Central Taiwan. Pan-tropical Growing zone 10A?
“Enough is as good as a feast"
-Mary Poppins
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Matu Collins wrote:I would never keep rabbits up off the ground. I have a movable rabbit pen that we move along the nice grass/clover/polyculture
I've decided to hold of on any more rabbits for now for various reasons. They do seem to express their rabbit nature in my setup but only until they reach maturity.
Central Taiwan. Pan-tropical Growing zone 10A?
dan long wrote:
I was under the impression that rabbits will dig out of a run or a tractor. Is your ability to keep them in a pen a breed specific thing or am I under false impression?
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Abe Connally wrote:
I was under the impression that rabbits will dig out of a run or a tractor. Is your ability to keep them in a pen a breed specific thing or am I under false impression?
“Enough is as good as a feast"
-Mary Poppins
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Ivan Weiss wrote:The incidence of predators is always a factor in these decisions, too. it's no fun at all to have any small livestock in which you have invested time, money, and care wiped out in an instant.
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Abe Connally wrote:
If you bury fence 12-18", they can't dig out. Most tractors have some sort of floor. (we use 2" wire mesh)
Central Taiwan. Pan-tropical Growing zone 10A?
dan long wrote:
Now i'm having fantasies of an army of rabbits keeping the crab grass in the berry patch under control.
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Su Ba wrote:In Hawaii it's illegal to have rabbits on the ground. My own rabbits are in 2'x5' hutches with a 2'x2' shelf they can jump up on for lounging. They get hay cubes 24 hours a day, plus a wide assortment of greens, veggies, fruits, and fruit tree twigs. Once or twice a week they have access to a 3'x10' grazing pen for several hours. This pen is built so that it is 1 1/2"(the width of a standard 2x4) above the ground with a mesh floor that the grass can grow up through. With the wire not touching the soil, it satisfies Hawaii law. It also happens to keep the grass from being killed by close nibbling. Thus the rabbits have constantly growing fresh graze and someplace new to explore once to twice a week.
Are hutches inhumane? I guess it depends upon the hutch, plus whatever amusement and distractions the rabbits have access to. Sort of like our human nursing homes. Are nursing homes inhumane? I would venture to say that some are far worse than my rabbits' hutches. Funny thing, I seldom see any public outcries about two humans crammed in a 12'x12' room, seldom ever leaving that room except for meals, if at that. My father was in a nursing home for 3 months until I could arrange to get back permanently to help care for him at home. He was taken out of his nursing home room only 6 times during that 90 days. No TV for distraction. No being taken to the dining hall for meals. Pretty horrid and I was told that this was standard treatment. No....my rabbits in their hutch system get far more humane treatment.
“Enough is as good as a feast"
-Mary Poppins
List of Bryant RedHawk's Epic Soil Series Threads We love visitors, that's why we live in a secluded cabin deep in the woods. "Buzzard's Roost (Asnikiye Heca) Farm." Promoting permaculture to save our planet.
Jay C. White Cloud wrote:Hi Dan, et al,
This is a quandary, for many animal species keep in captivity for many reasons from permaculture to zoological garden. Having a solid background in both those arenas I can share that my personal observation are we humans spend an exorbitant amount of time debating amongst ourselves about...what our 'kindred wee folk" are "thinking and feeling." This all to often is saturated with anthropomorphic extremes and mindsets that project "human affects" where there are none. We...living beings that is...on this plant have commonalities within shared ethologies/physiologies. I feel that until we (few can or will do this) actually learn to "live like," with or through an animals perspective...will ever achieve much understanding what may, or may not be taking place within their level and/or mode of comprehension.
It could, and has been said...that if a species lives a long, healthy (body and mind) and reproductive life...most (if not all) their needs have been met within an given enclosure systems. I have kept rabbits off the ground in hutches...and on the ground in a more natural warren system...and when presented with a chance for "greater freedom," many opt for the safety and security of there hutch or other enclosure. Could this be an aberrancy of there base line ethology...yes...or, it could just indicate they are more than pleased with the conditions with which they have been given to live...
This is just a common view of many folks that work intimately with animals...others do indeed feel much different...some extremely so. I do believe we can all agree that it is often "over thought" and too many folks "project" personal beliefs and feelings onto those animals around them...many of which are clearly not there...in my opinion.
That's just my take on it...do what makes you and your bunnies happy...![]()
Niele da Kine wrote:I've not figured out a way to free range bunnies and still keep breeding records. We use selective breeding to improve the bunnies as well as to keep down inbreeding. Wouldn't inbreeding be a problem eventually with free range bunnies?
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