Building good rabbit housing for your rabbits is a basic requirement for success in rabbitry farming.
As a result, you must ensure that the rabbit house you build is conducive enough for the animal.
Rabbits, just like other animals cannot tell you about their problems and needs in their housing.
Therefore, you have to construct the rabbit cages to meet certain requirements.
This article is for those who keep rabbits as pets and those into commercial rabbit farming.
In this post, I will guide you through the fundamentals of a proper rabbit housing construction.
You will get to see the different types of rabbit hutches alongside their pros and cons.
I will end the article by mentioning some good materials for constructing good rabbit housing.
To get started, let’s get to the details of what a rabbit housing is then we look at some of the basic requirements of a proper rabbit house.
But that’s not all you need to succeed as a rabbit farmer.
Let’s look at other success factors below.
Beginners Guide: How to start rabbit farming
The 10 steps that will guide any beginner on how to start rabbit farming include the following;
- Learn from a rabbit farmer near you.
Well, I can’t overemphasize how important it is for you to get a beginner knowledge of how rabbit farming is done - Decide the purpose of the rabbit farming business
As you already know, different farmers rear rabbits for different purposes.
Most farmers rear rabbits for their meat while some rear rabbits as pets.
In the same vein, there are some farmers who rear rabbits solely for medical research purposes.
These ones follow strict management rules to ensure that the rabbits are fit for the research.
Besides meat, pet and medical research purposes, there are farmers who rear rabbits for their fur and wool.
Clothing industries buy rabbit furs to make clothes and duvets.
As a beginner in rabbit farming, you should choose the market you want to satisfy and focus on that.
While you may still be able to serve all markets, you should focus on the area where you have more strength.
A person who rears rabbits for meat may not likely be a good person to get a pet rabbit from.
I’m just saying.
Pet lovers will not like to buy rabbits from a butcher because they are mostly against animal cruelty.
So, choose wisely and focus on the growth of your business.
- Select a good location for rabbit farming
Economists agree that land is a major factor that affects productions.
The same is true for almost every kind of agribusinesses.
Location is an important factor to consider when starting your rabbit farming business.
When siting your rabbitry, you must make sure that the location meets the following criteria;
The rabbit farm must have an accessible road
There has to be a source of fresh water in the rabbit farm.
You need to ensure the location has a good power supply
Also, ensure that the location is wide enough for the scale of rabbit farming you want to do.
Make sure that the farm is not far from the market
In addition, the rabbitry should be close to a veterinarian in case of an emergency and routine checks.
If the location meets all of these criteria, then you just hit gold.
However, it is possible that the location will not meet one or two of the criteria.
Well, don’t let that deter you from starting your rabbit farming business.
But you must make sure you quickly find a solution to it.
- Purchase rabbit farming equipment
Besides all the simple farm equipment every farmer must farm on the farm, here are some important ones for rabbit farming.
a. Feed containers
This is helpful when you need to feed the rabbits. You can have two of these, one for rabbit food pellets and the other for fresh food.
b. Water containers
For providing fresh water to the rabbits at all times of the day. You may also choose to install an automatic water supply system in the rabbitry.
c. Nail clippers
For clipping the nails of rabbits so that it does not get caught in the floor wire of a cage.
d. Brushes
A good wire brush comes in handy for removing dried manure droppings on the hutch floors when cleaning.
e. Hayrack
This helps to keep hay off the floor. These can either be hung outside of a cage or hutch to preserve space or placed inside.
- Construct a good rabbit housing
Before buying rabbits it is important to decide on their housing – the type of cage, size and position.
You can start raising rabbits in either a deep litter or using the cage farming methods.
You may decide to buy cages but that is the most expensive way to go.
It is more economical to build your own rabbit cages.
The basic requirements for a good rabbit cage are;
It must be safe and secure to protect the rabbits from sun, rain and wind.
The rabbit hutch should have a minimum of 0.6 m² floor space and a minimum of 0.5 m in height. This provides enough room for the rabbits to hop from one end to the other comfortably. It also allows them to lie down full length without touching the sides.
A good cage must protect the rabbits from all predators including dogs, snakes, wild cats, rats and raptor birds like owls.
The cage must also protect the rabbits from heat. Temperatures higher than 25℃ are a problem for rabbits. So, ensure there is enough ventilation for them.
Also, the cage should be able to protect young rabbits from excessively colde weather.
If you keep rabbits in wire cages, ensure that you provide them with a resting pad. This protects their feet front being on the wire all the time. You can make the rest pad from a wooden plank or a piece of carpet tile.
- Choose rabbit breed from a trusted rabbit farmer
There are many rabbit breeds available throughout the world.
However, the among the best rabbit breeds available for commercial farming are; Dark Gray (internal), Fox, Dutch, New Zealand White, New Zealand Black, New Zealand Red, Belgium White and Chinchilla etc.
These rabbit breeds are very popular and highly productive.
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