Hutch / Run / Sizes / Shapes

[bobbedazzler]

Hiya, I wonder if someone could help.

I've read that rabbit hutches have to be a minimum of 36ft ..... surely this is cubic feet?? (ie/ including height, as in 6ft x 3ft x 2ft). Otherwise, if that's just floor space, hutches everywhere are gonna have to be mahooosive!!

I'm designing it so that the hutch sits in a corner of the garden (so I can see it from the kitchen and dining room) and think I might have to scale it down ever so slightly as if I used my initial design I wouldn't even be able to reach the back of the hutch to clean it out or see to the buns (84 cubic feet)!

Does the shape of the hutch matter as long as it has the required cubic feet and obviously enough space for the two bunnies to lie next to each other stretched out in the 'bedroom'? (Thinking L shaped or even triangle shaped here).

Does anyone have an odd shaped hutch that they've made themselves?? I'm hoping to incorporate some storage into it somewhere along the line and a run underneath (poss about 10ft by 6ft and partly covered).

Is that big enough for a run for 2 lops?

Thanks

 

[weeble]

36ft long would be fab!

The MINIMUM requirements for 2 buns is a 6x2x2 hutch with a 6x4x2 run attached. The idea is they should be able to do 3 hops in the hutch and be able to lie down stretched out comfortably. The 2ft height is important to allow them to stand on their back legs and periscope.

There are some good pics in the housing thread to give you some ideas for your buns - sheds and wendyhouses are good options and good value for money if you have the space

 

[bobbedazzler]

Thanks, managed to scale it down to 60-ish cubic feet with a 10ft x 6ft x 3ft run attached (partly covered) and storage ....... that should do it!

Now we just have to build the bloomin thing! lol

 

[weeble]

That sounds great

 

[Bungle bunny]

Wow, sounds great, show us when its done wont you? :wave:

 

[Amy104]

Its 36 square feet. The min requirement is a 6x2 hutch (12 square feet) with a 6x4 run (24 square feet) attached. Ideally you want these at least 2ft tall.

 

[Bitzy]

This confused me too - but then it doesn't take much!

 

[bobbedazzler]

Aaaaah right, I'm with you now, that's for the whole lot - hutch and run! I thought it was just for the hutch which was confusing me (and 6ft long x 3ft high x 2ft deep is 36 cubic feet so that wasn't helping to un-confuse me either! lol).

Ours is going to be a corner hutch so will be an 'L' shape with one half of the L being 6ft by 2ft (and 3ft high) for the 'bedroom' and the other half of the L again being 6ft by 2ft (and 3ft high) for the 'day room' so it'll actually be double the required minimum. The run will be 6ft wide by 10ft long and 3ft high and will be partly covered by the hutch.

There'll be ramps down into the run so that they can come and go as they please.

Plus I'm going to bunny-proof the garden so when I'm out there, they can have the run of that too.

So they should have more than enough space I reckon.