Rabbits in cages or can it be another way?

[dudley]

I know that what we are doing is technically wrong, let me explain.

A couple of months ago we advertised for sale some weaner pigs. A very nice guy came to buy from us and we ended up bartering Pigs for Rabbits and now have 4 lovely young Doe’s with a Buck from a different bloodline due later this month. We understand they are Lithuanian and to say they are a large rabbit would be an understatement, they are huge.
The thing is we have all types of livestock but never had rabbits. Everything is free range and the thought of housing rabbits in cages horrifies me especially as this breed is so large even though I know rabbits thrive well when caged. At the moment the 4 Doe’s are running together in a redundant cottage pig sty bedded on shavings and barley straw. They have plenty of space, fresh air and are clean, dry and look to be very happy. In fact so happy one has had the Immaculate Conception, I was told they had never been with a Buck but two weeks ago she nested in one corner of the sty and we now have 10 two week old baby rabbits. The other Doe’s are not bothered about her litter but I shall move the babies to their own accommodation away from the doe’s when weaned.
So all looks to be going ok, but,,, am I heading for trouble by keeping the does together long term or can I set up some kind of communal environment with nest boxes etc?
Thanks Steve

[JulieSherris]

Some years ago (some? more than 30!) I worked in pet shop at weekends... we bred guinea pigs & rabbits & the shop owner had the idea that the rabbits could live in a communal area... Bad idea!

The does are ok together until they start having litters & then fights break out. Bucks fight & can also fight with the does, especially when there is young around.
There's nothing worse than finding a rabbit close to death having had an ear completely chewed off & that's what happened on several occasions until we went back to caging them all again & I drew up a breeding program for the shop.

Obviously different breeds have their own traits, but have you thought about building them outside/inside runs, a bit like a chicken run, but with their own meshed areas?
One word of warning on open ground though - mesh the bottom too - you could pop mesh under the grass, this stops them from burrowing... I enjoyed a sunny saturday digging out the garden & ending up in the next door garden before finding the nest!!

Enjoy your bunnies, I love 'em, but hubby won't let me have any more pets unless they are productive & I don't like eating rabbit that much. Maybe the granddaughter can get round him

[snapdragon]

Does can be kept together - I had two together for eight years after they had been introduced in the house and in an outside run.
Conversly my buck was thrown out by a doe (when some idiot put him in her space)
Wild Coneys live together, can't see why yours shouldn't, so long as the mothers have a secure place to nest and they can't burrow out, a pigsty sounds pretty ideal to me

I'm assuming they are meat rabbits - not fibre ? It's a long time since I read the rabbit keeping books

[jim]

I did read somewhere that doe rabbits can store fertilized eggs within their ovaries only allowing them to develop into embryos once conditions are right. There is a scientific term which I didn't pay much attention to .... perhaps someone can enlighten us?

Sorry to spoil immaculate conception theories, particularly at Christmas ........

Love and Peace
Jim

[Odsox]

As others have said, you should keep the buck separate (until needed).
But one thing I can add to that is don't cage the buck so that he can see the does, as they tend to literally spray urine everywhere
It's a male thing I suppose

[The Riff-Raff Element]

I think your sty idea for communal living of does with the offspring being removed and the buck kept elsewhere is an excellent one. I have seen this done here, though cages are more common.

Rabbits are prey animals, so keeping them with a cover over their heads (is the sty in a shed) and giving them some hidey holes would perhaps be a good idea.

I'd be very interested to hear how you fare.

[farmerdrea]

One thing we have found over the last few years of keeping rabbits for meat is that does get along together fine as long as they are reared together and used to each other, but an introduced doe is going to get the c**p knocked out of her, and it never ends well. I have brother bucks who've lived together with no problems at all, for several years now, out of sight of the does of course. I keep Standard Rexes and they are usually quite laid back. I keep mine up off the ground in large enclosures, but I am in the slow process of building a large outdoor area for them that will hopefully be rabbit-proof (and we have no nasty predators here to worry about).

As long as your does have a large enough area that they can have their own space and enough pop holes in which to get away from each other (old flower pots, untreated wood crates, small metal barrels - nothing plastic, as they will chew on it and it can kill them).

Cheers
Andrea
NZ

[theabsinthefairy]

We keep rabbits for meat and have done for a while. We have the standard sort of concrete cage that you get here in France which is normally in three sections but with the dividing walls taken out so the total run length is nearly 4m x 1.5m x 1.5 m tall.

We keep our original breeding does together as they are sisters, and have got used to being together, then when one has a litter we put back the dividing wall so she is separate with her babies for a while, then we take the babies away when they are old enough and wall comes out and the two does live together again.

We then separate the males and females from the litter and they then live together in their own large enclosures until they are big enough for the freezer.

Altogether we have what should be 12 cages if assembled properly, but we have left them single storey with the dividing walls out to provide large runs, with straw bedding, logs to gnaw on, and well protected from foxes and the hunting dogs we get coming past throughout the winter months.

We then have a separate cage that the stud male lives in. We don't have a male of our own - normally we get one in from friends or neighbours to do the business, and usually we put the happy couple together in a big dog cage in the garden during the day, so we can keep an eye on them. We had a male of our own , which was my daughter's pet rabbit, and unfortunately one of the does objected to him a little too strongly and killed him - we think she kicked him off and broke his neck.

We have let the original sisters out into the chicken compund - just left the cage open - and they don't bother to go anywhere jsut run around for a bit and come back to their cage when they see you approaching with food.

Good luck with your rabbits.