I am interested in raising Angora rabbits. I don't want to breed initially so I will only get does and not keep a buck. Here is my idea for caging. Keep in mind that these are pets to me as well as supplying me with wool for spinning so the cost isn't a real factor to me. I have a stable with a tack room at one end. I plan to use half of the tack room for chickens and the other half for the rabbits. (My apologies to you horse people that are now cringing at the destruction of a perfectly good tack room.) The chickens and rabbits won't be in contact with each other but obviously the air circulating in the tack room will come in contact with both (just in case someone can tell me if this is a problem). I want to put good size cages inside the tack room (long and narrow) to run several does in each cage. They will have a cage that starts on the inside of the tack room and includes their feed and water dishes and their nesting box to get in out of the cold during the winter. I will then drill a hole through the south side of the wall for each animal cage to allow the rabbits to go outside the tack room. Each of the cages will then continue from the outer wall with some kind of ramp to go down into a grassy area. I plan to lay epoxy coated fencing underground completely enclosing the caged area on the ground so that they cannot dig down and escape. I will then put about six inches of dirt on top of the fencing and plant grass and other edible greens for them to munch during most of the year since we don't have very severe winters. I know I will also have to give them hay and pellets etc., but I want them to have easy access to greens. So, the bottom line is that each long cage will have an indoor section and an outdoor section (oh yeah, I intend to have an outdoor overhang to the roof so they can be outside but not in the rain if they choose). I guess I am trying to design a system that allows them ample room to scamper about and have a life closest to their natural state while still protecting them from the elements and predators and making my feeding routine as easy as possible. There will be a wire mesh top over everything to prevent predators from getting in and high enough for me to walk around in to collect droppings (on the outside part and a lift up top to the cage inside). I also plan to have a slanted board (with some kind of plastic covering so the urine doesn't sink in) underneath the cages inside to collect droppings more easily under the cages. For those of you who have experience with rabbits, please give me pointers on how to make this better or how I might encounter difficulties if I do this. I have no experience with rabbits but I have read that to be kept together does should be from the same litter.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), November 26, 2001

Answers

Colleen, the only problem I see is that it's been my experience that does should not be housed together, even if they are from the same litter. Once they reach adulthood, they tend to become very territorial, and can become violent with other does or bucks coming into their space.

As for chickens and rabbits together - that's no problem, so long as the chickens can't poop on the rabbits, or their cages. No chicken poop, no problem!

Enjoy your rabbits! It sounds like they will have a very pampered and happy life with you!

-- Cheryl in KS (cherylmccoy@rocketmail.com), November 26, 2001.

Please keep them in their own seperate cages. As they mature they will become territorial and can injure each other. If you plan on spinning the wool you may want to rethink, allowing them to be on the ground as they can become extremely dirty, and can affect the wool. If you plan on just spinning and not breeding I would suggest bucks. Bucks are calmer and less hormonal as they mature. You may want to do a search as there are several angora breeders with web sites and lots of good information to start with. Good Luck with your bunnies. Denise K.

-- Denise K. (Rabbitmom2@webbworks.com), November 26, 2001.

I agree with the points above. I raise angoras now, and would not consider having them on the ground. I spin the wool. Also, besides the does fighting..and they will..even sisters..but they rub up against each other and cause more mats. (too much love) and sometimes even chew or pull their cagemate's fur. I keep each of mine separate. Sounds like a great place to live if you were a bunny!!!!!!Good luck!

-- Jenny (auntjenny6@aol.com), November 26, 2001.

Angora rabbits couldnt survive in the wild [ wool block, easy to catch, ect].With that said I let mine run in a rabbit pen and when its nice over night to.I do not run mine together, I rotate them, that way they dont fight.Maybe you could have them in cages and have the run below and let one out each day?

-- kathy h (ckhart55@earthlink.net), November 26, 2001.

