We just picked up three, 2 bucks and a doe, for my 7 year old. They are all 2002 Easter presents which required a new home. I have built three hutches for them in the barn and plan to use a temporary fence outside to let them graze during part of the day. I'm also thinking of turning them out in the chicken yard. Has anyone had problems mixing rabbits with chickens?
Any recommendations on age appropriate (1st grade) materials on rabbits. They are my 7 year old's first pets and he is taking his responsibility pretty seriously so far.
Rabbits mix well with chickens,how do you think we get Easter eggs? [img]/forums/images/icons/laugh.gif[/img]
Seriously,you will have no problem,I have done it before,a lot of these poultry fanciers deal in rabbits because they are easy to raise together(do not forget the Easter eggs) [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img] .
If you have 2 bucks and a doe,in a year you will probably have 200 rabbits if you let them run together.
We have a few rabbits, but were warned by the guy we bought them from to not let them eat "greens" (i.e. grass) lest they get the runs (which have noticed they do get when the kids feed them even a small amount), so we feed them rabbit pellets and a few carrots now and then.
The other thing we were told, is that once the females get pregnat you need to seperate the males because they will eat the babies when they are born [img]/forums/images/icons/tongue.gif[/img] .
The are enjoyable for us so far...we haven;t gone thru a winter for them, and we live in a cold area, where it can get below freezing (or even below zero) for days on end...do most people leave rabbits out in this kind of weather? what about keeping the water from freezing?
EJB,
When we lived in PA and then MD we had rabbits in hutches outside. We stapled plastic to the outside to keep the wind off and let them stay out all winter. Winters aren't as harsh as up here but we did go out 3 times a day and replace the frozen water bowls with fresh ones.
The 4Hers we brought our rabbits from said that the Mid Atlantic summer heat was more of a threat than the cold.
I used to have 13 rabbits but now I am down to 7. There should be no problem with the chickens. It would not be good to have any of the rabbits together because males fight and if you put one with the female you will more than likely tripple the number of rabbits you have now. Have Fun with them! [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]
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