yorkshire bunnies
New Kit
Hello all.
I am a new member and have introduced myself in the introductions section. Tonight i will try and open a photobucket account to post pics of my lovely buns.
It has been a very sad few days for us as a weasel or stoat broke into both of our rabbit runs and killed my 7yr old lionhead female called Holly. As you can imagine we are very upset and kicking ourselves that we did'nt make it more secure as regards predators.
The predator had ripped the back of her head and neck out, and dragged her through the hole in the mesh and into a hole under the hutch that the bunnies had dug. It took me a while to find her but i managed to pull her out. Her mate sandy was extremely nervous and having lost a bun in september we knew that we should leave the body in the run for him to realise that she was dead. We did'nt know what had killed her at this point as we thought it was a small terrier that had done it (seen it hanging around). I repaired the run in the dark to what i thought was a satisfactory standard.
The next day my wife was at home and noticed sandy sat very still in the corner of the run in the pouring rain, looking extrememly nervous. She decided to go out and see what was wrong. Upon nearing the run she noticed holly had been moved from where i left her. She said a "thing" about the size of a squirrel ran off and it had a longish tail.
I then knew what we were dealing with but she cant give a good enough description to say if it was a weasel or stoat ( its one or the other).
Pest contorl have laid a trap with a wild rabbits head in it but in 3 days it is still empty. Our 3 remaining buns are now housed in my office/workshop where they have free roam of the floor. I have seperated the room into 2 spaces of 12ft by 5ft. This is only temporary until i have built new runs and hutches at which time we will find a new mate for sandy. I know they are safe where they are now and can sleep at night.The buns also seem to know they are safe too as they dont seem as spooked and nervous.
I have measured everything up and made a list of materials i need. The current runs (2 of) are 5M (17ft) by 2M (7ft) with the hutches on the end. We let them out into larger runs which are'nt covered over by opening the hutch doors.
I plan to use;
16g 13mm sq weld mesh doubled up with 50mm weld mesh which is probably 12g along the bottom of the sides.
I am going to make some larger hutches but i have'nt decided on materials yet.
I have some questions and please give any advice at all.
1) Will 13mm sg weld mesh be small enough to keep weasels, stoats and rats out? Is 16g strong enough? I cant find 13mm in anything stronger.
2) Is it advisable to build hutches out of brick with thick plywood floor and roof (felted)? I like the idea of using brick for the sides with the usual wooden doors at the front. I also already have alot of aluminum sheet, box section and angle that i can use if it is suitable.
3) How deep should i bury the weld mesh on the sides? 1ft or more? How deep will predators dig to get in?
4) Any general weasel / stoat info would be gladly received. Are they likely to come back or return in greater numbers?
5) should the hutches be inside the runs?
I find it easier to come up with solutions for keeping larger predators out but the small size of these damn things has caused much head scratching and wondering what to do for the best.
I want my buns to be as safe as possible and cost is not really a constraint (within reason).
Thanks for your help.
stu, henry, blossom and sandy.
p.s pics of what we have to date are to come .
The next
I am a new member and have introduced myself in the introductions section. Tonight i will try and open a photobucket account to post pics of my lovely buns.
It has been a very sad few days for us as a weasel or stoat broke into both of our rabbit runs and killed my 7yr old lionhead female called Holly. As you can imagine we are very upset and kicking ourselves that we did'nt make it more secure as regards predators.
The predator had ripped the back of her head and neck out, and dragged her through the hole in the mesh and into a hole under the hutch that the bunnies had dug. It took me a while to find her but i managed to pull her out. Her mate sandy was extremely nervous and having lost a bun in september we knew that we should leave the body in the run for him to realise that she was dead. We did'nt know what had killed her at this point as we thought it was a small terrier that had done it (seen it hanging around). I repaired the run in the dark to what i thought was a satisfactory standard.
The next day my wife was at home and noticed sandy sat very still in the corner of the run in the pouring rain, looking extrememly nervous. She decided to go out and see what was wrong. Upon nearing the run she noticed holly had been moved from where i left her. She said a "thing" about the size of a squirrel ran off and it had a longish tail.
I then knew what we were dealing with but she cant give a good enough description to say if it was a weasel or stoat ( its one or the other).
Pest contorl have laid a trap with a wild rabbits head in it but in 3 days it is still empty. Our 3 remaining buns are now housed in my office/workshop where they have free roam of the floor. I have seperated the room into 2 spaces of 12ft by 5ft. This is only temporary until i have built new runs and hutches at which time we will find a new mate for sandy. I know they are safe where they are now and can sleep at night.The buns also seem to know they are safe too as they dont seem as spooked and nervous.
I have measured everything up and made a list of materials i need. The current runs (2 of) are 5M (17ft) by 2M (7ft) with the hutches on the end. We let them out into larger runs which are'nt covered over by opening the hutch doors.
I plan to use;
16g 13mm sq weld mesh doubled up with 50mm weld mesh which is probably 12g along the bottom of the sides.
I am going to make some larger hutches but i have'nt decided on materials yet.
I have some questions and please give any advice at all.
1) Will 13mm sg weld mesh be small enough to keep weasels, stoats and rats out? Is 16g strong enough? I cant find 13mm in anything stronger.
2) Is it advisable to build hutches out of brick with thick plywood floor and roof (felted)? I like the idea of using brick for the sides with the usual wooden doors at the front. I also already have alot of aluminum sheet, box section and angle that i can use if it is suitable.
3) How deep should i bury the weld mesh on the sides? 1ft or more? How deep will predators dig to get in?
4) Any general weasel / stoat info would be gladly received. Are they likely to come back or return in greater numbers?
5) should the hutches be inside the runs?
I find it easier to come up with solutions for keeping larger predators out but the small size of these damn things has caused much head scratching and wondering what to do for the best.
I want my buns to be as safe as possible and cost is not really a constraint (within reason).
Thanks for your help.
stu, henry, blossom and sandy.
p.s pics of what we have to date are to come .
The next
