Photo Tour of our Rabbit Yard

In 2020 we moved and were able to expand our rabbitry in the large barn on the property – click here to read more about our current setup.  But not everyone has a barn (or wants to keep a large number of rabbits!). The setup below was our first rabbit yard – perfect for 2-3 rabbits in a small backyard. It served us well for 5 years!

Before we brought our bunnies home I combed the internet looking at pictures of other rabbit owners’ enclosures trying to get ideas.  I knew I didn’t want to keep them in sad little cages and wanted to include a spacious exercise yard.

The rabbit yard was right off the back of the house, in a corner framed by the sunroom & living room.  The area is about 10 feet x 15 feet.  Building it off the back of the house made it convenient for us to visit and care for the buns, keeps them safer, and allows the house to block wind & sun.

The yard is enclosed by a 4-foot high picket fence with chicken wire attached to it.  On the bottom 2 feet, and buried another 2 feet into the ground we have small gauge hardware cloth wire.  Chicken wire can be easily torn, this prevents the rabbits from burrowing under the fence, and keep predators from digging in.

To the left, we have benches for human visitors to hang out with the bunnies. The rabbits also love hopping up on them and hanging out underneath them.

Rabbits love climbing, jumping, and hiding!  We have nooks and crannies where they can hide, blocks to climb on, and boxes to jump into.  In the planter boxes, I planted some Timothy grass seeds, clovers have sprouted there on their own and I seeded some dandelions for the bunnies to munch on.

I cut the bottoms out of two plant buckets and taped them together to make a tunnel for the buns to explore.  Bricks on either side keep it from rolling around.

Our hutch is raised 2 feet off the ground, (click here to read how we built the base) leaving plenty of space to store supplies.  Their pellet feed is stored in a rodent-proof metal can.

I keep litter, hay, and cleaning supplies in a large plastic tote.  Having the hutch raised off the ground keeps them safer from predators, keeps them drier when it rains, and keeps them well out of snow drifts in the winter. The raised hutch is also easier for human caretakers to clean.

The lower level flooring is inexpensive ceramic tiles.  In addition to being easy to clean, the tiles help these fuzzy bunnies to stay cool in the summer.  Click here to read my tips for keeping Angoras cool in the summer. AND  Click here to see how we winterized our rabbits.

The hutch is plenty big enough for two bunnies to share.  Inside the hutch on the lower level, we have their litter box and hay bin to the left.  Their feed bin is attached to the lower right-hand door so it can swing out for easy filling.  Their water & ramp to the upper “sleeping” level are on the right.

We added an outdoor ramp for the bunnies to get from their hutch to their play yard on their own. It is made from some scrap plywood covered in two Dollar Store mats for traction.    The hutch was ordered online and painted to match our chicken coop.  Click here to see how we decorated it!

The doors on the upper & lower level both have dual locks

The upper level is the “bedroom”.  On the floor, we have a small rug.  When I add fresh hay to the hay bin, any old hay that is leftover from the previous day is taken out and put in here for them to nibble on as a midnight snack.  The hutch came with two ramps to access the upper level, one on the left and one on the right.  I didn’t want to sacrifice floor space on the lower level with two ramps so we removed the left ramp and covered the ramp doorway with wire (as seen above) to encourage airflow up there.