Rabbit Housing
Keep Trying
We have attempted to raise rabbits several times over the years we have lived in the country. We started out replicating the system an old farmer taught us upon selling us his four breeding rabbits and stand up cage structure. Each rabbit had its own cage - one buck 
and three does. The object was to wait until one of the does went into heat and then place her into the buck cage. Apparently, if a buck is placed into a doe cage, he would be greeted with a fight.
During the heat cycle, the doe is supposed to be "swollen" in the back. If you are from the city, you may relate to our dilemma. We never figured it out.
What NOT to Do
Luckily, one of the does came to us pregnant. When we first moved to the country, we had received a rescue donkey. She too came pregnant. When the jenny was born, we were told to 
touch her for "imprinting" and subsequently acclimate her to people. We applied this knowledge to the bunnies but it proved to be a fatal mistake. Rabbits use scent to recognize their babies.
We eventually gave the rabbits away and took down the cages. The next time we launched into raising rabbits we wanted something that would keep the rabbits together despite being told rabbits were not “social”. Hey, I had some experience with bunnies growing up too (Bugs Bunny). If we kept them together, they would naturally breed. This would solve the breeding problem but we also needed to keep them out of the direct desert sun. Designing the new dwelling would need to allow them to dig their own homes for both nesting and keeping cool.
The new rabbit structure was a 10‘x10’ brick structure, 2 feet high with a cement bottom (broken brick laid flat & cemented together). We then filled it with dirt and fenced the top with 4 foot fencing and a gate.
Sometimes You Win & Sometimes You Learn
After the Rabbit Abode was completed, we went out and acquired four new rabbits (3 does, 1 buck). The new rabbit area was working great until I began thinking they needed more space. Despite concerns, I opened the gate and let them out into a large 50‘x100’ fenced area. I admit I love to see animals with lots of space - you know the whole “free range - natural thing”. It has led to several animal losses from chickens, turkeys, ducks, and well, now rabbits.
It did work for a few weeks but eventually one by one they would get out of the fenced area, and we would never see them again.
We took more time off from raising rabbits. We knew it would be a good meat strategy for our small homestead once we figured it out.
The Third Time is a Charm
Last spring we traded a goat doeling for some rabbits. Now with experience of what "not to do" under our belts, we locked them into the 10‘x10’ brick structure to get them established while we worked on additional security measures. We added 4’ chicken wire to the 50‘x100’ fenced area: 2’ buried into the ground and the other 2’ running up and attaching to the current 5’ fence.
We let the rabbits out and it’s been working ever since! They have their homes in the brick dwelling and the 50‘ x 100’ space to run around. Rabbits do not like to share their rabbit holes but with all the extra space, the rabbits have enough room to make their own homes. We keep about six does and two bucks. We use traps and lots of maneuvering to catch the baby bunnies when they’re old enough to be on their own. We swap
out bucks depending on what colors we are looking to reproduce. We like spots :)
However, with so many little ones, we needed to do something fast. Bryson put together a temporary housing area for them. This is the area where they stay until we either find homes for them or raise them for meat. We now have more than enough to do both :)
Shelly
May 2013
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Resources
www.greenhomebuilding.com/adobe.htm
www.earthbagbuilding.com/articles.htm
www.earthbagplans.wordpress.com
We moved from the city to the country in 2005. Since then, we have been building structures, raising livestock and growing some of our own foods. We are crazy about family, nutrition and want the best for our growing family.
