Care and Management of Rabbits/Chapter 8
VIII
HOW TO BUILD THE HUTCHES
Plan No. I
Contains nine hutches. Plan may be adapted to any open shed or barn.
Plan No. II.
Four hutches, two facing front and back.
HOW TO BUILD THE HUTCHES
A thorough knowledge of carpentry is not needed in order to build presentable hutches. The main point to keep in mind is to make them substantial and practical in every respect. If they are made of good material and neatly done, they will not be a discredit to your yard, even though you are not enough of a carpenter to put the little finishing touches to them that a skilful carpenter could.
Any boy who can handle a saw and a hammer can make the hutches which are illustrated herewith. There is nothing more to it than merely sawing the boards the required length and then nailing them together according to the plans given.
If you are skilful with the pencil and want to design your own hutches, there is nothing to prevent your doing so. There are, however, the facts mentioned in the preceding chapter which must be kept in mind, if you are to get a good hutch. Further than that, the size of space required for rabbits should be kept in mind so as not to make them too small.
A nursing doe should have nine or ten square feet of floor space for herself and litter. You will find that a mature buck requires the same space because he is generally more active than the young does. So it is a good plan to build all hutches the same size and have them uniform in appearance while about it.
Younger stock will not require as much space, and they will not need more space until the sexes need separating. As a rule a litter can be kept in the hutch in which they were born until they are anyway four months of age. The young bucks will not reach fighting age until five months of age and some breeds even later than that. So there is no need of making smaller hutches than the standard size required for the mature animals, as it is only a waste of material and time.
Where one is pressed for time, an hour or two evenings can be spent on the work in the home basement. The hutches can all be built in sections and nailed or screwed together in the place they are to occupy in a few minutes' time.
Do not build a large number of hutches until you determine just how many rabbits you want to raise and feed. It is better to commence in a small way and gradually expand until you have reached the point desired. Rabbits, you know, are entirely different from chickens. You can have five generations in one year, so it is easily possible to "make haste slowly" and still get on famously in less than a year.
Plan No. 1 shows the largest rabbitry which would be practical in the average city backyard. It is 6 by 12 feet in size and was built on the open shed style. This rabbitry has three tiers of hutches, each 2-1/2 feet wide by 4 feet long. A nest box was built in each hutch just one foot wide, so that left an outside hutch still 3 feet long. This allowed three hutches to the tier, making nine hutches in all. In a rabbitry of this size, one could maintain eight breeding does and one buck easily. The herd would allow a new litter every week or ten days, if one wanted to breed the does the year around and as often as possible.
The cost to build a rabbitry of this nature would vary according to the price of lumber in different localities. I might add that the studding was of 2 by 4 rafters and that the shed had double walls made of ship-lap and the outside wall was further covered with redwood siding.
The open front of the shed was covered with one inch wire mesh and fitted with a door, to permit the attendant to get inside and at the same time to keep off dogs and other enemies of the rabbits. After the picture was taken the lower half of the wire covering was reinforced by means of 1 by 2 slats which were set six inches apart all across the front of the rabbitry. This proved an effective barrier against dogs, who sometimes will go through ordinary wire netting as a hot knife goes through butter.
While the cost was about $4 for each hutch, it was well worth the outlay of time and expense. It provided a damp-proof hutch for the winter months and still one that housed a large number of rabbits upon a small space of ground.
While some may object to the appearance of such a large rabbitry in the back yard, I wish to say in frankness that this rabbitry was not as ornamental as the others I have used. The picture was taken in the early spring months and does not show the possibilities of such a rabbitry.
In the summer flowers and vines on trellises were planted all around this rabbitry, both for shade and ornamentation, and it was not half as bare and forbidding as it looks here.
A hutch that will be much more satisfactory for the back yard fancier who wishes to keep only a few rabbits for the family table, or for the boy who wants a small number of rabbits for spending money purposes, is contained in Plan No. 2.
This hutch was originally designed by a California breeder named Sanderson. While the hutch plan given herewith is very similar to the original hutch, the dimensions have been changed in nearly every instance in order to fit the needs of my own back yard at the time the hutch was built. It is a more compact hutch under the present plan and much neater in appearance, and has all the advantages it ever had.
It occupies a space of ground just 4 by 6 feet in size with a nest box extending over which is 18 inches wide and 4 feet long. This nest box is really too large and may be made smaller with equally good results. A smaller nest box would keep warmer in cold weather and be more desirable for that reason, as well as being less expensive to build.
The bottom of the floor is just 2 feet off the ground and the hutch itself is 18 inches high and there is a roof 6 inches higher at the peak and extending 18 inches. from the sides of the hutch. This hutch really contains four separate and distinct hutches, two being equipped with nest boxes. It is possible to provide a battery of nest boxes on the other end of the hutch and have all four hutches so equipped, but where you have a buck a nest box is not needed.
This hutch can be constructed for around $2 or $3 per hutch, that is $8 to $12 for the entire structure, according to the materials used and the price thereof in your community. It is light, easily moved, compact, easily cleaned and sanitary, and requires less labor to maintain than any hutch that we have used.
