Outdoor rabbit enclosure

[GlitteryPink]

Have put this in home and garden aswelll....does anyone have an outdoor enclosure for their rabbit, a wood and wire built area with the hutch inside so the rabbit can run in and out safely? I want to build one, maybe against my shed wall with aviary panels but don't really know where to start!

[whiskeysheri]

Hi GlitteryPink, my dad made one for our two rabbits, when I was younger. Their hutch was up on legs to keep them off the floor and so we could still clean them out easily enough. I think he cut a hole in the side of the hutch and they had a board to go down on, into the run. I think he made it, as you said, with panels of wood and chicken wire. Some were on hinged so we could get them out, etc.

Also don't forget to lay some chicken wire under the turf of the run as they will dig to escape. Good luck xx

[kovac]

I had a rabbit as a child - and she was the coolest rabbit in town! She lived outside in her run which stretched all the way down the garden. It was basically chicken wire....and she used to sleep UNDER her hutch! She hated being enclosed. She also dug her own burrow and used to go on little advenutures down there. I had her for 8yrs before she took ill....and one day she went down the burrow and was never seen again.

[morg_monster]

I built a big run for my rabbit. It is about 6-7 feet long, 4 ft wide, 2.5 ft high. His hutch sits inside it, stood up on some bricks. Overall the run is quite big, but we have a big garden so its ok. I made it with some wire panelling a bit like chicken wire, but stronger and stiffer - the wires were in rectangular shapes rather than hexagons.

I made a cuboid frame using treated timber from homebase, about 3in by 1in rectangles, and halfway along the long sides there is another vertical strut of wood to stop anything sagging. Used just regular nails to assemble it. To reinforce the frame, I hammered wood triangles cut from plywood sheeting over each right angle. After making the frame I used heavy duty staples to attach the wire sheeting onto the sides and bottom of the frame. I made two rectangle frames of wood and again attached the wire, this was for the top (I did the 'lid' in two parts because the run was so big, didn't think I'd be able to lift one huge lid off myself!)

It was quite easy to design, just sit down and have a think. Probably a teenager doing some kind of design or woodwork at school might be useful! All in all, it probably cost around the �80 mark, so expensive, but as I said it was kind of big and you can get exactly what you want - just the right size and shape for the hutch and your garden. (cont)

[morg_monster]

8 years later mine is still going strong - although some of the wood on lid frames is starting to get a bit rotten.

We opened the main door to the hutch when we put it inside the run and it has never been closed since, although I always keep the sleeping compartment shut. He loves his run so much, he is very fit and healthy for an 8 yr old and I'm sure thats partly due to all hte fresh air and exercise he gets. You also won't need to line the hutch with papers, as they will go to the loo outside (yay, less work). My rabbit uses one corner of the run to poo in - it can heap up somewhat but dad says it is very good on the garden! Another benifit of being in a secure run on grass, is that they seem to eat less food. I give my bunny one big bowl of food every week, and he's happy (the grass is always very short in the run!)

A couple of other things. If the run goes on grass - you'll need wire on the bottom to stop them burrowing out - grass will quickly grow around the wire though, so beware that if you move the run, you will remove most of the grass under it probably! If the run goes on concrete, DON'T put wire on the bottom. my brother's bunny had a run with chicken wire, it was half on the patio, half on the grass, she was just sitting there and her foot was just under the wire on the patio side, someone made a noise and she went to run away, foot got stuck, and she broke her leg. wah.