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Benzel

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Joined
Sep 30, 2019
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Location
Louisville, KY
Hi all. We are buying two bonded Holland Lop sisters and I plan on building an outdoor hutch. It will stay under our sun porch, an open area about 5 ft high with good air flow, and hopefully something we can carry into the garage during extreme temperatures. We're keeping the bunnies outside because of allergies and our dog that likes to chase little critters. There will be a small fenced-in area in the yard for supervised play during the day, and we will bring them inside as much as possible also. We will possibly have a smaller indoor cage for when it's necessary.

Advice on the hutch? I've read lots of info on wire flooring. Considering doing a two story hutch with the top being solid wood flooring and the bottom being wire? The lady selling the bunnies recommended having both types of floor but I'm not sure why.

How high should their fence be? These are itty bitty girls so I can't imagine they jump very high.

We have owned numerous pets with much success, but we are bunny rookies. Feel free to give advice, encouragement, and/or tell us we're idiots. Thanks!
 

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Better to build a fench with roof over or build a run with wire over. Birds have a tendency to bully bunnies and other animals can’t get in.

I know my bunnies have no problem jumping over 1,2 m. So they are quite good jumpers. This it’s for my holland lop that often escaped his run. Just going in to get a glass of water and he was gone. Later I put a net over the run and he learned to climb out instead and push the net away

So some bunnies are a real struggle to keep in the run.

In my country wire are only allowed on solid ground while the top floor must have solid floor.

Try to litter train your bunny, so you can easily clean the cage [emoji5]

Myself dosen’t find hutches standing on ground with open bottom are not safe. But if the cage are on soiled ground that nothing can dig in under and chew through the wires then it’s okay.

Off ground hutch are safer [emoji5]
 
Benzel said:
Hi all. We are buying two bonded Holland Lop sisters and I plan on building an outdoor hutch. It will stay under our sun porch, an open area about 5 ft high with good air flow, and hopefully something we can carry into the garage during extreme temperatures. We're keeping the bunnies outside because of allergies and our dog that likes to chase little critters. There will be a small fenced-in area in the yard for supervised play during the day, and we will bring them inside as much as possible also. We will possibly have a smaller indoor cage for when it's necessary.

Advice on the hutch? I've read lots of info on wire flooring. Considering doing a two story hutch with the top being solid wood flooring and the bottom being wire? The lady selling the bunnies recommended having both types of floor but I'm not sure why.

How high should their fence be? These are itty bitty girls so I can't imagine they jump very high.

We have owned numerous pets with much success, but we are bunny rookies. Feel free to give advice, encouragement, and/or tell us we're idiots. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Hi, how old are they? They look pretty and a bit too well-fed I am pretty sure they can't jump but with a proper diet and a little bit of exercise it can change. Well maybe they just look plumpy in this photo or maybe they are still babies? I've adopted a holland lop mix she was 7 months old and was a bit overweight so no jumping but now she can jump no problem, as Hermelin said some of them can jump really high, I have a lionhead he jumps over his pen panel 88cm and he's a small size so he jumps on it and climbs after so gets there using technologies :)

All my rabbits are indoor so I can't advise on outdoor hutch, only I know wire floor makes it easier to clean as their droppings fall through the wire but it's not very healthy for their feet and they can develop sore hocks maybe that's why she said to have both. If you are not commercial grower and don't have hundreds of rabbits to clean after wire is not recommended as far as I know. I use a metal grate in litter boxes for some of my rabbits who are diggers, but others are wire-free
 
There is no need for wire flooring at all. It's rather rough on their feet and uncomfortable.
Anything you use outside that is large enough for the rabbits, will be too large to "carry" into the garage. You'd likely need a separate enclosure for the garage (assuming no cars or lawn mowers are in the garage because of the fumes they create).

Here are some ideas for outdoor housing:

upload_2019-9-30_20-14-38.png
upload_2019-9-30_20-14-54.png

upload_2019-9-30_20-15-17.png
 
Thanks for the advice. I think we can manage a set up like this, just the right half of the one above. Except the run will be on grass instead of pavement. OK to use a wire bottom there to prevent digging? And I will build another hutch just for the garage. (No cars in there and the lawnmower is battery-powered.)
upload_2019-10-1_10-15-5.png
 
Have you seen this product? You mention you have dogs, we have these around our rabbit outdoor yard and they work great! The bunny can't dig out and the pups can't dig in.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Dig-Defence-25-pack-Small-Medium-Animal-Barrier/1000410881 It is a little pricey at first but they are solidly built and have helped even with our tiny Yorkie that fits through most bars and barriers and is an incessant digger. In fact he has stopped trying now when he sees the top of the barrier he knows he can't get past it. He used to be a perimeter digger until we installed them.
 
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