DIY RABBIT BURROWS FOR MEAT RABBITS! Find out how we built rabbit burrows for Rex and New Zealands
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- čas přidán 24. 02. 2022
- Join us as we DIY burrows for our rabbit colony! We wanted to add burrows to give our meat rabbits more comfort and keep them cool in the hot summer, but we wanted a cheap rabbit burrow system.
We ended up spending $125 to build 4 rabbit burrows for our meat rabbits.
Check them out!
To see how we built our meat rabbit colony, check out these videos...
Watch Part 1 of this Meat Rabbit Colony Build • BUILDING A RABBIT COLO...
Watch Part 2 of building a rabbit colony • BUILDING A MEAT RABBIT...
Watch Part 3 of building a rabbit colony
• MEAT RABBIT COLONY BUI...
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![Why We Broke Up Our Rabbit Colony [Lessons Learned and New Strategy]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/hBRF12-dCGs/mqdefault.jpg)
I hope you stay with this, I can see your channel becoming huge if you keep it up!
Thank you for that! I really enjoy making the videos and plan on sticking with it.
This is so great. The big cage alone is enough treat. So colony is like a big cage.
Basically! Just a big area where they can live together.
Please someone get that man a sawzall
😂 it's on the ever growing list of tools needed
I use the same bucket system as you have here. The main difference is we insulate the bucket lids with hay to control the temperature. Good job, everyone!
Are you in a hot or cold climate? We are always working harder to keep our rabbits cooler
@@LivingtheHightLife We live in the tropics. Rabbits are highly prone to heat stress (as you know). The straw/hay we cover the bucket lids with is 12" thick, and is easily removed to check the nests then replaced. In extreme conditions we wet down the straw with a watering can. This is very effective as it acts as an evaporative cooling system🐰🐰🐰We have often thought of setting up a water sprinkler on top of the straw, connected to a tap outside the colony, for ease of wetting down the covering material.
@@TacticalGhost007 do you have shade cloth up? We added shade cloth to the side and it decreases temperatures by at least 10 degrees
@@LivingtheHightLife Our colony is fully covered by a metal roof. Rabbits need access to sunlight in the mornings and afternoon to produce Vitamin D with their ears, however we do erect shade cloth "panels" in extreme heat events.
I was just thinking that where I live I would have to put something on top of the lids in winter. (Norway). Otherwise perfect setup!
Perfect set up! Love it💜
Thank you!
Looks like a great burrow set up. Rabbits are seeming to enjoy it.
They do seem to like them!
Very cool and cute bunnies!
Thank you
This is a nice way of doing it! My favourite so far.
Thank you! I love them.
What a fantastic idea.
Thank you!
Awesome set up guys! Looks like they are enjoying it.😇
Thank you!!! It's so much fun to watch them go in and out of the burrows
Your burrows are a great idea. Well done.
Thank you!
Hello, I am in France, but I know New Zealand because I have land in Marton and one in Waïroa.
I took all your measurements to convert them into centimeters because I will do as you say to
my medium sized rabbits. For my giants I would increase the measurements.
Thank you for your good work.
I hope it works out well for you!
This is awesome...
Thank you!!
Great rabbit burrows! 👍🏻
Thank you!
That’s an awesome setup y’all got going, nice job! Y’all been busy since the last video I watched place is coming along nicely! We always raised our 9 does separately so this is pretty neat to see everything y’all are doing. I think little man had the right idea dad needs to break out the Electric saw👍🤣 Anyways awesome job y’all!
I feel like we have been going non stop 😂 I keep telling myself we will slow down once the projects are done.
Those are going to be happy Rabbits!
I sure hope so!
Love the set up. Really looking forward to seeing how this works out. Do y’all have any issues with the does fighting? I’ve been told that can happen. That’s what has kept us from doing a colony set up.
No we haven't, but our mature does are from the same litter and our babies were born by one of the does.
All they have ever known is living together so I am sure that helps.
yes they having lived together helps tremendously - i know we have a buck that's extremely territorial and he has made a tunnel in our yard and he will not allow any other buck in the yard ° the ones that have always lived together get along in their hutches very well ❤
Love it!
