• Forum/Server Upgrade If you are reading this you have made it to the upgraded forum. Posts made on the old forum after 26th October 2023 have not been transfered. Everything else should be here. If you find any issues please let us know.

Need help in regards to hutches!!

There was another thread where someone had a run with a run on top, it was really nifty. Will see if I can find it :)
 
Lady Logamorph said:
I had a ryedale 6ft hutch but eventually the roof caved in although it did last a good two years so it just goes to show unless you protect hutches with a cover the majority of them will get wear and tear if in bad weather. My rabbits don't chew wood so the bluebell hutch is fine for me and the cover is insulated and fits really well and keeps them really dry and snug. I keep the cover on all the time because they have permanent access to the run they can go out if they want to. If your rabbits are chewers then I wouldn't recommend any of the hutches made from fir as the wood is softer which the bluebell hutch is. I have a pic of my hutch/run whilst I was making it but the roof is fully meshed now. I have painted the hutch in culprinol and the base of the hutch to stop wee soaking in. I've also added my own latches and not used the slide out tray as I find it makes less space in the top of the hutch.
Click to expand...

It is really strange for a Ryedale hutch to only last 2 years. They are luxury hutches normally built to last 10 years plus. The roof is solid 10mm plus plywood covered in quality roof felting. But you have to take care of the wood each year if you want them to last properly. My Ryedale hutch is 3 years and shows no signs of wear and tear yet.

Yet my 2 Pets At Home hutches (of which the roof is made from some sort of compress wooden pulp) only last 1 winter even though they were covered in tarpaulin and painted in cuprinol. The roof just disintegrated from the inside. I would never buy another hutch from Pets At Home.
 
I have a 6 foot double welfare hutch and it is amazing! Very expensive though.

I have a garden very similar to yours, it's long and narrow so unfortunately my bunnies can't have an attached run, or else I wouldn't be able to get onto my patio. I had my garden landscaped last year and we had our patio completely bunny proofed, it's fenced and walled in (I have a tiered garden so this is easy to do) and I just give them supervised free range time instead. We have fixed on the next street so I wouldn't let mine have unsupervised access to a run unless I could bolt it to the grounded which unfortunately I can't with my garden. Not ideal but they seem happy. I'm looking to move house soon and one requirement is a large bunny proof garden!

Could you maybe fence in a small area which includes the path and allow the rabbits supervised play time in there? Picket fencing is quite good for this (if your bunnies can't jump, mine haven't jumped over mine but they would be in for a shock if they did as there is a 3 foot drop on the other side!!), you could have a small run for permanent access and the larger area for supervised time.
 
Last edited:
Snowflake-George said:
It is really strange for a Ryedale hutch to only last 2 years. They are luxury hutches normally built to last 10 years plus. The roof is solid 10mm plus plywood covered in quality roof felting. But you have to take care of the wood each year if you want them to last properly. My Ryedale hutch is 3 years and shows no signs of wear and tear yet.

Yet my 2 Pets At Home hutches (of which the roof is made from some sort of compress wooden pulp) only last 1 winter even though they were covered in tarpaulin and painted in cuprinol. The roof just disintegrated from the inside. I would never buy another hutch from Pets At Home.
Click to expand...

I agree with this. I have always heard good reports of the Ryedale hutches.In fact, I think if I had only had one for two years, and had used the appropriate weatherproofing treatment, I would complain.
 
beki said:
I have a 6 foot double welfare hutch and it is amazing! Very expensive though.

I have a garden very similar to yours, it's long and narrow so unfortunately my bunnies can't have an attached run, or else I wouldn't be able to get onto my patio. I had my garden landscaped last year and we had our patio completely bunny proofed, it's fenced and walled in (I have a tiered garden so this is easy to do) and I just give them supervised free range time instead. We have fixed on the next street so I wouldn't let mine have unsupervised access to a run unless I could bolt it to the grounded which unfortunately I can't with my garden. Not ideal but they seem happy. I'm looking to move house soon and one requirement is a large bunny proof garden!

Could you maybe fence in a small area which includes the path and allow the rabbits supervised play time in there? Picket fencing is quite good for this (if your bunnies can't jump, mine haven't jumped over mine but they would be in for a shock if they did as there is a 3 foot drop on the other side!!), you could have a small run for permanent access and the larger area for supervised time.
Click to expand...

Our garden still would be too small for that. If we didn't have the 8ft trampoline in the corner opposite the shed .. that would be doable. I did think once the kids out grow the trampoline then the hutch could go there with a run down to the shed .. although that wouldn't be until a fair few years!!!
 
Snowflake-George said:
It is really strange for a Ryedale hutch to only last 2 years. They are luxury hutches normally built to last 10 years plus. The roof is solid 10mm plus plywood covered in quality roof felting. But you have to take care of the wood each year if you want them to last properly. My Ryedale hutch is 3 years and shows no signs of wear and tear yet.

Yet my 2 Pets At Home hutches (of which the roof is made from some sort of compress wooden pulp) only last 1 winter even though they were covered in tarpaulin and painted in cuprinol. The roof just disintegrated from the inside. I would never buy another hutch from Pets At Home.
Click to expand...

It started to get really mouldy on the roof so when I took the roof off I noticed there had been a tear in the felt so i think water had been seeping in for a while which made the roof sag but the rest of the hutch was fine. In hindsight I wish I had got a hutch cover for it now so it would have lasted longer and no water could have seeped in. My cats used the roof of the hutch to jump down off the wall so whether one of them had torn it from doing this I don't know. I've only had my PAH hutch for about 6 months but had the cover on all the time so there has been no signs of damp as yet. Wood will eventually rot if water gets in so I just think protecting any hutch with a cover is worth it to make it last.
 
