Features of keeping rabbits in an aviary with their own hands

Most people who breed rabbits prefer to keep them in cages. However, due to their natural activity and vigor, being in tight limited cages adversely affects these animals, they begin to get sick a lot. For more free movement, they should be kept in enclosures. Those owners who, in addition to profit, are worried about the condition of their pets, create such conditions for them to live.

Voliary allows them to run around a lot, jump and play. Keeping rabbits in such conditions provides them with a happy life.

What is an aviary for keeping rabbits

The aviary is an open space enclosed by a fence. Its size depends on how many rabbits are planned to be kept in it. For example, if the area of ​​the enclosure is 20−25 m2, young individuals in the amount of no more than 30 pieces can be contained in it.

The aviary is usually made by hand. It should be located on a hill so that during heavy rains it is not flooded.

The walls are made from any improvised materials:

• slate;
• wood;
• metal sheets.

One side should be made of mesh so that such a space is ventilated and the sun’s rays fall into it. The walls must be at least one and a half meters, because the rabbits jump very high.

DIY rabbit aviary must have an earthen floor. To prevent pets from running away, the walls are buried in the ground to a depth of 40–50 cm, or meter-long iron bars are driven in every 10 cm around the entire perimeter of the enclosure. The advantage of the earthen floor is that it can not be cleaned too often. Also, animals in this version of the floor can dig holes, this allows them to physically develop. So that the mesh of the wall in the ground does not rot, it is treated with special anti-corrosion agents.

The floor of the aviary can be raised above the ground with your own hands or poured with concrete, as a result you should get something like a cage, only without a roof. Also, the floor can be made of mesh, but not all breeds of rabbits tolerate such a coating well, as a result of which they often get pododermatitis. concrete floor preferably insulated with straw or sawdust.

Above part of the enclosure, there must be a canopy that will save the pets from precipitation. For animals, you can build with your own hands one large barn or several small houses raised above the ground. In such structures, the walls should be upholstered with mesh or tin so that the rabbits cannot sharpen their teeth on them.

Feeders and drinkers in the aviary should be in such quantity, to ensure that all livestock are provided with food and water in abundance, otherwise there will be fights and crush. Since rabbits like to chew on something, they need to throw up young shoots of trees or branches.

Breeding rabbits in aviaries

It is necessary to settle in the aviary at once all the animals that will be kept there. If the rabbits are from different mothers, then in order to distract them from someone else’s smell, give them delicious treats. If females grow with each other from childhood, then they will then be friends both during pregnancy and during the period of feeding offspring. If you add a stranger to them, then, most likely, they will not accept him.

rabbit enclosures

Before introducing rabbits, they should be checked for parasites or infection. It is best to get vaccinated against the most common diseases.

To keep mating under control, males are removed from the main population. Also, for this purpose, three or four-month-old male rabbits are removed from the offspring. They are either slaughtered or simply resettled.

Rabbits differ from rabbits in that they will never feed other people’s children. The rabbit should have a familiar smell. If you keep the rabbits all together, then they will smell the same, and any female in the aviary will let such rabbits come to her.

Advantages of aviary keeping of rabbits

• An aviary is a more economical option for keeping rabbits than a cage. Material for such a building requires much less, as well as drinkers with feeders.
• Keeping pets on such a site is a much less time-consuming process. To feed the entire livestock, you do not need to open and close numerous cages. It is simply necessary to provide the rabbits with the necessary amount of food, which is enough for everyone. Aviaries are also cleaned much less frequently than cages.
• If you use sawdust as bedding, you can later get a wonderful fertilizer for vegetable crops.
• Enclosure of rabbits improves their mood and improves their appetite, as it allows them to frolic to their heart’s content.

Disadvantages of aviary keeping of rabbits

• Breeding rabbits in aviaries is unprofitable for medium and large farms that raise these animals for meat. Due to active physical development, the meat of such rabbits is enriched with muscle tissue. The color of the meat becomes bright red, and it tastes quite tough. Buy such meat reluctantly.
• If an infection gets into the aviary, the entire livestock will die very quickly.
• Aviary breeding in winter presents certain difficulties. All livestock for the period of cold weather are relocated to a warm room, or all young animals are slaughtered.

Conclusion

Enclosure of rabbits is a rather troublesome process, but interesting. Caring for pets is quite simple, the main thing is that there is water and food is always in the required quantity. Cleaning such a room can be infrequent. As a result of such good treatment, rabbits will always be cheerful and active.