Thank you!
so nice home for rabbits .
Thank you!
Love it.
Thank you!
$125 is a goid value. Love the concept
It's been working great for us
Nice job. That looks good. I know 6 inch pipe is not cheap was looking at some for talapia fish to swim in and out off I finally went with 4 inch. Keep us posted on how they work out . I think it should be pretty good for them and you to check the baby rabbits.
It wasn't! I did not expect it to be so expensive compared to the 4" pipe
Impressive
Thank you. It's been very useful for us
I like it. I’m gonna do something very similar, but I’m gonna make bigger wooden boxes instead of buckets. My plan is to use sprinkler boxes for access. I’m also gonna excavate a foot or 2 in the entire pen and wire the bottom and sides, that way they can dig but can’t get out and not deep enough to make a burrow I can’t get to…
I did dig down 1.5 get and lay fencing. It's in the part 2 video of the rabbit colony build. I did it by hand, but it was totally worth it. I don't know what size sprinkler boxes are, but you do want to keep the space decently small. If it's large they will also use it for a bathroom, not just for nesting
@@LivingtheHightLife ahh, I just found this video late last night, haven’t seen the colony build, I’ll watch when I can.
@@TheFrogfeeder they are all in the meat rabbit playlist!
I see some rabbit cam videos coming up i hope. Super cool.
That would be so cool!
I like it
Thank you
This looks really neat! Thank you for sharing.😊😍👍🏽
I am way back in the planning/dreaming stage of any kind of set up. I have seen that you have answered other’s questions, so I thought I’d ask some that have been knocking around in my head:
Do they use the burrows when they are not having babies?
Do the rabbits that aren’t kits pee and poop in the bucket burrows? Or in the pipes?
How do you clean them out? (I know you unscrew the top, but after removing bedding, etc, do you wipe them out with anything?
Do they rabbits live here 24/7?
Have you experienced any issues with letting them live on the ground-any parasites, diseases (especially the c one and the R one) that could have been prevented in a cage set up?
How has this system held up? Would you do it this way again? Would you make any changes?
Yes they use the burrows, especially in the winter. Because they are under ground, the burrows stay at a pretty constant temperature.
They will pee and poop in there occasionally. I just keep being material in there and change it out when I clean the colony. They don't go in the pipes though.
To clean them, I just pull the bedding, spray down with vinegar, and wipe clean.
They do live in there 24/7. We haven't had any parasite issues, but parasites can also happen in cages. Parasites are brought in on fresh food sources and hay as well.
Great video. What was the dimension of the pvc pipe you used? Thanks for posting.🥰
6 inch wide (I love replay). Thanks.
😂 yep 6 in
I relly like that
Thank you
How did the kits do? Was there enough room with the bucket up right for mom and kits?
We have a video out on them. They did great! We had no losses. Most Rosy had 2 extremely large kits. That's a really small litter for her, but Pretty Girl had 10 kits. We ended up fostering 4 kits to Nosy Rosy giving them 6 each. They are 6 weeks old now and thriving.
czcams.com/video/8735d90tvN0/video.html
Can I ask how big your rabbits are? I raised New Zealands and A couple of my females are really large, like 15+ pounds. Do you think that this would be a good option for them?
I was thinking the same, perhaps try placing your buckets vertically with your borrow running on the lid and making a nice opening on the side, or better yet using tote bins is also a nice alternative.
Ours are about 12 pounds and they do really good with them.
Love the set up! We are in the outside framing and wire stage on ours. Got a little behind our schedule due to unexpected snow in Oklahoma x 2. Haha. I do have a question though, well two. One: what type of rabbits do you have they are beautiful. And two: I was worried the buckets would be too small for rabbits to nurse their young. I had a Palomino doe (several showed then for 4h and later ffa) but her nesting box always seemed too small for her to lay down in, in her wire cage. Super excited to have the colony aspect this year.
These girls are Rex rabbits. Our buck is New Zealand, so their babies in the future will be Rex/New Zealand. They are great breeds for meat!