I agree with everyone else who's said that each rabbit definitely needs it's own cage. My only concern with the chickens and rabbits together is that all the dust from the chickens might make the rabbits sneeze a lot. Just be sure that the chickens can't roost on top of the rabbit cages.

-- Tracey in Alabama (trjlanier@cs.com), November 27, 2001.

I hope the tack room floor is dirt and not wood. If it is wood, it will soon get saturated with urine.

-- westbrook (westbrook_farms@yahoo.com), November 27, 2001.

I would not house rabbits and chickens together or put rabbits in a house. They need excellent air circulation. Chickens can be around rabbits but that they share same air may be disasterous. The only way I can raise healthy rabbits without nasal problems is to house them outside in wire cages with their own house and tarps over the tops of their cages. Good luck. Terry

-- Terry Lipe (elipe@fidnet.com), November 27, 2001.

Colleen, I raise Angora rabbits and mine are in a bunny barn. Here's how ours is arranged. It has worked out well so far (for about a year.)

We already had a building we refer to as our barn. we came out with the roof about an additional 10 feet (just kept sloping on down).

Originally I just had rabbit hutches hanging on the wall which was previously the barn and we didn't have the outside walls finished...I kept them covered with a tarp in bad weather or in windy weather. Because we have lots of coyotes and other predetors, we finally finished the outside walls. The outside wall only comes half way up. Then we have screen and rabbit wire the remainder of the way. I had some old wooden frames that just fit most of that open area. I covered them with heavy plastic. Then I attached hinges to the top. Then I hung chains with hooks at each corner.

Now on pretty winter days, I raise the frames up and hook them on the chains so the rabbits can get sunshine and air. At night and when the wind is blowing I close them back and latch them.

There is a screen door at each end of the bunny barn. Each of those is covered with plastic in the winter but is left open in the summer.

Also there is a doorway in the middle that opens into a little fenced area outside, probably about 10 x 4 ft. It is basically dog wire with grass on the ground and no roof. This is the bunny's play yard where they can exercise.

I usually only let them exercise one at a time, and only when I am at the barn. Like let one bunny exercisewhile I'm feeding and watering everybody else (currently I have 22 with hopefully one of the Angoras bred now.) This summer I couldn't let them on the grass in the play yard because we had ticks so bad and to get rid of the ticks I'd have had to have used some sort of chemical...

We have a big screened in porch of the back of our house and occassionally I'll bring a bunny up there and let him or her run around.

I agree with the others that seperate cages or hutches are the best. If the cages are against each other they will usually have best buddies. I have a buck and a doe that aren't Angoras but are just "rabbit rabbits." The buck is a rescue who had been living in a tiny cage and the doe was a bunny I rescued before someone ate her. Anyway, They are both nearly five years old now. They have lived in cages or hutches side by side since they were young...first under a tree in our back yard, then under our back porch, and now in the safe bunny barn. They will lay beside each other, each in their own cages, for hours at a time.

Best of luck with Angoras. Do you spin and knit? I can crochet some and I'm trying to learn to knit. I hope to get my very first Ashford Traditional Spinning Wheel by the end of the year or near the first of next year! I can spin a little on a drop spindle and will finish learning on the wheel.

My bunnies are ALL pets and we do not eat any of our animals! We have three and a half cats, three dogs, 25 laying chickens and 22 bunnies. I hope to get a breeding pair of Angora goats before spring.

-- Suzy in Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), November 27, 2001.

Joel Salatin has what he calls a "raken" house, with rabbit cages around the perimeter, and chickens loose on the floor. If I remember correctly, he said he frequently added clean bedding. (We plan to try this when we build our permanent chicken house; for right now the rabbits - Silver Foxes, for meat and pelts - are in a shed built onto the back of the garage.) Joel keeps his breeders up in cages all the time, but raises bunnies in moveable cages on pasture -- I suspect that it probably isn't wise to put the breeding stock on the ground as they are more likely to pick up diseases and parasites that way.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), November 28, 2001.