Housing Rabbits and chickens

[danielle82]

Are there any health concerns with housing rabbits near or even with chickens? and diseases or parasites that are transferable? My daughter desperately wants bunnies and I was thinking of building a rabbitt hutch and putting it in the chicken run, since the run is very predator safe. Does anyone on here do this? How does it work out?

 

[waynesgarden]

You should have no concerns with a hutch inside a chicken run. It could be different inside a small coop. Even in a well-ventilated barn there should be no problem and lots of people keem them together under the same roof.

In fact, my own herd of rabbits have been living (temporarily) in the chicken run in wire cages and a tarp over the run framework since spring. The next few weekends are slated to finish the bunny barn.

With rabbits, ventilation is critical as the dust inside a small chicken coop could be harmful to the bunnies respiratory system.


Wayne

 

[big brown horse]

Hey, my rabbit that lives outside in a run, well she shares it with chickens. They have the coop, she has the basement...all share the run. Never had a problem, but I keep it pretty clean in there.

 

[miss_thenorth]

I keep my rabbits in the same barn with my chickens and horses. My horses take over 1/2 of the barn, then there are the rabbit cages, then the chicken area. the chickens have their own roosting area about 3ft away from the rabbits, where they are locked up at night. during the day and in the winter, the chickens wander about the whole barn. I have never had a problem with this arrangement.

 

[Beekissed]

I used to have rabbits over chickens and it works out great....especially when using the deep litter method.

 

[danielle82]

Well that is fantastic news for my little girl! LOL she may get to have a 4-h bunny project next year after all! Now I just gotta talk that man I call husband into building an add-on onto that fantastic work-of-love he built for me that I call my chicken coop! LOL He'll be so pleased

 

[trestlecreek]

If you winters are cold, I would place the rabbit cages in a barn. A hutch would have to have a very nice tight area to keep warm in the winter. Lopped breeds and dwarfs can get frost bite....
A lot of diseases/parasites can hop species. I'd try to keep that all separate if you can.
I'm not too sure I'd want my chicken digging through rabbit poo? I would keep the rabbit poo away from the chickies.....
Yep, my DH was just hrilled when he found out I wanted to add on to my barn!!

 

[Beekissed]

Actually, it's great for chickies to dig through rabbit poo! They help it dry out by scattering it throughout the bedding and they can obtain some of their protein needs from it. Also, they pick up all the spilled rabbit feed and this helps their nutritive status as well, as the feed has a lot of alfalfa in it. Makes for nice orange yolks!

There are many folks who incorporate chickens under rabbits for just this reason. Check out Joel Salatin's books on putting chickens and pigs under rabbits in large hoop houses. When the litter gets a cap on it, he moves the pigs across it and they really fluff it up. This also cuts down on ammonia vapors from urine that can affect the rabbit's respiratory tract.