Hi, I posted this idea a while ago in another
thread, but didn't get any responses. Well, the idea has matured and I think it deserves its own thread. I also posted it over on the rabbittalk forum with the same title:
I am trying to incorporate the following different strains of thought into my proposed rabbitry and am interested in any feedback:
1) I have been reading about various traditional/alternative rabbitry designs that utilize burrows and surface ground pens or wire hutches (sources mostly available on the FAO website, see their Raising
Rabbits pdf, and various articles published by the research station in Viterbo, Italy and also some studies from North Vietnam).
2) Another idea that I find appealing is coupling the rabbitry with a passive
solar greenhouse, as popularized in
solar greenhouse books of the 60s-70s. In particular,
Mike Oehler's book The Earth-Sheltered Solar Greenhouse provides some enthusiastic support for this idea, albeit still theoretical, and the dated and hard to find books of James Dekorne (haven't actually read them, but he apparently does this with some success).
3) Getting off pelleted
feed, using Salatin-style mobile grow-out pens and keeping rabbits together in small, controlled-breeding "colonies", all of which is recently discussed in the Urban Rabbit
Project e-books.
The first key to the design of an integrated greenhouse is the earth-sheltered part and keeping the rabbits below grade for a stabilized year-round burrow temperature. The second key, in my opinion and something that Oehler does not discuss, is allowing outside access for better sunlight and ventilation. Outdoor access is incorporated in the FAO research papers, but I think a lot of their lackluster performance is due to poor diet (rather than hygiene) and the cramped nature of the wire hutch/burrows used. For this reason, I want to use feeds that are only minimally processed and sourced from my own
land (willow and other tree cuttings, grass,
hay, kitchen and garden waste, etc),as outlined in the Urban Rabbit Project books, and give the rabbits greater outdoor access than a small wire cage. The last consideration is sociality, which I think is important for overall health and quality of life. I do not like the full "colony" approach that allows for the self-creation of burrows and warren structure with breeding bucks included, but also regard the isolation approach to be less than ideal, as rabbits are a social animal and their isolation causes boredom, excessive gnawing and scratching and other neurotic behaviors. Instead of these two options, a good compromise seems to be to keep small groups of breeding does, bred in a controlled way to produce litters at the same time. This allows for some minimum of social behavior, if not a full "colony". At time of weening, the litters will be moved to mobile grow-out pens until they make slaughter weight.
Here are some details of my burrow design idea: 2-4 does will be kept in 2 ft deep, 32 sg ft burrows (4' x 8') underneath the walkway of my earth-sheltered solar greenhouse. Temperature will be passively maintained at 55-65 deg F, year-round. There will be a total of 4-5 burrows and each will connect with two pipe tunnels to fenced-in outdoor runs for an additional 32 sq ft, per group. Each burrow will have two pipes to improve access and reduce "bullying". The pipes will be designed to create a passive venting of outside air into the burrow and up into the greenhouse, pulling in fresh air and supplying
CO2 into the greenhouse.
The breeder pens will be connected to the burrows by pipe tunnels and will therefore not be mobile. They will be sheltered from direct sunlight and rain and will have a partition to limit overgrazing and allow for times of grass recovery.
I have found a lot of discrepancies between the conventional rabbit books (Storey Press, for example) versus what the scientific research shows about the optimum breeding/living conditions for rabbits (see the FAO documents) and think that the case for both pellet feed and wire hutches to be overly exaggerated.
I plan to gradually increase the colony population with sibling pairs from the same filial lines.. I think it will reduce the likelihood of fighting and fertility issues often associated with keeping multiple does together.
I came across another e-book on "Rabbits in Colonies" that recommended the minimum of a 6" pipe for tunnels. I was initially worried about the rabbits soiling the pipe over time and it being hard to clean, but since they typically only
poop while eating, I hope this won't become a problem. I am planning on getting Champagne d'Argent and New Zealand Reds for breeding stock and trying out both and possibly hybrids. I will install 10" plastic culvert pipes. Do you think that corrugated pipe would be problematic in some way?
The breeder pens will have a nice buried perimeter
fence that goes all the way up to the shed roof, impermeable to rodents and other predators. I am thinking that the burrow tunnels will open into a small, gravel-bottomed, hay-mulched section that leads up onto a wire feeding platform (with poop catch pan below). When the grass is grown out
enough, I will allow access into the small pasture run. In the winter it will remain closed off and they will be fed green fodder from my hydroponic NFT
fodder system. Winter frost
should kill most parasite eggs.
Regarding burrow access, the burrows are under the greenhouse walkway, covered by 4x8 sheets of plywood. Easy as flipping up a board to check on nests, etc.
What do y'all think is the longest length of pipe tunnel that the rabbits will enjoy using for daily outdoor access? Is 10ft too long? 15ft? The longer the pipe, the warmer the air will become (earth heat exchange) and the better the air will flow through it into the greenhouse (chimney effect).
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