Keeping an outdoor rabbit?

[JacksonPearce]

I happened to grab a rabbit pen for a STEAL at a going out of business sale. I'd planned to make it a brooder, but a local chicken keeper and silver fox rabbit breeder is looking for a new home for her outdoor bunny, and I'm thinking about taking him. He has been kept strictly outdoors and would be an excellent garden manure rabbit. He hangs with her chickens and is friendly and handle-able, but not a snuggly indoor pet.
However, I've never had rabbits before and don't want to get in over my head. What's the daily work like? The cost of feed? Anyone have any thoughts? Will he get lonely by himself? I've obviously googled, but I'm a bit overwhelmed by the amount and variance in rabbit keeping information-- there are so many different schools of thought and so much variation between pet, meat, and hobby rabbits.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Rabbits can live alone, but it doesn't hurt to have a pal in the next cage. Definitely don't house 2 rabbits together. They sure can fight.

Rabbits are as simple or hard as you make them. Pellets are fairly cheap. Mine get pellets, and hay, with some willow twigs, apple and carrot bits as treats. They also get a pinch of sunflower seeds occasionally.

Mine are in raised cages and hutches within a fenced area and I rotate who gets to get out and play. Mine know when to go in when they see me coming. I keep a Rubbermaid bin under my butches to catch the manure. The others that I keep above concrete it's easy to rake up poop pellet.

The only downside to rabbits is the males stink a bit with the pee, and females can breed like rabbits, and they can get moody throughout the season. Otherwise they are pretty simple.

 

[JacksonPearce]

Thank you! This is great info. Can I ask a few questions?

-I have a simple hutch with a solid bottom in the nesting area and a wire bottom in the main area (quite similar to the photo attached). There's a tray in there to catch poop, but could I remove this and just put a bin of some sort under?

-I'm seeing mixed things on wire bottoms in cages, so I wondered if I should replace this entirely. It definitely needs some shoring up for me to feel it's truly predator proof!

-Think I can just store droppings in a trash can until I need them, or do they need to sit out?

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

You can just dump that tray daily into a can for storage or replace it with a bin that needs dumping less. Just depends on how much you want to clean.

I like to give my bunnies an option of wire or solid floor. In my all wire hutches, we just give them a piece of plywood that can easily be removed to be cleaned or replaced.

My bunnies seem to favor doing their business on the solid surface because they are marking their territory that way. So the more solid surface, the more likely they will be to choose that as the toilet area. Rabbits tend to pick one spot and use it. You may end up with the box being a bathroom without another solid area for them to choose.

I personally find garden tools useful for cleaning my rabbits. I use the claw to pull out hay, and a hand hoe to scrape out wets and solids.

Rabbit poops are said to be mild and can be put on the garden immediately or composted if you like, so there should be no problems storing them for a bit as long as it's not too wet or warm out which will start the composting process.

 

[Skye'sDucks]

I know someone is answering most of your questions, but I love rabbits and own two so I wanted to put a few of my own answers down. (Mine live outside as well)

One rabbit by itself would be fine, though partners aren't bad so long as they can bond. I'd also suggest neutering/spaying, if he isn't already. (If you aren't going to breed him that is)

Personally, I wanted to put, I see pellets as a 'supplement'. They are grazers, and hay is what should make up most of their diet. I only give mine pellets in the morning, but you can do it however you want. That's just my insight. My older bunny, who's 10/11 years old, can't handle a lot of pellets anymore so I have to give them less. So make sure you consider his age for the types of food he can get. (Alfalfa should only be given to rabbits a year or two or younger, no older)

I also want to add to the pellets is the fact that you shouldn't buy the stuff with grain in them, or the colored pieces that pet stores typically sell. Grain is bad for rabbits.

As for general care, as the person above said, it depends on how hard/easy you make it. If you keep an orderly set up the cage should be easy to clean whenever it needs it.

Let me know if you have any other questions, and I'd be happy to help!

 

[llombardo]

I have 4 seperated in individual hutches.

They all have a small run attached and they all made the bathroom spot at the furthest end of the run. Rabbit poop is good but it doesn't go away quickly. Mine do not poop in the hutches, except in the winter--what a clean up n the spring.

I feed mine pellets. They like fresh grass clippings too. In the summer they get cilsntro, parsley, greens, etc and some hay(they are not fans of hay) I clean the poop area 2 times a year(I should do it 3-4). They have beds they sleep in, but last year I learned take them out in the winter or they take them apart. They have heated water bottles and a ton of straw to burrow in, in the hutch. They also gave those heat discs you warm up in the microwave and stay warm 8-10 hrs.

The basic daily care is simple. Clean water in bottles daily and they have feeders that hold 5 days of pellets. I just wish the poop would go away faster on its own.

 

[llombardo]

Oh and I did at one point have the hutches/runs right next to each other but two of them actually ate through the hardware cloth leaving a big hole trying to get to the rabbit next to it.

And they are diggers so hardware cloth under any run you want them to stay in is mandatory if you don't want them to escape.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

I know someone is answering most of your questions, but I love rabbits and own two so I wanted to put a few of my own answers down. (Mine live outside as well)

One rabbit by itself would be fine, though partners aren't bad so long as they can bond. I'd also suggest neutering/spaying, if he isn't already. (If you aren't going to breed him that is)

Personally, I wanted to put, I see pellets as a 'supplement'. They are grazers, and hay is what should make up most of their diet. I only give mine pellets in the morning, but you can do it however you want. That's just my insight. My older bunny, who's 10/11 years old, can't handle a lot of pellets anymore so I have to give them less. So make sure you consider his age for the types of food he can get. (Alfalfa should only be given to rabbits a year or two or younger, no older)

I also want to add to the pellets is the fact that you shouldn't buy the stuff with grain in them, or the colored pieces that pet stores typically sell. Grain is bad for rabbits.

As for general care, as the person above said, it depends on how hard/easy you make it. If you keep an orderly set up the cage should be easy to clean whenever it needs it.

Let me know if you have any other questions, and I'd be happy to help!

Great information.

Hay is definitely important as rabbits groom themselves similar to cats. Unlike cats who can throw up hair balls, rabbits cannot, so it's important to keep roughage moving through a rabbit to keep the hair moving through so they don't get a blockage.