How to Plan and Design a Rabbit Hutch for Homes

Planning and designing a rabbit hutch is one of the fun aspects of pet ownership. Prior to bringing home a new rabbit or pair of rabbits, it’s important to carefully plan and design the hutch. A rabbit hutch needs to accommodate a rabbit, give ample room to move around, provide cleanliness and shelter from the elements.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Measuring Tape Graph Paper Ruler Pencil

1. Select a location for your rabbit hutch. Ensure that part of the hutch will be out of direct sunlight to prevent it from overheating during the warmer months of the year. The location should be easily accessible to clean, feed, water and play with your rabbits.

2. Measure the area you have selected from step 1. You will need ample room for a hutch to house bucks and pregnant does separately. Use the amount of area available to determine how many rabbits you will house in the hutch.

3. Draw a rectangle on a piece of graph paper, to represent your hutch. Decide on how many inches each square on the graph paper represents, based on your measurements from step 2.

4. Color in one square of the graph paper for each food bowl and each water bowl needed for the rabbits. You should plan on one bowl each per 2 rabbits housed.

5. Plan and mark on the graph paper, the location of the doors. You should have two doors distanced from each other, to allow maximum access to the rabbits. For example, you can place one door on the long side of the hutch and another one on the end or you can place two doors on the same side of the hutch.

6. Plan and mark on the graph paper, the location for vents. It’s imperative that you provide adequate ventilation for the rabbits.

7. Plan and mark one section that will be the bathroom area for the rabbits. Rabbits tend to soil in corners. They will not stay in this area and it should not be part of their exercise room in their hutch.

8. Plan and mark a section to provide a hiding cubby for each of the rabbits. You can build an enclosed area or place a ventilated paint bucket inside the hutch for rabbits to hide in. Each rabbit will need a hiding spot inside the hutch to go when frightened or when wanting solitude, since it’s part of their nature.
   
   If you’re housing bucks and does, each buck will need to be portioned off from the rest of the group. You cannot house multiple bucks together. Bucks cannot be housed with pregnant does. Bunnies will need a separate hutch when weaned.

9. Calculate the square footage left for exercising. This will be all the blank areas remaining on your graph paper. You will need to make adjustments to your plan or select a different size if there is not enough exercise and general living room left for your rabbits.

10. Decide what height you want the hutch to stand off of the ground. Write this height down. Determine what angle you want the roof.

11. Obtain a general hutch schematic to use as a guide for further dimensions and supplies. Write down your list of supplies from the information you determined in the preceding steps. You’re now ready to build your rabbit hutch.

Resources

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[goodselfme]

on 8/5/2009 Good advice for planning a rabbit hutch.

[sonni57]

on 8/4/2009 Thanks for the good details on rabbit hutches my bunny has 2 and a cage. He likes to move around plus he hops through the house like he owns it.