Rabbit Housing
Types of housing
There is no correct method for housing angora rabbits. Different methods are used and preferred in different places in the world. Wire hutches are most commonly used in the United States. Those who show rabbits prefer wire cages with pans below to catch the droppings. The pans are easy to clean. Wood hutches are used by many people, but wire cages or a combination of wood and wire are chosen by others. They may be constructed with a solid floor or so the rabbit droppings fall through a wire floor to the ground or into a drop pan that is emptied. Hutches wih a solid floor require bedding of straw or hay to cover the floor so the urine and excretment go into the bedding and which absorbs much of the water and protects the rabbit from sitting directly in the manure.
Any method of housing will work, as long as the gardener gets the waste product for the garden.
Wire Cages with Drop Pans
Wire hutches are most commonly used in the United States. For some reason solid wood cages are not looked upon as being as good. The rabbit show crowd prefer wire cages with pans below to catch the droppings. They need the wire cages with pans when they go to shows. Wood cages also need straw bedding that can get in the fur when they need absolutly clean fur for showing.
When we first began raising angora rabbits, we went with the recommendations of a wire cage with heavier gauge wire for the floor and a metal pan below.
- 1/2-inch (1.3 cm) square bottom wire
- sides made of 1x2-inch mesh (2.5x5 cm)
- a pan below to catch the droppings
Dimensions of our cages are 24x30 inches x 14 inches high (61x30x35.5 cm). This is somewhat larger than cages of some other breeds, but it gives the angoras room to move around and climb up on their nest boxes, as well as have room for their long hair to fluff out.
Metal pans catch the droppings and make it easy to recycle the manure. The excrement falls through the wire and into the pan below. The pan slides out and its a simple matter to carry it to the garden or compost pile.
Using pans below each cage makes it easy to remove the weekly droppings. Our pans are about 1 1/2-inch deep. About 1/2-inch of wood shavings or sawdust or commercial absorbant pellets is spread over the papers.
With the paper lining, the pans are easily emptied with little mess. The newspaper, wood shavings and droppings all decompose in the compost or garden.
In a system with no built in pan system, the droppings drop through the wire bottom of the cage onto the ground or into atch pan and can be shoveled up into a wheel barrow or cart and taken to the compost or garden.
There is one flaw with the wire floor method. Angoras shed their coats at least 3-4 times a year and when they begin to shed, the hair is licked during grooming and the droppings sometimes contain the long hair and that gets stuck hanging to the wire. Other times the hair just sheds and gets caught on the wire. There can be a bit of a mess to clean up with the fur and poop caught in the wire.
Wood Floors
When a wood floor is used, bedding of straw or hay is added. When the bedding becomes wet and spoiled in a day or so it is turned, new straw added and/or removed with any waste.
This method can also be used in combination with wire cages. The hair gets caught in the bedding and both the used bedding and waste in the pans are removed. The bedding mixed with the waste increases its additive value for the compost and garden. Its easier to clean cages with no hair sticking to the wires.
Indoors or Out?
Many people keep their rabbits in the house. When this is not possible a shelter outdoor that protects from the direct heat, cold and winds is necessary.
When kept indoors the rabbits do not suffer during the extreme heat of the summer or freezing temperatures of winter.
Because of the long hair, angoras can take quite a bit of cold, but hot weather is a problem for them.
We have a wood frame with plywood siding around the cages to shelter them somewhat from the elements.
Keep it Clean
All waste must be removed as often as possible. Rabbits are naturally clean and it is not pleasant for them to live in a nasty environment. When they have to sit in their waste they can get nasty sores on their feet and genital area.
A major negative to wire cages is that the wire hurts the rabbits feet. Feet are not meant to walk on wire and sometimes rabbits develop sores and/or calluses on their feet.
A sitting board or rag is recommended to permit the rabbit to sit somewhere beside on the wire. This will let the rabbits get their feet off the irritating wire and keep them happier. The board can be wood or cardboard. There are plastic sitting boards made with spaces for the waste to fall through.
Care must be taken to keep sitting boards clean because some bunnies will go to the toilet on the boards, so make sure they are kept clean.
When straw bedding is added they have a softer place to sit or lie down. It must be kept clean and removed when it is soiled or the rabbit will only have its excrement to lie in, which is unpleasant and harmful because it can cause open sores on their feet. Staw bedding is easy to scoop out and clean.
Breathing the fumes of ammonia in their excretment, especially in hot weather, can cause respiratory problems. Bedding helps but there is a nice inexpensive powdered deoderizer product that can be added to bedding on a solid bottom or wire hutch hutch to reduce odors called Sweet PDS. It does not make it less necessary to clean cages, but does lessen any smell that could hurt sensitive bunny noses.
Bunny Waste as a Compost Ingredient
During the summer when the garden is filled with vegetables and flowers the only place there is room to empty the pans of rabbit waste is in the compost.
The best compost is made with a balance of about 50% green stuff (weeds, prunings, grass clippings, etc.) and 50% brown stuff (pet wastes, soil) so the rabbit waste is a welcome ingredient.
In the Vegetable Garden
During the winter each section of the vegetable garden is top-dressed with the cleanings of the week. By spring, it has decomposed somewhat and is easy to turn under into the soil before planting.
The pit method is another good way to incorporate the rabbit droppings in the winter and if there is room, in the summer. In autumn, dig a pit about 20 inches by at least 3 feet and at least 18 inches deep. Each week empty the waste in the hole. When the soil warms enough in the spring, cover with the about four inches of soil. Plant on top. By the time the roots reach the bedding it will have decomposed enough to be giving off nutrients.
