Rabbitry

We moved out to Metchosin BC in May 2006. Before that we were in the city of Victoria and I had my bunnies housed in a seperate garage sized shed. Then we bought a 3/4 acre lot with an old heritage house on it that had not been worked on in
probably atleast 30 years... a fixer upper for a great price! Plus it had the original cottage on site plus various rickety outbuildings I thought could be used for rabbits. We also were helping a homeless person by offering a place to live plus use of our kitchen and one bathroom... so we built a small 9 x 10 ft. shed new for her to stay in at the back
part of our property (long story).

So the rabbits till Feb. 2007 were housed in various places.... part in the cottage which was moldy and leaking in several places, part in a covered davenport type area which also leaked on one side, but not moldy; and then during the winter I took all does
kindling and with young kits into the house to ensure they were safe and warm. We were planning on building a 10 x 14 ft. rabbitry for me. I had already bought the framing and plastic roofing material with my hard earned "bunny money" - and then
my husband got a hernia (he is in construction) and so plans for this venture have come to a halt (along with ongoing renovations still needed on the house... atleast it is mostly done and liveable with a working bathroom and laundrey which we
did NOT have for 2 months after moving in).

So.... now I really wanted my bunnies out of that moldy shed with the ancient wiring ( the Armstrong's fire brought my concerns to a head once again). Things with the homeless person were not working out very well, so we had asked her to leave back
last September 2006 (well we put down some rules after 1 year of living with her which she didn't like so she offered to leave which was fine.). She was physically out end of the year which freed up the shed we had built for her. So after cleaning out the place I've been in process of getting it set up as a rabbitry... it is a work in progress, but all rabbits except moms and litters are now in (mid Feb 2007) and I will continue to fix it up better (paint, trim, walkway to it etc.) It is too small for everything, so we are fixing up the davenport area with the roofing material I had bought for the first planned shed which now houses the mom's and new litters. ( This is now my back up rabbitry - if only I could move it to higher closer ground! To get it you have to go down a slippery hill - and its too far away to put any lighting in - plus hard to haul heavy bags of pellets and cages or
carriers up and down that hill. So we made plans to build something closer to the house.)

In Sept and October my husband and I assembled our "new barn" - will eventually roof it in sheet metal and possibly down
a side or two. Current photos below. : )

Temporary rabbitry - 9 x 10 shed
now a play house for my kids

Here my daughter's are helping paint the inside walls on our "nursery". Its now done
with a new solid 100 yr. old hardwood door on it - still needs to be rewired, but its clean and sheltered from the climate. Big enough for 6 large cages. Both rabbitries have
lots of natural light in them which I love and I'm sure the bunnies appreciate....

The Frame of the eventual rabbitry... 10 x 14 - much nicer size to work with!
Also will be on the upper section of our property closer to the house and water source.

New rabbitry being built Sept '07:
(or "How to build a rabbitry cheap!") - I want the dirt floor so I can use hanging cages more for less work cleaning trays all the time..... eventually we will replace tarp with metal roofing I hope.

Rabbitry is tarped... my husband Vince and I thought of a way to attach them without hopefully getting ripped in
our powerful Metchosin winds - lets hope they hold!
Have to figure out how to close off the front more as we are missing that piece of tarp. : ) We have strengthened the frame with
lumbar on the front and back - the back has many slats across as that is where the prevailing winds come from. We will put a front on it after Vince heals from his hernia surgery. Then hopefully by Jan I'll have a metal roof on there. I've put wood chips all over the floor. Bottom rows are hung on a free standing wood frame. Then I can fit two stacked cages ontop of those frames either side. On the back end are three larger cages I use for mom's with older litters or litters still living together. Currently hold 31 holes - with room for 4
more once the front is on. I also still want to put up christmas lights for lighting as the days are quickly getting shorter and shorter.
Front is on now - looks much tidier - still need to put metal sheeting around the whole thing.... (March 08) - pictured in the snow on Mar 27th (unheard of for Victoria - so had to make an official picture of it....

History:

Rabbit Run (with Radiance in it). I put a sheet of rigid plastic on top to keep away any hunting birds around here. Would love to get another one set up, but they're expensive! I do have two large wire cages with no bottoms I can also use... but not as nice as you have to flip it up and then catch bunny quickly before they figure out freedom is only a dash away!