There is a center partition made of solid ship-lap lumber which divides the hutch into two compartments. These compartments are further divided by the open hay rack shown in the center of the picture. This hay rack is open and hay can be fed the rabbits without opening the doors.
The doors are on hinges so that they will open outward and downward, and above each hay rack there is a rest shelf for the doe, to enable her to get away from the youngsters who have a continual appetite once they commence to run around in the hutch.
The other side of the hutch has the same appearance as the side shown in the picture. The floor is made of 1 by 1 slats set half an inch apart and the center partition rests on top of these slats. The floor in the nest box is made solid in order to afford plenty of protection to the youngsters in cold weather. Young rabbits, you know, are not brooded as a hen broods her chicks, so it is necessary to take every precaution to keep them warm. The mother doe will pull all of her fur off that it is possible to pull out to keep them warm, but sometimes, even then, they will freeze. The only young rabbits that I have ever lost were frozen.
Complete plans for this hutch, as well as for the others mentioned, are given herewith.
This hutch, providing as it does, four hutches, will enable the back yard breeder to keep at least two breeding does, one buck and still have an extra hutch for the use of the growing stock. By a very conservative management the breeder should be able to keep one table supplying a family of five in no need of meat and still have several rabbits to sell frequently to pay the cost of feed and some return on the investment.
Another hutch of similar size and affording the same results as to yearly production is shown in Plan No. 3. This hutch also has four separate hutches, but it has the arrangement of having two hutches above those which are nearer the ground.
It is 3 by 6 feet in size and 4 feet 9 inches high. Each hutch is just 3 by 3 feet in size. No nest boxes are built in but the breeder will have to provide removable nest boxes about 18 inches square and 1 foot high which can be put in the hutch when occasion warrants it.
By using an awning as shown in the illustration the interior of the hutches can be shaded from the sun and from severe rains, as the roof does not overhang in this style of hutch sufficiently to afford the necessary protection.
The doors are merely frames covered with one inch wire mesh and on hinges. The upper hutches have solid floors sloping three inches to the back to provide drainage and the floor of the two lower hutches is of slats. This affords the ideal arrangement for such a style hutch. It is probably not as ornamental as the hutch shown in Plan No. 2 and it does not occupy as much space, but where one desires a hutch of this type and size, there is no plan that can be used to better advantage.
An improvement might be made by cutting down the height, as I have found that hutches 18 inches high are just as practical as those two feet high. This would save one foot in the height of the hutch over all.
There are many other styles of hutches and rabbitries that may be built, but there is no series of general plans that will suit the fancier better.
Many people who have barns, sheds or large garages have constructed rows of hutches along one side of these buildings. While this may provide hutch room at a minimum of expense there are many reasons why this is an undesirable way to proceed.
In the first place, rabbits do not thrive in indoor rabbitries. That has been proved again and again. There is nothing that equals the outdoor hutch. The rabbit is an outdoor animal and even though he is highly domesticated that does not alter the facts. He must have fresh air and plenty of it. Where the air is poor or the rabbitry is poorly ventilated, you will find the quarters invariably damp and heavy. This breeds disease germs and in the course of time the stock will sicken and die.
It also retards the constitutional vigor of the stock and losses of the young are frequent. There is only one hutch and that is the outdoor hutch. If you want to use an old shed or barn rip out one whole side of it in order to afford this ventilation and light. The rabbit, in order to be healthy need not be kept in the sunshine, but he must at least breathe the air on which the sun shines.
Complete Working Plans and Specifications for these Hutches.
- Thayer Hutch.—Lumber:
- 7 pieces 1/2" x 6" x 16' Redwood siding
- 9 pieces 1" x 3" x 12'
- 1 piece 2" x 4" x 16' ripped rough
- 2 pieces 1" x 4" x 16'
- 1 piece 1" X 10" x 12'
- 6 pieces 1" x 4" x 14' matched flooring
- 6 pieces 1" x 3" x 10'
- Hardware:
- 6 pairs 2" butts
- 15 lin. feet 1" wire mesh, 18" wide
- 1 pound 6d nails
- 1 pound 10d nails
- 1 pound shingle nails
Sanderson Hutch.—Lumber:
| 4 pieces 1" x 8" x 10' | 1 piece 1" x 6" x 10' |
| 2 pieces 2" X 3" x 12' | 5 pieces 1" x 2" x 10' |
| 2 pieces 1" X 3" x 16' | 2 pieces 1" x 2" x 14' |
| 13 pieces 1" x 3" x 14' | 1 piece 1" x 12" x 16' |
| 1 piece 1" x 10" x 19' | 9 pieces 3/4" x 2" x 16' |
- Hardware:
- 5 pairs 2" x 2" butts
- 16-1/4" X 2-1/4" carriage bolts
- 2 pound 6d nails
- 1/2 square prepared roofing
- 24 lin. feet 1" wire mesh, 18" wide
- 116 galvanized staples
PLAN NO. 1
CAN BE ADAPTED TO ANY OPEN SHED
Interior Hutch Arrangement. To be Used in Barns or Open Sheds.
PLAN NO. 2
PLAN NO. 3
