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wanting to redesign garden with rabbits in mind . any advice welcome .

julie s

Young Bun
hi , we have recently homed two rabbits and have quickly learnt the garden now belongs to them , not us anymore !! they have a double hutch with a permanent run attached , i have been letting them have free run of the garden for an about an hour a day , they absolutely love it . one side of the garden is slabbed , but the other side is , sorry was lawned which is the area we are looking to do something different with , we are discussing decking with shingled areas , my question is , is shingle ok and safe for rabbits ? are they any potenial problems i haven't thought of ? we will be leaving a small area of grass for them to still be able to enjoy digging ! also i would like to grow some pots of flowers , what would the rabbits enjoy ? i have already have some basil seeds to plant . i had some daffs and crocuses which were quickly removed !

also what is the ideal way to weather proof the hutch and run ? i am bodging with a very large rug and tarpaulin at the moment , but would like something a bit tidier and permanent , i have looked at hutch huggers , are they any good ? many thanks . julie , digger and knuckles .
 
Buns love free ranging in the garden and you are d the right thing making sure the plants etc are safe.
Do supervise them constantly while free ranging to keep them safe from predictors.

What size is your hutch and run? Is the run on slabs/concrete or grass?

Sited well the hutch should be weatherproof with perhaps the addition of a sheet of plastic to cover over the wired area in wet weather - I always cover mine up at night with a PVC backed picnic rug and the sheet plastic so they can't see nothing scary that would upset them.

My chicken coop style hutch has an extension, with a raised marine ply base so it is off the patio and has a sloping corolux roof that my husband made. This can be lifted off for cleaning etc.

You could have a large underwired run on the grass for the buns perhaps accessed via a 'runaround tube' from their hutch and run allowing them grass time with out the grass being wrecked. Providing digging boxes will allow them to have their digging fun.

I would have a look in housing for ideas.

Likewise for bunny save plants use the search facility or take a look at our foraging 2011 thread for ideas.
 
This is the best place for rabbit safe (and tasty plants).
http://www.rabbitnutrition.co.uk/
I don't see why decking wold be a problem unless they decided it was really tasty or wanted to dig under it. But if you're supervising the free range time you should be fine.
 
hi , thank you both for your replies - i have a couple of plastic backed picnic rugs in the cupboard , great idea thank you . we have a small decked area anyway that my other half has already blocked up underneath . thankfully he is very handy with diy . he made the run as well :love:
the hutch is double and the run is 6' x 4' . the run is on a slabbed area , digger is such a digger i don't think i would dare have it on grass ! the hutch is sited in the most sheltered and shaded area of the garden , luckily the whole garden is quite sheltered . i can already see that i will need / want to extend their area . they are constantly supervised free ranging , if i am not outside i am in the kitchen where i can see the whole garden from the window . i did have a big planter in the garden that my son grew some grass in last year which i put in their run for them , but once all the grass was dug and eaten by them they have lost interest in digging just the soil :( thank you for the link for plants i can grow , very handy for future reference .
 
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