nesting material in rabbit hutch

[DDWBeagles]

Since I have absolutely no luck as a trapper, I have two domestic dutch rabbits in an outdoor hutch. The female is pregnant, but destroyes everything I put in there for her to use a bedding material. Keep in mind, she is on a open wire floor. So far I've tried a wooden box with resting ledge on top and a larger shallow plastic bin, both with the recycled paper bedding material. She either uses the boxes as a litter box or pulls all the nesting material out. With the weather, the newborn rabbits, when they come, wont stand a chance if she can't keep them warm. Any suggestions.

[S.M. Beagler]

hey i have raised rabbits all of my life. first of all you need to seperate the male and the female rabbits before she has her litter. inside the hutch you'll need a wooden box about 10 inches tall a foot wide and maybe 15 inches deep. all you have to do is place that box in there and get the male rabbbit out. from my years experience i will reccomend you to never put anything in the nest at all! leave it empty and when she's ready to give birth the days before she'll begin to pull out hair from her body and make a big fluffy nest! just leave the hair alone and she can take care of the rest! if you dont place a box in there you will have disaster and you'll see baby rabbits squished through your flooring.. its a sad site! so dont go there!

[S.R.Patch]

On a first litter, most times don't expect to much. Seems a lot of the does have to figure out what it's about. Breed them right back, and they usually will do ok on the second litter.

We have metal nesting boxes with removeable wooden floors, we put in the hutch, just before the does are due. Grass hay is the only bedding we've ever used...Patch

[HH Bayou Meto Beagles]

I don't put the nest box in the cage untill 5 days before due date[about 25 days after breeding]. Then I put a little grass hay in the box and more in the cage. When she starts to nest she will pick the hay up and put more in the box then she will pull hair and build a deep hair nest for the babies. I've had good luck this way.
HH

[Toad]

I just had a buddy give me a San Juan/Belgian Hare cross that just had little ones. He (and I) use a 5 gallon bucket. Go to a donut shop and they usually give them away. I used a jigsaw and cut out 1/2 of the top. This will give them enough room for them to get in, but the little ones can't get out. I just wired it in my hutch to keep it from rolling. I put a little straw in mine and she would always eat it or pull it out until she got ready to give birth. When that time came, she just added some of her hair. Only problem you may have is that sometimes when the mother is nursing, she just up and jumps out and the babies don't get a chance to let go and sometimes get pulled out onto the wire... Hope this helps..

[DDWBeagles]

Thanks guys that makes sense. The male was already removed to his own hutch, but I think I was putting the bedding in too early. She has two more weeks before she is due. One more question. On the wooden or wire bedding boxes, do you have solid floors or is the floor open wire as well? I am going to assume solid, but correct me if I'm wrong.

[S.M. Beagler]

yeah the wooden box for the litter will or should have a solid wood floor. you can use some hay bedding if you'd like as they suggested above or let her build her own. i have had a few complications with they hay bedding but you should be alright!

[S.R.Patch]

In the cold, the hay helps as insulation along with the hair to keep them warm. In the warm weather, we use no hay.
The floor of our metal boxes is heavy "peg board" cut to fit. This allows any urine to drain through and is easy to replace.