place for advice from people with hands on experience. I have learned a lot since I joined and it is good to have a place to go when you run into something that you're not sure how to handle. I should add that Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits is an excellent book that I used to figure out how to go about getting started and what to expect. I still refer to it from time to time.

 

[VickieB]

Wow! P.O. I'm so jealous! That is an awesome setup! What do you use for trays?

 

[animalmom]

Dang PO that is one beautiful set-up. I have one criticism of the Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits and that is the author, known affectionately here as Bunny Bob, lives on the East Coast. The weather he is used to on the East Coast is not the weather I deal with here in Texas... meaning take what he says and THINK about where you, the reader, live. Bob talks a lot about light. Light is not a problem where I live, but heat and too much sunshine is.

I didn't do that, put what he said against my environment, and had to redo the roof in my bunny barn. I had put in translucent vinyl panels in the roof to give the bunnies light only to find I was cooking the little fur jacketed critters. Redid the roof with metal panels, put in a huge barn fan and a misting system. Now they are ok in the summer.

Other than that I think the book is excellent for someone to study while putting together their rabbitry and getting their initial stock.

Your rabbitry looks ideal: windows, ventilation and oh my goodness, an airconditioner! Your buns have died and gone to heaven!

 

[P.O. in MO]

Wow! P.O. I'm so jealous! That is an awesome setup! What do you use for trays?

The trays are store bought from Bass equipment, I built my own cages. Bass is close enough for me to pick up the trays and wire as the freight on that stuff is high. I used adjustable shelf tracks mounted on rails at the top and bottom so they can be slid sideways and then welded EMT conduit to their shelf brackets so my cages just slide on them and hang and my pans set on top of another set if there isn't a cage underneath to set it on.
And I agree animalmom, there were numerous things in Storey's book that I didn't go along with either. I built the shed very well insulated as I wanted to be able to breed year round. That is the smallest ac unit I could find and I keep all the cages at one end of the shed and have a big quilt that hangs from the ceiling next to the last cage so I only cool where the rabbits are. It really doesn't take much electricity to keep the temp from going above 80 degrees. I built the windows out of some thermopanes I got on Craigslist and they swing open at the bottom so I get a good cross draft if it isn't so hot I need the ac. And I have some box fans hanging from the ceiling that weren't in the pictures. I use a wattmeter to keep track of ac costs and I if I recall the hot month this summer cost me about $8. I have a small heater with a freeze guard setting I use in winter and December cost was like 4 bucks. It's a good setup, probably not very practical, I'd have to live another hundred years to recover the costs in rabbit meat. But I enjoy this and my chickens and garden and it keeps me off the streets looking for something to keep me occupied and that saves a lot.
It is going to be really COLD for a couple of days around here. I don't know if this is supposed to make it down to OK and TX but if so, stay warm.

 

[Beekissed]

That is one beautiful setup!!! I've never seen a better one.

 

[P.O. in MO]

It works for me. Would have made it a little wider if I had it to do over. A little crowded trying to slide the cages off for cleaning. Also wished I had used better paint on the steel. That rabbit urine is already starting to rust on anything below the cages. Probably a summer project in the making. 8 degrees this morning and wind blowing pretty good with probably around 2 inches of snow, kind of hard to tell cause it's blowing around so much. Hope everyones rabbits made it ok. Tonite is supposed to be the bad one. Minus twelve, with the winds laying down after 3PM and then picking back up to 17mph by noon tomorrow with a high of 1 degree. Be glad when this cold snap is over. I have 10 kits at 10 weeks old today and probably 5 big enough now for freezer camp (which is empty). So I need to butcher and would prefer a little warmer weather to do it. Good luck tonight, everybody.

 

[Hens and Roos]

Very awesome set up P.O. in MO!!

This is our set up- we have a corner in our heated shop that the rabbits live, DH also built wire wall for the side and front(made up of 2 wire doors that open out, for easy cleaning and moving items) so the space in front can be as a grow out area.

Hope everyone is able to stay warm and keep their animals warm as well, we are at 4* and the temp will continue to drop throughout the day and over night. Our wind chill is to get to -35* at least so no school on Monday for the kids.

 

[P.O. in MO]

Very nice setup. Especially in a heated shop. Looks like you have the plastic pans. I have a few, started out with galvanized but got plastic when I added some more cages. Do you put something in them to soak up the urine. It looks like there is something in all the pans that have rabbits over them that is not the color of rabbit poop. Wire wall set up sounds like an excellent idea. Fine looking buns too. It's 12 here in MO but the wind is pretty strong. I was out plowing snow for about an hour and I am still chilled.

 

[Hens and Roos]

Thanks! We have plastic pans as our cages are from Klubertanz(they are close enough we can go and pick up items). We put a very thin layer of quick pick pine shavings in them- it does a good job of soaking up urine- ideally we can go about 2 weeks between cleaning them, depending on our work schedule a little longer.

I took a picture of the front area to show how DH finished it. We are currently at -2, the wind isn't too bad right now but will get stronger as the night goes on. It doesn't take long being outside to get chilled these days!

Chores are all done for the night and now to stay in!