Rabbits and Chickens

[beelbill]

Simple stupid question:
Am going to build a chicken coop with an outdoor area fenced with chicken wire. Am going to have around 12-24 chickens. Am also going to have rabbits and was planning to make a pen for them. Now I am wondering if I can just put them in the same pen as the chickens. Any problems with that?

[Birdlady]

Just in our experience, here in Texas, chicken wire will not keep predators out. We have used 1/4" hardware cloth for an "open" coop, (open: as in no wood siding etc), both flooring and sides, so nothing bigger than a fly can get in..(at least from what we see). We have 9 week old chicks at the moment, and nest boxes are next on our *to do* list.

We had a rat snake checking it out last night...see posting called "Snake! But there was NO way it could get in.

We also have the "coop" up on pallets, with left over ceramic tiles on the floor, as well as a tarp covering 1/2 of it for rain.

From what I read on "backyardchickens.com" , rabbits and chickens get along fairly well. Check it out...it's a great site for information on raising chickens! :-D

[Summerthyme]

I wouldn't do it, for several reasons. Different feed needs would be a big one. If you're planning on breeding rabbits, how are you going to keep the chickens from roosting- and crapping- in nest boxes? OR eating the baby bunnies (chickens are ominovores, and ours will kill rats and mice and eat them).

Also, chicken droppings are juicy and messy... I wouldn't want rabbits running around in them.

Years ago when I was raising rabbits for meat, I still had a few when I got chickens. And I found that you could put chickens in a pen with the rabbits in all wire cages HANGING UP... so they were about 2 1/2 feet off the ground. The chickens stirred up the manure that fell under the rabbit cages, and ate any pellets or feed that was spilled. The biggest problem was designing a "hood" to keep the birds from roosting on top of the cages.

A friend bought a couple of rabbit trios from me, and used them in his fox fur business, in the same way. The breeding foxes were in elevated cages, and he turned the rabbits loose underneath them... where they thrived and multiplied solely on the (very high protein) spilled feed (apparently the foxes were really messy and wasteful).

For pure "pasture" system (ie: in the daytime, and only non-breeder rabbits) you might be able to let them run together, but I'm not sure it would work otherwise.

summerthyme

[Micah68]

I would not do it.

My chickens free range during the day, and we often laugh at their antics. They chase toads and fight over them, two will get a hold of one and play tug of war. I have also seen them eat mice. I would think they will aggravate your rabbits to no end, and rabbits will have a heart attack if they get stressed.

Another idea is to put your hutches on stilts, 3 feet or so up, with half the hutches having a mesh bottom and sides on the bottom part - we used old corrugated tin. The rabbits will generally use that area for the bathroom and the waste will fall through to the bottom. Add some black dirt under there, and put all your vegetable compost there. The dirt, compost, and rabbit waste will all be in the same place. Throw in a handful or two of worms - you can buy fancy compost worms, or try regular old nightcrawlers. It makes really nice compost.

[Martinhouse]

I have heard that rabbits stay healthier if you keep them off the ground.

I gave my rabbits dried leaves all winter and they loved to shred them and play in them. This fell through the floor of the cage and mixed with the droppings and made bags of good mulch I gave my sister to till into their new garden.

When my guineas were in my enclosed garden last fall, they roosted on the rabbit cages and make a mess and sagged the cage tops. Not a good situation. They also dug and scattered the mulch/droppings under the cages and it was hard to gather.

I was glad when those guineas got mature enough to turn loose!

Carol

[momof23goats]

yes, don't keep them together , it will be a huge mess, and your rabbits will end up dead, and eaten. chickens will eat any kind of meat. and I do mean any kind.

[morelcabin]

I do it and it works well. There are pics of my set up in the coops section. The rabbits never come into contact with the chickens and everybody seems happy