Last edited:
We have our hutch covered and it has been for a while. I haven't rolled the front down yet though .. not sure if it really needs that at the minute??? I have looked at the Ryedale ones and they are nice .. but way to pricey for us. I think we will have the pets at home hutch ... have read reviews and theres more good then bad. And then attach the run off the side ..... or wondered about keeping the one we have and then doing the run off of that ??? Although I would rather the first idea as under the house bit there is no door on our hutch so a bit fiddly to get to that corner to clean!!!
 
Helenmarie85 said:
We have our hutch covered and it has been for a while. I haven't rolled the front down yet though .. not sure if it really needs that at the minute??? I have looked at the Ryedale ones and they are nice .. but way to pricey for us. I think we will have the pets at home hutch ... have read reviews and theres more good then bad. And then attach the run off the side ..... or wondered about keeping the one we have and then doing the run off of that ??? Although I would rather the first idea as under the house bit there is no door on our hutch so a bit fiddly to get to that corner to clean!!!
Click to expand...

Painting it with Cuprinol will help protect it and you can attach corner protectors to exposed wood where needed in case of little chewers. I used the metal corner strips used for plastering straight corners, cut to size and screwed into place (making sure no sharp bits) worked a treat :)

I love the runaround or welfare tunnels too. My plan still is to add to the setup over time and create a circuit around the garden eventually. Behind the shed, around the fence edge etc lol :)
 
louise200 said:
Painting it with Cuprinol will help protect it and you can attach corner protectors to exposed wood where needed in case of little chewers. I used the metal corner strips used for plastering straight corners, cut to size and screwed into place (making sure no sharp bits) worked a treat :)

I love the runaround or welfare tunnels too. My plan still is to add to the setup over time and create a circuit around the garden eventually. Behind the shed, around the fence edge etc lol :)
Click to expand...

I love that idea .... wish we had the space for it though. I like the metal corner idea as well!!!
 
louise200 said:
Painting it with Cuprinol will help protect it and you can attach corner protectors to exposed wood where needed in case of little chewers. I used the metal corner strips used for plastering straight corners, cut to size and screwed into place (making sure no sharp bits) worked a treat :)

I love the runaround or welfare tunnels too. My plan still is to add to the setup over time and create a circuit around the garden eventually. Behind the shed, around the fence edge etc lol :)
Click to expand...

What a great idea to protect corners using the plastering edging I have never thought of that!
 
No updates as yet. We can't afford to do anything this side of christmas .. we have my daughters birthday Sunday, then Christmas and then my sons birthday in January so it won't be feb/march til we can afford it. I am still searching for ideas though :)
 
There is a website called Feel Good UK which I brought my 6ftx4ftx4ft hutch from and the quality of the food is really good and it looks so cute once put up. However, I have also attached a run to it as even though it is of good size for a huge, they still need more room to exercise and play in. I have also recently brought a new enclosure for my bunnies from there which is 10ftx10ftx6ft which the hutch will fit inside of. (I am super excited may I just add) Their prices are also very fair for the quality of material- my hutch only cost £80. I hope that helps [emoji4]

Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk
 
WillowAndBiscuit said:
There is a website called Feel Good UK which I brought my 6ftx4ftx4ft hutch from and the quality of the food is really good and it looks so cute once put up. However, I have also attached a run to it as even though it is of good size for a huge, they still need more room to exercise and play in. I have also recently brought a new enclosure for my bunnies from there which is 10ftx10ftx6ft which the hutch will fit inside of. (I am super excited may I just add) Their prices are also very fair for the quality of material- my hutch only cost £80. I hope that helps [emoji4]

Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Ooo thank you .. I will have a look!!
 
WillowAndBiscuit said:
There is a website called Feel Good UK which I brought my 6ftx4ftx4ft hutch from and the quality of the food is really good and it looks so cute once put up. However, I have also attached a run to it as even though it is of good size for a huge, they still need more room to exercise and play in. I have also recently brought a new enclosure for my bunnies from there which is 10ftx10ftx6ft which the hutch will fit inside of. (I am super excited may I just add) Their prices are also very fair for the quality of material- my hutch only cost £80. I hope that helps [emoji4]

Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I have found this http://www.feelgooduk.net/pet-products/cube-chicken-coop-and-run.html and then this add on run http://www.feelgooduk.net/pet-products/extension-runs/ch14-extension-chicken-run.html .. I love this!!! But not sure it would fit anywhere in our garden lol. Is this similer or the same as what you have ??
 
The first link is similar to mine but I then attached a metal run from ebay to my hutch using a 12ft pipe, I was thinking of getting this set up originally though and if the quality of the wood is as good as my hutch then I'd certainly recommend it though:)

Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk
 
WillowAndBiscuit said:
The first link is similar to mine but I then attached a metal run from ebay to my hutch using a 12ft pipe, I was thinking of getting this set up originally though and if the quality of the wood is as good as my hutch then I'd certainly recommend it though:)

Sent from my C5303 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Can you please link to what you have??
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

H
Move old rabbit from outside shed to live inside
Replies
11
Views
2K
Preitler
Preitler
R
Outdoor hutch house 2 rabbits
Replies
19
Views
4K
raimon
R
S
Hutches *update* change of circumstances
Replies
2
Views
11K
Sarah298
S
Back
Top