I was worried about size to, but its not that much smaller than the nest boxes we previously used. I think it's important to remember, rabbits don't nurse like other animals do. They don't really lay down with their babies. They hover over then, while standing, and the babies lay on their backs to nurse.
Its really crazy to see 🤣 once our last litter got over 2 weeks, they would crawl under mom to nurse any time she would stand still.
@@LivingtheHightLife What feed and water containers do you use?
@@JHENSHOMESTEAD we use a 3 gallon chicken waterer and a big feed pan. We only free feed hay not pellets, so just a normal feed pan with short sides works well.
@@LivingtheHightLife sorry, I have another question. We don't have many ppl here in Oklahoma doing colonies, so your the best person to ask :) I'm getting 18 week old breeding trio champagne d' Argent rabbits soon, will the 6in pipe like you did fit these guys?
@@JHENSHOMESTEAD it should. They are about the size of our white doe. She's a little overweight for her breed and the champagne d'argents are only on average a pound or two bigger than our Rex rabbits.
Bonjour, je suis en France, mais je connais la New Zealand car j'ai un terrain à Marton et un à Waïroa.
J'ai pris toutes vos mesure pour les convertir en centimètre car je vais faire comme vous dites pour
mes lapins de moyenne taille. Pour mes géants j'augmenterais les mesures.
Merci à vous pour votre bon travail.
❤️
What are the dimensions of your pen? I’ve been looking to colony raise and this is exactly what I was looking for
8ft x 16ft. It's great and holds a lot of rabbits.
Thanks for asking the size. We have been considering this type of pen/warren for our meat rabbits. So this was wonderful. Really helps us in figuring out the logistics.
Thanks so much.
Where did you get the big tube? Did they dig around the buckets?
The big tube came from the feed shop. It's meant for drainage in ditches. It took them about a year to really start digging around them.
Hi guys....I am from Australia and we haven't yet embarked on our 'OFF GRID' life....I have been doing a lot of research and have just bought our New Zealand Buck (2 wks ago) and today brought home our Doe.
Haven't yet introduced to CZcams channel as I've been concentrating on building our container garden (in the waiting until reaching property).
I was sold out on the cage option for our rabbits, but after watching you guys building this 'Colony life' and listening to your reasons behind it......hmmmmm my minds changing.
I'll be keen to watch this Colony Life and get your thoughts on how it's going.
I have a question though.....how does the Doe go, having her kit in the burrow....and other rabbits going in? would that be an issue?
We started out with containers also, so I understand that stage. It's amazing how much you can grow in containers.
As for the babies, in the colony setting, rabbits will sometimes have their kits in the same nest box. In that case, both rabbits would go feed, and you would have to make all the babies are getting full bellies. The only time I have heard someone having an issue with it, was when the second doe was digging out her nest and accidentally killed the babies from the first litter.
Evidently the first mom still went in and fed the new babies, even though hers were dead.
There is a Meat Rabbit Colony Facebook group that I find very helpful, if you use Facebook.
@@LivingtheHightLife awesome I’ll check the FB group out… your doing a great job 👍🏼
@@karrenbrazel8844 thank you!
Great video, do you need to worry about the rabbits eating the plastic or are they well behaved? Thanks
They actually do not eat the plastic, surprisingly. I'm not sure why because they love to try and eat our shoes when we are in there 🤣 but the plastic buckets they don't bother.
@@LivingtheHightLife glad to hear that, our rabbits like to eat anything they can reach. 🤣
@@MizpahFarms that doesn't suprise me 🤣
how big is your rabbit enclosure? thanks
8 ft by 16 ft
Do you keep the males and females together?
We don't. I like to control my rabbit genetics and when my rabbits breed. Our bucks live in Rabbit tractors
Does it work if summer temps reach 100?
Yes. We are in South Carolina. Our temperatures stay >100 for months. We don't breed during those temperatures because it's hard on the does, but the burrows still work. Because they are buried with thick soil it insulates them and keeps them cool. The dirt is the key.
