Outdoor Housing On A Budget

[Lemonade]

Hi guys, long time no see!

Firstly, please don't judge me on the title!

So, I've had a completely hectic 6 months involving moving house twice (the first time in with Mum-in-law!) with a toddler, dog and three bunnies but I have finally bought and moved in to our very own house! Obviously, this can only mean one thing; I can build the rabbits a permanant massive run!

I'm just looking for ideas and have a question or two who have been there and done it.

I was going to go with a 6x4 shed with attached run but I'm now wondering whether or not this is a good idea as I won't be able to move it around. Am I right in thinking that the grass in the run just won't last if they're out on it most of the day every day?

I've had a look through the outdoor housing thread and noticed that a lot of people lay slabs and have the shed and run on them. What do you guys do for grass? Or do you not worry?

My other thought was a walk in run type thing. I've seen this one http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/281467170588?ru=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_sacat%3D0%26_nkw%3D281467170588%26_rdc%3D1 but not sure whether it would be too flimsy? I've also found the Eglu rabbit runs but no experience of them. Failing those, I quite like the look of the walk in chicken houses like this. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Large-Poultry-Chicken-Coop-Shed-Covered-Run-Walk-in-/261607957643?pt=UK_Pet_Supplies_Poultry&hash=item3ce90ca48b

The long and short of this thread is to work out the best way to do a large walk in run for my bunnies on a budget of around £250. I have a 10 x 10ft area to work with and all the willingness in the world to do the labour bit of digging out the garden and stuff, just no idea where to start really.

Thanks in advance,

Lemonade x

 

[Mischief and Tinker's Mum]

:wave: Hi! My rabbits live in a shed with an attached aviary run and I find aviary runs so much easier as you can get in there much easily and clean up! It was actually really cheap to make because my dad bought mesh and decking boards to make it! Their aviary is on paving slabs. I don't think it matters about them having grass but personally I like to make sure that my rabbits do get some time on the grass so I have a separate 8ft x 5ft run that they occasionally go out on the grass in.

 

[Tamsin]

Wow 10' square will make a nice area! I would go for a shed for shelter and pop that on slabs, maybe go second hand to minimise cost. You can get some in great condition. You could pop the shed in one corner of your square.

For a big space like that, it might work out less expensive to build from scratch. So basically you'd put in fence posts like you would for a fence, but instead of adding fence panels you'd then attach mesh to them. You'd need to add base boards and roof support too.

The aluminium framed one would work as a frame, but I'd want to check the specifics of the mesh they use - it looks like quite thin chicken wire which would need an upgrade. If so you could see if they'd sell just the frame.

If you wanted to move things about more, you could have a permanent shed/run and then go for a tunnel into a lighter/smaller run that was easy to move. If you got one of those bending pipe tunnels you'd be able to move it around a lot.

 

[Zoobec]

Wow 10' square will make a nice area! I would go for a shed for shelter and pop that on slabs, maybe go second hand to minimise cost. You can get some in great condition. You could pop the shed in one corner of your square.

For a big space like that, it might work out less expensive to build from scratch. So basically you'd put in fence posts like you would for a fence, but instead of adding fence panels you'd then attach mesh to them. You'd need to add base boards and roof support too.

The aluminium framed one would work as a frame, but I'd want to check the specifics of the mesh they use - it looks like quite thin chicken wire which would need an upgrade. If so you could see if they'd sell just the frame.

If you wanted to move things about more, you could have a permanent shed/run and then go for a tunnel into a lighter/smaller run that was easy to move. If you got one of those bending pipe tunnels you'd be able to move it around a lot.

That's exactly how we built our 17ftx 10ft run, then put weld mesh on the floor and then I've got playbark as the substrate. I couldn't persuade my OH to pave it and it would have probably worked out expensive. It's too shady for grass to grow well enough so I opted for the playbark. You must use playbark as its not been chemically treated, I got mine from Wickes :thumb:

 

[Lemonade]

Thanks for the ideas

Zoobec, do they go to the toilet outside? Was just wondering how the playbark fares.

 

[Zoobec]

Thanks for the ideas

Zoobec, do they go to the toilet outside? Was just wondering how the playbark fares.

They did at first, probably territorial marking, but they don't now :thumberiodically every few months I scrape the top layer off and replace it if it's starting to degrade.

 

[Lemonade]

They did at first, probably territorial marking, but they don't now :thumberiodically every few months I scrape the top layer off and replace it if it's starting to degrade.

Ah, brilliant, thanks.

Any chance you've got any photos of your setup?