Building Our Hutch

As many of you know I recently became a first time mom with my partner Karina. A new baby has presented many challenges with the amount of time I have to spend with my rabbits. I have been searching for a solution for housing my rabbits while cutting down on cleaning time. I had researched several hutch builds until I came across plans designed by Teal Stone Homestead! Not only does the hutch make for easier cleaning & upkeep but the hutch also is great for ventilation.

Plans here: https://www.tealstonehomestead.com/blog/building-my-rabbit-hutch-with-kw-cages

This rabbit hutch is complete with a poop chute that eliminates the necessity for regular tray cleaning. This project was equally rewarding as it was challenging. If you are interested in building your own outdoor hutch for the first time, here are some key takeaways we discovered during this experience. It’s important to familiarize yourself with the size of this project. This rabbit hutch will end up being around 14’ and it’s extremely heavy but also extremely durable. The hutch would best built by two people and requires the use of power tools, either way you should plan on this project taking 3-4 days at least depending on your skills.

Before you start, spend time studying the actual cuts and terminology of the plans. There are some fairly technical cuts in this build that are easily the most challenging part and will require some patience and research if building isn’t your forte. We recommend doing some practice cuts before getting started! This hutch requires angled and beveled cuts. To complete this project you’ll need to ‘rip’ boards in half at an angle. We used a circular saw and found that you either need another person or clamps to complete this step with a circular saw. If possible a table saw would be the best tool to complete this step. Even if you are a seasoned builder, it’s important to follow all the directions listed in the plans and trust the process. Later during your build you’ll realize you needed to do those steps and it will end up causing you more time when you have to go back and complete the steps after all. The plans direct you to cut 10 middle supports, we found that you will end up needing 12. The plans also list that you will need 10 roof supports but again we found you will 12 for this as well. The original plans call for metal roofing, however, that product was not readily available in my area so I went with corrugated PVC sheets. Choosing this product over the recommended metal roofing works, however, it is important to note that it also presents its own challenges. When screwing down the roof, the PVC either flexes and leaves gaps that will need to be caulked later or the screw will go directly through the PVC. *If you choose to use PVC you will actually need 5 panels instead of 4 to cover the full hutch with enough overlap to keep water out. For the poop chute you will want to be sure to measure precisely, as once said, ‘measure twice, cut once’. To cut the material, we started with a circular saw and it ended up shredding the material, instead we used a utility knife which was difficult and provided uneven cuts.

Also for consideration is that there are not any trays underneath the bottom row so those rabbits will be pooping on the ground. We are experimenting with attaching a tarp so that we can more easily collect the compostable material! For now, I’ll be sitting trays below until we settle on a bottom chute. Occasionally you will need to spray the chutes down to keep them clean.

The placement of your hutch should be near water so that you can do so easily. The plans recommend you strap your cages down with zip ties. We also highly recommend this because if your rabbits are moving around, the cage could actually fall off!

We would like to thank Tiffany for providing us with the idea to build this extremely durable, ventilated, and time-saving rabbit hutch for our rabbitry.