Hiding Spots? And Manure/urine system?

[allergymama]

We are still in the planning stages and thinking about housing and waste management. Thanks for any tips you can give me!

I read in another thread that fear is an issue if we don't provide a "hiding" area (the rabbits can die of fright, I've been reading for several weeks and this is the first time I've encountered this tidbit.) We are in a very rural area (lots of predators even right up to the house...ugh raccoon in the garage, skunks on top of the grill, coyotes drinking out of the ducks' pond!). Our meat rabbits will be outside in suspended cages backed up to a detached garage, in a covered area. Is needing a hiding spot a real issue? We will be using bass cages. Putting something in their wire cage as a hiding hole seems like losing the effectiveness of the wire for keeping their cage clean. Opinions?

Also, I liked someone here's idea about putting totes under the pens (we have growing kids and lots of hand me downs so have a LOT of extra totes right now!) and then just emptying them into the garden. (An added bonus will be that it will help keep the poop eating dog out of the manure...she loves "kitty fudge" and duck poo already .) I understand we want to get rid of the urine asap. So I wondered about drilling a bunch of holes in the low spots in the tote to let the urine run out and soak into the soil underneath (or should we put it on top of straw?)

 

[bloonskiller911]

I am no expert but we have always raised meat rabbits with no hiding spot, so that is news to me that they need it. As to your manure/urine question, what we did was use 4x4's in a box around where all of the manure and urine drops. We leave it alone and do all of our composting right underneath the suspended cages. Rabbit manure is great in flower beds and strawberry beds!!!

 

[Baymule]

Totes under the cages is just extra work. Enclose the rabbits area with wire to keep varmits out. A predator can kill a rabbit through the wire. If the predator can't get to the cage, then it will keep your rabbits safe. No need to do a hiding place.

For the manure under the cages, get a few chickens and they will keep it turned and any fly larva eaten up. If you don't want chickens, then get some worms and put them under the cages.

 

[Latestarter]

Hey @bloonskiller911 good to see you back. Hope all is well with you and yours. Side benefit to doing the worm thing is it will help with the overall composting and provide great fishing bait!

 

[allergymama]

So there is no issue with the urine smell getting too overwhelming if you just leave it in with the droppings under the pens?

How often do you take it out? Do you add worms or do they find their own way there? (As I'm cleaning out the duck run today I have dug up about a thousand big ole beautiful earthworms. Yes we took them right to the garden! Not letting my greedy ducks and geese have them!!)

 

[Latestarter]

If you compost, they will come You could dig some (worms) from the duck run and "pre-load" the area, but they'll be there over time regardless. As long as there's some air flow, the smell shouldn't get too bad. IMHO, you'll need to add some compostable materials sometimes to give all the nitrogen something (carbons) to break down... grass clippings, weeds, wood chips, etc. Might want to also loosen the soil under there some, especially if it's pack down hard like concrete.