I've checked with the
city zoning officer and I'm pleasantly surprised. In my town I'm allowed to raise up to three
chickens and they must be all hens, no roosters. I'm allowed to raise
rabbits too, up to around two dozen.
Tanfastic!
I'm looking at fencing off roughly 50' x 50' of my lower back
yard. I've got 2" x 4" wire
fence now for our dogs. I'm going to bolster that with 1" x 1" x 4' hardware cloth, not
chicken wire. It'll have 1' bent at a 90° and laid on the sod. That'll keep them from digging out. I'm planning on a
hay bale bunker hutch. That's four or five square bales on the ground with four on top under a lean-to roof. That'll give them access to hay and they can burrow in to make nests and excellent winter
shelter. I'll wire up a small corral for feeding and then for cornering them for harvesting. It's been about 60 years since I raised rabbits so I need to relearn details that I've forgotten over the years.
Along one side I've got a small Elderberry and Highbush Cranberry thicket with ferns. I drop the prunings for a small brush pile where the buns can also hide and nest. I'm going to put Sunchokes in a 10'-12' x 40' patch on another side, the sunny side. What they don't eat off will give them shade and cover there, plus I can trim the tops for fodder for them through the summer. There'll be tubers I can turn up for them off and on through the winter and spring. That leaves the last side in the shade of a neighbor's huge Maple tree. That side is shaded from just after noon on through evening. That's the area I'm concerned about.
For predators we have a rare feral cat as the city does a great job of trapping small roving animals. I'm not too worried about them. On rare occasion we do see small Hawks and of
course we have Crows and I know Crows aren't bashful about going after tiny rabbits if they get a hankering. That area under the Maple is about 25' x 50', half of the fenced in area. I'm looking for a hefty 2'+ shrubby shade loving ground cover that the buns can get good cover in from possible aerial bombardment. It has to be easily controlled as I don't want to have it attack my neighbor's yards. I'll keep a 3' - 4' border mowed along the
fence line to keep it contained like I'm going to do with the Sunchokes on the other side. If it's edible by the rabbits that would be a plus, but then it would have to be hardy
enough to take grazing.
I'm in zone 5. We don't often get drought, though somewhat dry summers aren't uncommon.
My urban lawn has been naturalized over the years. No lawn 'treatment' at all.
Dandelions, Sorrels, Plantains, Violets, White Clover, etc.
What ideas for a good cover do you all have?
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