@@LivingtheHightLife I will build a maze underground starting at 6 feet deep, with a 2nd floor at 3 feet deep. It will give them plenty of cool temps. The maze will also give them multiple ins and outs in case of an intruder. I am thinking corrugated drain pipe will be better and way cheaper than PVC pipe. It is way stronger and not slippery. for the rabbits, especially babies. Also, buy flipping my container over without a lid I will never have to clean them up. The dirt will take care of it. To avoid further digging I will put a metal mesh 1 inch underneath each chamber. Finally, to avoid any caving under the heavy weight of the dirt I will use 2X4s side ways to build a roof above each chamber and place mulch between the roof and top of each chamber. The mulch retains water and help create an AC system. 90% of the sun energy will be used to evaporate the water, and just leave 10% to warm up the ground. I think with that system you can breed all year long if you want to even in the heat of Texas summer, which is hotter than hell.
Also have they had babies yet?
Oh yes! We have had several litters in the burrows now. 2 of the kits born in the burrows about to start breeding and will have their own litters in the burrows
How have your burrows worked out?
Great! We did notice that if we didn't keep sticks, hay, and fresh foods available to our rabbits they would chew on the lids. But once we stopped feeding pellets and switched to a whole foods diet, they stopped the chewing. We have had several litters in them, without any issues.
@@LivingtheHightLife that is great! With limited space, I'm trying to figure out a way to make a sort of hybrid cage and colony system. Quite a problem to figure out! I love your setup.
@@BethOvertonCPMmidwife thank you! A hybrid system sounds interesting. Would you have your bucks in cages and does in the colony? Depending on the height of your colony you could probably do the cages within it. Kind of like a second story.
@Living the Hight Life OFF GRID I was picturing cages connected by tunnels to each other and a small run that is about the size and shape of a tractor. Maybe keep the buck seperate but also considering all of them together.
So we made a system semi similar to this and everytime it rains they fill up with water from the holes in the bottom and from the entrance 🙄
Oh no. Does the earth slope towards the burrows or away from them?
@@LivingtheHightLife one of the bucket burrows are on the top of the slope and one at the bottom. It's not much of a slope as we've now tried to build it up.
@@thebackyardburrows6653 I was really worried about water seeping into ours, but we haven't had any issues with it. I am so sorry yall are having that battle.
I was really hoping for a concentrated rabbit video versus a kid video. I know lots of people use their children in their videos as part of the process but people wanting to learn don't enjoy it nobody loves them like you do. I found myself fast forwarding through so much of it I felt like you had something good to offer but I didn't get that trying to avoid the other
I appreciate your feedback, but it is a family homestead channel. Our son is an important part of that and attends all of our homestead events as well.
You may be better searching for a rabbitry channel instead of a homestead lifestyle channel, as this one Living the Hight Life is all about our lives as off grid homesteaders striving to be self sustainable and raise rabbits as a meat source.
@@LivingtheHightLife Just to let you know, I am a “person wanting to know”, and I greatly enjoyed it! 🤗😁👍🏽
Of course nobody could love your little man like you do🥰❤️, but I love seeing videos of families working together, incorporating everyone, even the children.
It makes me happy.😊
And your son is so cute! I love his little voice and giggle.🥰
In fact, watching the “family homestead dynamic” kept me watching the whole video, where I probably would have otherwise left after I felt I understood the basic idea of the setup.
So, you know, different opinions 🤷🏻♀️👍🏽😊
@@LivingtheHightLife best reply! My daughter loves seeing someone little like her when I’m watching these, and it’s definitely encouraging to a fellow homesteader and mom to see you all working together! Just found the channel, thank you for sharing!
Well you're desire is not unwarranted. Some folks dilly dally a lot in videos but hers was pretty minimal. Probably less than a minute total. But I know your sentiment and been there
I am copying this...
Go for it!!!
Looks like there's barely room for one rabbit in a bucket, much less a rabbit and 8 babies.
You don't want a big space for them or the babies will separate and not be able to keep themselves warm. Rabbits don't lay with their babies. They just go in, hover over them to feed, and leave.
hahahahaha😅😅😅😅😅the word meet is not spelled like that
? They are meat rabbits. As in, they are rabbits raised for meat.
Teachum young haha to help w/the 🐇 rabbits & other animals
He's 5 now, and he is still a great helper with the animals.