Raising Rabbits: Tips and Tricks

article image
PHOTO: FOTOLIA/FOTOZOOKA
Some tips on successfully raising rabbits.

Inspired by MOTHER’S repeated promptings to raise rabbits, we finally made the jump out here in California. MOTHER EARTH NEWS, however, didn’t tell all, and we soon ran into some problems I hadn’t expected (and wouldn’t have had sense enough to ask about anyway).

Raising Rabbits: Tips and Tricks

First things first: Build or buy your hutches before you get rabbits. The cardboard box accommodations we provided the first few days were a heap less than satisfactory. Knocked down wire cages cost about $7.50 per rabbit at that time and we couldn’t afford them. Eventually, we prepared suitable lodgings by modifying some scrounged wire chicken cages. Almost anything will do for a pen if it has wire floors, 30 inches x 36 inches of floor space for each doe, and a ceiling at least 15 inches high.

The self-cleaning wire floor I installed in my rabbits’ quarters is half-inch galvanized grid, the smallest practical size and — I think — most comfortable for a new litter. Many commercial raisers use the larger 1/2 inch x 1 inch mesh, which lets the animals’ droppings fall through more readily,. (The walls cap be made of 1inch s 2 inch netting.)

Before you construct the floor, incidentally, check the galvanizing of the wire for a top and bottom. The grid is dipped in a molten solution during its manufacture and the drips harden into sharp spikes which — if allowed to point upward — will give your bunnies sore hocks. (Some brands, by the way, drip sideways and so have no “up” or “down”.)

  • Published on Mar 1, 1975
Online Store Logo
Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368