Helpthebuns
New Kit
WARNING: LONG POST, but I really, really need help!
So I started working on a farm/school about a week ago and going in I knew I would be able to help them with their chickens, which I know a lot about. What I DON'T know a lot about it rabbits, but even knowing little I had the feeling their care wasn't the best. Doing a bit of research led me to realize how cruddy their living quarters were. These rabbits are 5 years old and have lived this way their whole lives. There are 3 females and 2 males and none are spayed/neutered. The females all seem to get along well, but the males were fighting when they were together with the females (which you can read more about that debacle in another one of my posts). They were seperated by gender again and the males don't appear to be fighting anymore. What I'm working with right now is 4 raised wire cages (that are rusting out) under a slanted tin roof. I do have limited materials and may be able to aquire new ones if the cost is cheap. I have a lot of scrap boards at the moment so I may be able to build some actual sleeping quarters for them. What I'm thinking would be best is to do away with the cages, since they are too small anyway and build off of the wooden base that the cages are attached to, which is pretty sturdy. The measurements of the base are 6 1/2 ft front poles, 5 1/2 ft back poles, 3 ft width and 9 ft length. Right now the cages they are in are 2 1/2 ft (L) x 2 ft (w) x 1.5 ft (h.) Maybe I can put wire mesh around the whole area, which would extent the size a bit, and separate the males and females into 2 4.5 x 3 cages and build a back add-on with wood for sleeping quarters. I know this is still not enough room for them, but it would be an improvement. I thought about having the hutches be on top with a ladder and wire on the bottom, but I don't think they will be high enough off the ground then. Another thing is they still have no exercise area, and I could maybe rig up a run but I run into the issue that the main reason these rabbits are kept here is to collect compost. If they are running around happily eating grass in a run, they won't be pooping where it's easy to collect. So I'm basically trying to theorize a way I could make these rabbits have even a minimally humane dwelling at as low cost as possible (I might be able to get a budget out of the admin when we talk again later) and a system where it's easy to collect the waste. It needs to be pretty easy to manage and idiot-proof because there are new students coming in every month that get put in charge of these animals.
Here is the base I'm working with. If you are wondering why they are all smushed into opposite sides it's because I have no idea how they should be separated at the moment but as there are 4 cages and 5 rabbits and I also only have 2 waterers. I don't know if there should be a female directly next to the males or not. In short, I have no idea what I'm doing please help ;_;
https://ibb.co/G5XNfS8
https://ibb.co/d2xmz5M
So I started working on a farm/school about a week ago and going in I knew I would be able to help them with their chickens, which I know a lot about. What I DON'T know a lot about it rabbits, but even knowing little I had the feeling their care wasn't the best. Doing a bit of research led me to realize how cruddy their living quarters were. These rabbits are 5 years old and have lived this way their whole lives. There are 3 females and 2 males and none are spayed/neutered. The females all seem to get along well, but the males were fighting when they were together with the females (which you can read more about that debacle in another one of my posts). They were seperated by gender again and the males don't appear to be fighting anymore. What I'm working with right now is 4 raised wire cages (that are rusting out) under a slanted tin roof. I do have limited materials and may be able to aquire new ones if the cost is cheap. I have a lot of scrap boards at the moment so I may be able to build some actual sleeping quarters for them. What I'm thinking would be best is to do away with the cages, since they are too small anyway and build off of the wooden base that the cages are attached to, which is pretty sturdy. The measurements of the base are 6 1/2 ft front poles, 5 1/2 ft back poles, 3 ft width and 9 ft length. Right now the cages they are in are 2 1/2 ft (L) x 2 ft (w) x 1.5 ft (h.) Maybe I can put wire mesh around the whole area, which would extent the size a bit, and separate the males and females into 2 4.5 x 3 cages and build a back add-on with wood for sleeping quarters. I know this is still not enough room for them, but it would be an improvement. I thought about having the hutches be on top with a ladder and wire on the bottom, but I don't think they will be high enough off the ground then. Another thing is they still have no exercise area, and I could maybe rig up a run but I run into the issue that the main reason these rabbits are kept here is to collect compost. If they are running around happily eating grass in a run, they won't be pooping where it's easy to collect. So I'm basically trying to theorize a way I could make these rabbits have even a minimally humane dwelling at as low cost as possible (I might be able to get a budget out of the admin when we talk again later) and a system where it's easy to collect the waste. It needs to be pretty easy to manage and idiot-proof because there are new students coming in every month that get put in charge of these animals.
Here is the base I'm working with. If you are wondering why they are all smushed into opposite sides it's because I have no idea how they should be separated at the moment but as there are 4 cages and 5 rabbits and I also only have 2 waterers. I don't know if there should be a female directly next to the males or not. In short, I have no idea what I'm doing please help ;_;
https://ibb.co/G5XNfS8
https://ibb.co/d2xmz5M
