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Do you let your buns free-range outside?

Do you let your buns free-range outside?

  • Yes unsupervised

    Votes: 18 26.5%

  • Yes but only supervised at all times

    Votes: 31 45.6%

  • No they never free-range

    Votes: 19 27.9%
  • Total voters
    68
Mine free range unsupervised.

I have 3 cats, my neighbour has 4 cats and there are TONS of cats around here! :shock:

They have all learnt that they don't mess with a rabbit! :lol:

Dallas (average sized bun) will chase off any cats that get playful but will happily sit with cats that just want to watch him/share the sunshine! :love:
 
I voted for "only supervised". I have an approximately 6ft x 11ft run with hinged doors on top for when I am not watching constantly. If I am able to spend time outside while not doing other things, I may let them run free. Otherwise they are out from 7am 'til 7:30pm in their run with our guinea pig too. Then all in for the night (my guys are indoor guys then).
My cats have never seemed to bother them. They're more afraid of the bunnies than the other way around!
 
i said "supervised" as they can get through the hedge to next door, but i dont always sit out thre with them. I'm usually in the kitchen that overlooks the garden, or i go and check every half hour or so. i always leave the wendyhouse door open so they can go back in, get a drink etc.
 
Only when I'm at home, and always supervised. However by 'supervised' I don't mean standing by their side all the time...I can be in the dining room doing ironing or in the kitchen washing up and be able to see them through the patio door windows. Sometimes I even venture into the living room to watch TV but I can always see them through the open doors. Our garden is only 10m x 10m and secured around the edges by a combination of brick walls, wooden fencing and chicken wire, nothing can get over the walls and the fence/mesh is 4ft tall at the sides and 8ft tall at the back.

Used to have a problem with cats, which both my bunnies are scared of after a bad experience with one last year, but that neighbour and her cats moved out and (touchwood) the cats currently around pose a very minimal risk to the bunnies since they dart inside every time they see or hear a cat.

Every time we move to a new rental place it takes me months to determine my safe level of supervision depending on the security of the garden and what might be lurking just beyond the fences :?
 
Mine free-range only supervised. I'm quite sure that the garden is secure, but I don't trust them! Neither do I trust the neighbourhood cats, foxes or birds.

As all of my bunnies are housebunnies, I only let them out when the weather is good.:)
 
mine don't free range outside because there are escape routes and because next door have a staffordshire bull terrier who is awaiting his opportunity to eat me, never mind the the buns. he was also growling at the toddler in his own household yesterday. he could easily come straight through the fence if he thought there was a meal on offer!
 
happybun said:
mine don't free range outside because there are escape routes and because next door have a staffordshire bull terrier who is awaiting his opportunity to eat me, never mind the the buns. he was also growling at the toddler in his own household yesterday. he could easily come straight through the fence if he thought there was a meal on offer!
Click to expand...

:cry::cry: thats worrying! I wouldnt let my buns out either in those circumstances!
 
No way never, my garden is too big and I am sure has lots of cuby holes they could get stuck in and I would never risk it because of foxes.
 
I'm undecided about what I will do..... I'm currently working on making the garden more secure and as 'cat-proof' as possible (for the wild birds' sake and for me as I'm fed up of digging the garden and finding very unpleasant surprises! :?).

I think I could make it secure but - this may sound selfish - we've spent a *lot* of time, effort and money on getting our garden looking nice. Not to mention sweat and tears lol! I have a feeling the buns' would trash it. It's more likely that I'll fence the top patio bit off for them which is a pretty good sized space in itself for them to free range in. I'll supervise them though.

I'm hoping to build an outdoor set-up for them to spend the day in - a 4x4 playhouse with a 9x6 run attached - to give them more room to bounce around. I'll have a run for them to graze in as I need that for the piggies as there's no way I'd let them free range - they'd disappear! :shock:

If the patio area was made safe the piggies could certainly free range on there though - supervised though.

Not sure this really helps you though! :oops:
 
Yep my garden is bunny proof, only when im home do they free range though, my gardens 90ft long and they come in when i call them :D (for food of course!!)
 
I am saddened that people free range totally unsupervised. I have seen the results of this ending in tragedy too many times. One lady who tried to adopt from us saw a fox climbing up her 6ft fence with one of her free range bunnies in it's mouth. The fox dropped the rabbit - who died from her injuries. The pain and fear it must have suffered.

One of my own rabbits had her sister taken by a fox and ripped apart in front of her - her previous owner couldn't be bothered to protect her so gave her up instead. She won't bond with another bun despite 3 years of trying - possibly due to the trauma - who knows.

Gardens are never predator proofed unless they have a lid on and meshed under. That'd be a lot of roof and a lot of mesh.

6ft or 8ft fences will not stop preditors, in addition to foxes, birds of prey will also take a rabbit.
 
No but I do have a drop pin pen which I can keep adding to so will eventually be the size of the lawn so near enough free range. I never leave them out in it if I am not outside though as we have a lot of cats coming round our garden.
 
Yes -supervised.

The pairs/singles go out in a run during the day while I am at work, & then I alternate free-range time for all the others 4 nights a week & at weekends:D
 
Yes. Homer is allowed to free range, semi supervised.
My house is a*** about face and the living room is at the back of the house so I can see what the little bu**** is up to from my spot on the sofa. And the garden isn't overly large so I can normally hear if he's up to mischief.
 
Birds of prey are not just found in rural areas, urban gardens are just as at risk as those in rural areas from birds of prey. There is a pair of peregrine falcons nesting on a tower block in a very built up area near where I travel each day, something very few people would expect. I also know someone who had a guinea pig taken by a bird or animal from an allegedly secure garden which had 8 foot fences with brick walls surrounding all the boundaries of the garden.

Sadly people also loose pets from indoors from foxes entering houses. there is no way I would leave animals out in the garden in an unprotected area without total supervision.

Being able to see a much loved pet from indoors does not protect it as a preditor will strike within seconds not giving the owner time to get to them :cry:
 
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