Building a cheap bunny/guinea-pig shed

I phoned my local timber yard to see if they sold sheds. They didn't, but they sell everything to make a shed. The owner said I could build a much better shed for a lot less money (bearing in mind that any shed you build will probably have to be erected by you anyway). They would make a door for me if I wanted. He quoted me approximately 90p per metre for tongue-and-groove (not sure how much this would work out at yet). I have bought plans for 3 pounds off eBay (on a DVD with plans for a gazillion other garden things as well - including houses by the looks of it!), and will be off to the timber yard at the weekend to price-up.

I added this because I know quite a few people would like a shed for their rabbits, but the cost puts them off.

This shed is for the guinea-pigs as the bunnies already have a shed. I'll let you know how I get on and how much it ends up costing.

If you're going to make it yourself anyway personally I would recommend just making a really big rabbit hutch straight without making it into a shed

I tried converting a bike shed into a rabbit hutch, but I think the amount of time you spend on it is about as much time as it takes to make a good hutch anyway. You have to build a complete frame inside the shed for your floors and shelves and you have to build some sort of inner door for it too.

For my second hutch I just made a normal hutch from scratch and to be honest I'm happier with the outcome! It's easier to use because I designed it so that the doors are on one side and the run is attached to the other side so to clean it I don't have to worry about going into or moving the run.

It's actually pretty simple just to build a hutch from scratch, if you just build a frame out of 45mm x 45mm timber and then screw plywood sheets onto the frame that's 80% of the work done and then you just have to build and hang the doors. The timber yard will even cut your plywood sheets to the right size for a small fee. I got mine cut into several 6ft x 2ft sheets and loads more 4ft x 2ft sheets to make a hutch that is 6ft x 2ft floor space with two levels, so it's about 5ft high.

But you're right that the local timber yard is definately the cheapest way to go, you save so much money over buying sheds, especially when you consider the extra cost of kitting your shed out.

Just my opinion anyway

We started out buying a hutch and run from happy hutch and paid a lot of money for the set, we also bought an extension for the run too, it was good value but the problem was that we wanted to spend time with the buns and as it was getting colder and raining a lot we knew that this was going to become more difficult. We really shopped around and found an 8 x 10 shed on line for £288 with free delivery within 2 days. We spent a day building, a day insulating and then built a second tier in it. The great thing is that we now have all our buns in one place so get to spend lots of time with all of them in the dry and warm. We are also building a 2 tier run to go with it and we got the wood for that from wickes. Please see the thread Yay, the Bungle Palace is finished to see the pics.

I really recommend having a shed rather than a run, its warmer and safer for them. (and you) :wave: