Chook Me!

Can indoor rabbits live outside? (With chickens)?

They will be in a very large fenced area (two or three times bigger than most people's living rooms.) Surrounded by woods. The fence goes underground a foot to (hopefully) prevent them from digging out. The fence is about five feet up above ground. (the main predator fear is raccoons, as it's surrounded by trees.) They have a large underground burrow under a couple feet of earth to keep them warm during winter and cool during summer. There will be a large thicket of ceder and pine saplings. There is electricity, so if needed we can add heater/cooler. There will be many rabbits, not just one lonely one. In the same fenced area there will be chickens. Are they safe with rabbits? Assuming they can live, how much will being outside take from their lifespan? (I hear 5 years.) What about outdoor rabbits? Are they even sold? Is 42 really the answer? Temp range for our area is about 30-90. once in a while it goes down to 25 or 95. We live in northern California. Most of the research I've done assumes that the rabbits are in a small coop above ground. Also many articles I read seem very biased towards keeping the rabbit inside. We've already built the underground burrow. If we can't get rabbits, what are the chances that young chickens will use it? (6" tubes that lead into two large chambers.)

Public Comments

1. Definitely not. Yes, you may have one of the best prepared rabbit hutch that I've heard of. However the chickens post a problem. Chickens tend to get territorial, especially those who are of its size or smaller. Rabbits fit that category. Rabbits don't have much defensive mechanism to protect them from chicken attacks, which could prove fatal to them.