The bunnies used to be in bunny tractors, but that quickly became a problem because, first the females like to burrow in the ground for their nests, and if the tractor keeps moving they cannot establish their den. The other reason is also that burrowing in the ground of a movable cage is not ideal, as the bunnies carve holes large enough to escape or be endangered by dogs or other animals.
The other problem I noticed is that the rabbits become very wild in that environment and not very socialized, nor do they receive enough space for running around.
This new house has cubicles all around the house while the interior stays open to socialization. We made a 10' x 12' wooden frame, wraped in chicken wire from the inside. We burried the wire about 2 feet deep cemented into the ground. An 18 inch tall frame of sticks was built around the emerging wire. Onto this frame and wire support we proceeded to add "barro" or earth/clay with grass to make an 18 inch tall wall all around. We didn´t use cement because That would have heated up too much with the sun and would have caused the cubicles to be really hot. At the same time we were making blocks of earth stabilized with grass. The dimensions of these are 18"x18"x4". The cubicles were covered with 10' long boards.
The roof is a really nice clay imitation roof that we painted brick red.
Once the blocks were all dry we placed them in their locations to make 15 cubicles. We then smoothed and filled in the walls and cubicles with a water clay earth mixture. We then proceeded to fill the entire house with enough dirt to raise the floor about 3" to 4". The cubicles were then secure not to tople over. A bedding can be added on top like rice husks which we made an order for but still have not received. In the social area of the middle is where the water, fresh food and pellets and hay are put.
The house can be raked easily to clean, and the cubicles have access through the roof or by removing the clay blocks.
Once we added the bunnies, they were extatic! The moms with their young babies quickly picked their den. The babies started to explore all the cubicles with eagerness, hopping and skipping and running around with glee. Once we added the young immature females, they started jumping all over, including on top of the boards, looking at their million dollar view. All in all success!
The breeding males are kept separate, and the young males are separated once they start producing their scrotum and just when their testes descend, to the bunny tractor until they are large enough to slaughter, along with the older or unreliable females. We place the mature females one by one into the breeding males cage, for one day, and one night, then add them to the house.
We haven't had any moms give birth there yet, so I will coment on that when it happens. But as far as I now, they will burrow into their den, and slowly the babies will emerge as they grow.
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