Dealing with awful Omlet hutch in winter

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I have two rabbits about 10 months old. They are female and both spayed. Stupidly I didn’t do enough research before buying and bought the Omlet Eglu Go hutch. It’s awful. Seems to be a common complaint that the rabbits only use the back compartment as a toilet, so they’re out in the run 99% of the time. Not a problem when it’s dry, and even in the cold weather lots of straw in there works. But in the wet weather, it’s awful. It’s ruined the lawn and despite spending ££££ on litter, hay, straw etc, the rabbits are living in a soggy mess most days. I have the heavy duty cover but it doesn’t give full coverage and does nothing for a waterlogged lawn.
Longer term I intend to have the whole back yard paved and a large specialist rabbit enclosure installed from Shropshire Pet Housing. But, that will take months and I’m despairing at every wet day this winter.
Has anyone got ideas for an interim solution? There’s no room to bring them indoors or I’d consider that. It’s making me really unhappy when I think about how much I spent on the Omlet and how it’s absolutely useless.

What space is needed to bring them indoors?

As a child we used to bring my rabbit indoors in bad weather and it would run around the house. It slept in the kitchen at night and used a litter tray lined with newspaper.

Poor bunnies. There must be some quick fix. Can you bring them in overnight at least?

The omlet things have a good second hand market so you may recoup some of your costs.

In terms of a more immediate solution can you buy some very cheap slabs and just lay them on the mud and put straw on top of that

Move the hutch to a different spot on the lawn every couple of days?

I move them every week when I do a full clean of the hutch (litter trays daily), but the lawn is only so big and now it’s winter it’s not recovering between rotations. It rains a lot here in Wales so this is going to be a big problem until spring comes around again.

No idea about bunnies but can you make a floor for them - out of wood or something? A few wooden bath mats?

Some portable wooden bath mats is a good idea, anything that raises the floor and gives a bit of drainage would help.

Is the garden secure enough for them to be free range? I have hanging baskets with hay in. We had ours overnight in a puppy crate in our living room during the cold snap as one was shitting down in the cold and nearly died. We couldn’t let them out as we have a dog who is very keen on them! I agree the eglu is rubbish generally and very expensive too!

Is this their only hutch? A hutch needs to be big enough for at least three full hops, to ‘stand’ etc, the eglu is more of a temporary shelter while using their run. If they can’t live inside either freely or in a large enclosure you’ll need to either buy a shed or a decent size wooden hutch. The minimum recommended size for two bunnies is 3mx2mx1m (with 1m being height), chartwell do some good 6 foot hutches.

Rabbits are very clean and dislike sleeping where they toilet, this is likely why they avoid the hutch as it isn’t big enough to be more than a very expensive litter tray.

www.pdsa.org.uk/pet-help-and-advice/looking-after-your-pet/rabbits/creating-the-ideal-home-for-your-rabbits

Bring them in :(
My childhood bunny was a house bunny. She just hopped around like a kitten, free range and had a small cage just for bedtime.

I think it's so cruel to have pet rabbits out in the winter. They can't burrow like they need to for warmth

This?

There's no way that's for two rabbits?!

It literally just looks like a cats litter tray 😮

Can you put a litter tray in the run? That's what we have - they have a wooden hutch on a paved surface that is connected by a tunnel to a wire run (which is omlet I think). I've put a cheap tarpaulin over the run to create a roof and they have a liter tray with sawdust in one corner. They never seem to wee or poo in the hutch, they always go off into the run. It has meant I've gone from weekly full hutch clean outs to monthly, I just change the tray very two or three days and move the run around to give them a new patch of grass once or twice a week.

It’s completely unsuitable, I agree. I’m going to buy something like attached but I need paving stones laid first:

I had exactly the same issue years ago and I can’t believe Omlet are still promoting their chicken house as a rabbit hutch. It’s totally unsustainable for all the reasons you’ve said. I ended up selling mine (to someone who was going to use it for chickens!) and buying a huge hutch for my buns - luckily my garden was secure so they could free-range in the day. Can you buy a big hutch and run and list it for sale? You’ll easily sell it. Or do you have a room you can temporarily make rabbit-proof like a utility room? Then sell it and use the money for a big hutch and run.

I'd also bring them into the house until you can give them the bigger hutch.

Another "bring them in and give them the run of the house" vote.

Ours had a hutch on the floor in the kitchen where she slept, but which was always open. She had the run of downstairs and the garden when back door was open. She got out into neighbours' gardens lots of a few times but always came home, so don't worry too much about garden security.

NB - if you do bring them in, protect any electrical cables at floor level. Ours nibbled through a few.

Way too cold and wet outside for them in winter. I'd bring them in too.

Hard wood chippings (not bark chippings) or bean straw is good in winter but you need a thick layer and it stays dry. Also cover the open part of the run so rain doesn’t add to the water logging. That’s what working for my chickens at this time of year.

Please bring them in. It's going to get really cold again in a few days. The new hutch you're buying is lovely, but until it arrives they'll suffer x

Ah! Now that might be the solution. Heading over to B&Q to give that a try!

indoor really isn’t an option. It’s a typical shoe box of a new build and there is zero floor space for a pen to keep them safe when we’re not in.

There's no way mine are going to be indoors over winter! They really don't need it.

I think it depends a lot on how much the temperature drops, but if it were up to me, I would take them inside the house

Mine are indoors for the winter! They roam the downstairs as much as possible and have a double height indoor cage. I wish I had space to give them their own room but they are happy enough! They also get out in their massive run during the day when it's dry and not frosty so they can have fresh grass and fresh air!