Captain’s Log: Rabbitat

Spring has sprung at the Boyer Bunny Ranch, and there have been projects galore. I finally got the plants in the ground that I bought before the North Dakota trip, and they are happily adapting to dirt and sun. 

The coolest thing, though, is the Rabbitat.

I saw this amazing setup on some social media channel and decided to try it out so I could get the bunnies out of their individual cages in the bunny shed. It’s sort of embarrassing that I provide air conditioning and heat to the shed for the fancy bunny climate control, and I keep thinking there has got to be a better way.

Turns out, there is!

I got some cool fencing and put it up — one fence on the left of the shed and one on the right. Then, I got the big black and yellow totes from my favorite hardware store and dug two holes in the ground on each side of the shed, two totes in the ground for the boy side and two in the ground for the girls.

Before I put them in the ground, I cut a big 6-inch hole toward the bottom of one side of the tub, ran a duct from the hole, and buried it so one end stuck out of the ground and the other dumped the rabbit into the bin buried in the ground.

That took a bit of fancy footwork and borrowing a really cool saw from a friend, but once that was all in place, I put hay in the bottom of one of the tubs, dumped in a rabbit, and put the lid on, and before too long, up he popped, out the end of the duct, buried in the ground. 

It worked! 

And they appear to love it. Last night I went out to lock the chickens up, and all four boy bunnies were down in the burrows. This morning, when I opened the chicken shed, all four boys were out grooming themselves and hopping around. 

Today the girl side is getting done and tonight I’ll move the girls into their side and see if they’re as smart as the boys and able to figure out the duct outlet. 

I’m thrilled that they don’t have to live in cages anymore and excited to see if they’re able to regulate their temperature using the burrows. 

So while we innovate the fiber operation and have all this fun with tools, we’ll still be right here…

…Keeping you posted.

Rach