Predator Abatement for the Rabbits

 As I have mentioned before, I have an abundance of predators in the neighborhood. In addition to foxes and raccoons, I have once or twice caught bobcats on trail cameras, though never near the chicken tractors.  Rabbits are also pretty low on the food chain, and I have found signs of predation in my back yard (piles of fur, and once, a severed rabbit head).

The cages are pretty strong, especially the bottoms.  All sides are 14 gauge wire.  And the cages fit pretty tightly in the hutch and can be secured with wire.  Because of the location of the hutch, it's not really practical to put electrified netting or rope around the perimeter, meaning physical barriers will have to work (I suppose I'll revisit this if I come out to smashed cages and dead rabbits some morning).

The main point of vulnerability is the top of the cages.

I don't think anything could get in, but having a fox pacing on top of the rabbits probably wouldn't make for a very pleasant situation.  Eventually I will have water lines running along the top edge of the cages, as well, although that's paused for now because of winter.

My solution is to put some fencing along the top edge of the roof frame:

The distance from the frame to the top of the cages is about 24 inches, so the top row of the 28-inch fencing was clipped off and pieces straightened as before with the cages.  With the thinner-gauge wire, straightening it was relatively easy, and it was easily hung from hooks.

I'm using a couple of carabiners to hold the wire to the top of the cages along the sides.  I don't think this needs to be as seamless as would be needed if it were on the ground--anything trying to get on top of the cages will be jumping, and hitting a small gap won't be easy.  So for now, this looks good.

More on Rabbit Cages

On to the base (actually the whole framework):  In the last post I discussed building rabbit cages, starting with the basic wire-cutting and assembly.  The cage units are 5 feet wide by 30 inches, with each subdivided compartment being 30 inches square, or 6.25 square feet.  The height is 16 inches.  This is all fine according to the Michigan State guidelines.  I plan on getting New Zealand rabbits or similar, so they'll be about 11 pounds at the upper end.  There'll be more animals in the growout cages.

Two cage units side-by-side are thus 10 feet long, and 10-foot 2x4s were and are easily obtainable (albeit pricey in early-mid 2021, less later).  So it's a pretty simple framework: a 10x5 frame supported on legs with some diagonal bracing.  Because I planned to put a roof on, I moved the legs to the ends and then built another frame to hold the roof panes.

Because I was concerned about the whole thing being top-heavy, I made the top frame out of ripped 2x2s.  This was a mistake.  One of the long 2x2s warped and created a low spot in the roof.

This could (and did) cause water ponding and leakage.  There are a few ways to deal with that, from caulking to getting long panels that would cover the whole span with no cross-wise seams.  I also initially thought about cutting the end posts at an angle to provide for some runoff but did not do that in the end.  Because the roof panels were 8 feet long, I had gotten some 3-foot panels to give myself a little over 10 feet in total coverage. However, the sag attributable to the warped 2x2 was too much and the roof leaked not only along the seam between the 8- and 3-foot panels, but also from one of the longitudinal seams between the 8-foot panels.  Therefore, it was apparent that if caulking did not work (I tried it; it didn't), the 12-foot panels wouldn't either. Plus, even if it had worked, having some water ponding on the roof in summer wouldn't have been good--mosquitoes are not rare in Georgia.  So the roof support structure had to be replaced with a sturdier and straighter version.

 Here's a picture that shows the bowing in the one 2x2.  These were ripped out of the same 2x4 originally.

 

I built a new frame for the roof out of 2x4s, and also attached some better bracing:

Then I attached the new 12-foot panels.

Finally it was all assembled.

Next up: predator abatement.

Jack-o'-Lanterns and Slugs

 I'm not sure what the affinity is, but it's a recurring theme.

 

...There's no shortage of slugs in Georgia, and Halloween is usually before a serious freeze.