Did I Actually Do That?

I've spoken before about my ineptitude with tools, handyman projects, and pretty much anything to do with manual labour. Well, I'm putting all that aside now, because I didn't just finish a project; I finished a BIG project.

Big for me, at least. And for the new occupants, it's pretty big, too.

That's right...it's a rabbit hutch. Doors at both ends, a partitioned area for sleeping and getting out of the wind (we get lots of that here, especially in the wind tunnel that is between our barn and garage), a slanted roof that will shed the precipitation (hopefully), and space for them to move around in. Best of all, we put them in inside a chicken run, so we can let them out to play in the grass once in a while.

That's Artemis, peeking out from behind the partition. The two lines of light at the back are the outline of the second door. The straw will allow them to stay warm and give them a nest for their young, once they have them.

And there they are in the partitioned area; obviously, I came in through the back door for this picture. The brown bunny is Jellybean. Neither of them have any use for people; I had a heck of a time getting them from their barn cage to the new hutch. The problem is that I forgot the first rule of dealing with bunnies: Wear gloves.

There's Jellybean. The hardware cloth is very securely attached, so there won't be any predators getting in there. The only vulnerable spot right now would be the doors themselves, which aren't very thick since I didn't have good material to work with; I repurposed some thin (1/4") plywood for the door section. I'll be replacing them once I have some fresh plywood of the proper thickness. For now, though, it should suffice; as you can see in the first picture, they're three feet off the ground as it is.

We are going to be putting in a second partitioned area so that each of the girls has her own section to sleep in and raise their young. The food and water bowls are temporary; we're going to be setting up dispensers on the side through the hardware cloth this week. Easier to fill from the outside, and more  secure for the girls and their kits once they are born.

So, it's bunny farming time. And Bugs, our buck, is going to be spending some quality time with both of them this week so as to encourage production of the aforementioned kits. Yeah, it's going to be a busy summer on the Sprigg farm...