New bunnies help

[Ploppppppppp]

Hi,

I am adopting two bunnies ( 1 year olds) from my friend who is moving and unable to take them with her. She has them as indoor bunnies in her flat- they are kept in spare room. We want to change them to outdoor buns as we have a nice big garden and also a cat so not sure indoor is ideal. We were planning on keeping them in their original indoor hutch inside for the first couple
of weeks and letting them in the garden a couple
of hours a day ( supervised) to get them used to it. Then buying a big new hutch for the garden when they move in. As our garden is quite big I’m not sure it’s a good idea to let them run freely so was looking at runs but they all seem quite small. Can someone point me in the right direction? And does all of the above sound ok? Never had rabbits before

https://www.therange.co.uk/pets/small-pets/small-animal-housing/wooden-double-tier-small-animal-hutch/?gclid=Cj0KCQjwiZqhBhCJARIsACHHEH-ZZtRIUqEPD0kker1sXwyNMBCCzoADiQuJjYzj2U_mVyVgz-5Yq_AaAlbZEALw_wcB#1684916

this is the sort of hutch we were looking at. Is this ok?

Sadly a hutch is too small to meet minimum size, 10ft x 6ft x 3ft/3m x 2m x 1m is the absolute minimum recommended space for a pair of rabbits. Unless connecting 24/7 to a run, shed or coop. My old set up before moving was a converted kids playhouse connected via tunnels to a shed and coop which either of which could be a good option for you and has the benefit of being much less of an eye sore in my garden! Happy to link some similar set ups if it’s helpful

They need way more space than that.

Can you not bunny proof your garden and let them have the run of it, and then just shut them up at night?

We segmented our garden to give us somewhere for flowers (which they are allowed into when they need pruning 🤣🤣) and the rest is given over entirely to the rabbits. Bonus is, we never need to mow that part.

Yes pls that would be great!

i didn’t mean that hutch would be the run- I meant in addition to. Yea will look at bunny proofing garden- just quite a lot of spots they could get lost in. How did you segment? Hubs is quite handy so wondering if he can rustle something up

Chicken wire is your friend for bunny proofing.

Segmented using a fence. At the top of the garden we just bought metal fencing, pretty kind, from B and Q and then used invisible chicken wire to cover the gaps.

We then made a "play pen" which can be moved around other areas of the garden if we need to keep them out of somewhere for whatever reason.

Dig wire fencing into ground (as in hidden under the ground!) around fencing if you’re worried about foxes digging in if you do let them free roam! We have done that around our coop just in case as they’re very brave around here. This is similar to the coop we have but ours has a back door too which is permanently open as attached to shed for warmth altho tempted to invest in a tunnel system I’ve seen that can connect hutches sheds runs ect for 24/7 access. Ours is reinforced by dh with extra wire ect due to mentioned cheeky foxes but if your garden is usually left alone it shouldn’t be needed. https://www.amazon.co.uk/PawHut-Chicken-Galvanized-Backyard-Water-Resist/dp/B09ZLJ2HQQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=35655VCDSIO7V&keywords=walk%2Bin%2Bchicken%2Bcoop&qid=1680484084&sprefix=walk%2Bin%2Bchicken%2Bcoop%2Caps%2C234&sr=8-4&th=1&psc=1

Whichever option you choose I suggest keeping hutch anyway as they’re a very useful hideaway that’s what I use them for for my buns as it offers another layer of wind protection i simply just remove a door or two so they dont get shut in or accidentally shut each other in (would post pic of my set up but it’s rather outing being a local small animal rescue in a small town )

To be honest, if you haven't bought a hutch yet, don't. Buy a shed instead! Shiplap or Tongue & Groove (not overlap, they fall apart, that's why they're cheap).

There's some good suppliers here: http://www.rabbitresidence.org.uk/rabbit-housing-suppliers.html