Livestock
Senior 1 · Agriculture
Livestock
Lesson 2 of 5
20 min
Let's begin
A student in Nyamagabe keeps six rabbits in a wooden box on the ground behind the kitchen. After a wet week, two young rabbits have died, the floor is soaked with urine, and a rat has been getting in at night. The rabbits were healthy when she bought them. What went wrong was the house.
A hutch is a raised, roofed house for rabbits, usually divided into compartments. Rabbits are small, nervous prey animals that suffer quickly from damp, draughts, heat and predators. A good hutch protects them from all four, keeps them clean, and makes feeding, breeding and record keeping easy.
| Part | Standard | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Legs | Raise the floor about 60–90 cm off the ground. Stand each leg in a tin of water or used oil. | Keeps rabbits away from damp soil, rats and dogs; the tins stop ants and rats climbing up. A raised floor is also easier to reach and clean. |
| Floor | Welded wire mesh with small squares (about 1.2–1.5 cm), or wooden slats with narrow gaps. Add a small solid resting board in each compartment. | Droppings and urine fall through, so the rabbits stay dry and clean. The board prevents sore feet (sore hocks) from standing on wire all day. |
| Walls | Wire mesh at the front for light and air; timber, bamboo or other local material at the back and sides. | Good ventilation removes the ammonia smell of urine, which damages the airways; solid sides block draughts. |
| Roof | Sloping, overhanging the front and back. Iron sheets need a layer of grass or a ceiling underneath. | Keeps rain off. Bare iron sheets heat up in the sun and can cause heat stress. |
| Doors | One per compartment, wide enough to lift a rabbit out, with a secure catch. | Easy handling; keeps predators and thieves out. |
| Compartments | Separate compartments for the buck, for each breeding doe, and for groups of young growing rabbits. | Bucks fight each other, and a doe needs peace to raise her litter. Keeping animals apart also controls breeding. |
| Nest box | A small wooden box with dry grass inside, put into the doe's compartment a few days before she is due to give birth. | The doe builds her nest there, lining it with fur she plucks from her own chest and belly. Kits are born blind and hairless and need this warmth. |
| Feeder, drinker and hay rack | A heavy clay pot or fixed trough for concentrates, a clean drinker, and a rack for greens. | Rabbits tip over light containers; greens on the floor get soiled with droppings and urine. |
Farm guides differ, and larger breeds need more room. As an illustrative guide used in this lesson, allow one compartment of about 90 cm long × 60 cm deep × 50 cm high for each adult buck or doe, and about 0.2 m² of floor per growing rabbit kept in groups. A nest box of about 45 cm × 30 cm × 30 cm fits inside a doe's compartment.
A farmer starts with 1 buck and 5 does. She also expects to keep about 20 growing rabbits at a time, in groups.
For most smallholders the raised hutch is the best balance of cost, hygiene and control.
Tip
Memory hook, the four enemies of a rabbit's house: "Damp, Draught, Heat, Hunters". Every part of a hutch fights one of them: legs and a mesh floor against damp, solid sides against draughts, shade and a lined roof against heat, doors and tins on the legs against hunters.
Exam technique: a question saying "describe the features of a good hutch" wants the feature and its reason. "Wire-mesh floor, so that droppings and urine fall through and the rabbits stay dry" earns both marks.
Give three reasons why a rabbit hutch is raised on legs.
Solution: It keeps the rabbits off damp ground; it keeps rats, dogs and other predators away; it lets droppings and urine fall out of the hutch; it makes feeding and cleaning easier for the farmer.
Why are the legs of a hutch sometimes stood in tins of water or oil?
Solution: Ants and rats cannot easily cross the water or oil to climb the legs, so they cannot reach and kill young rabbits.
A farmer uses bare iron sheets as the roof of a hutch placed in full sun. Explain the danger and give one remedy.
Solution: Iron sheets become very hot, and the rabbits can suffer heat stress and die. Remedies: place a layer of grass or a ceiling under the sheets, or move the hutch into shade.
A hutch has compartments of 0.9 m × 0.6 m. Growing rabbits need 0.2 m² each. How many growers fit in one compartment?
Solution: Area = 0.9 × 0.6 = 0.54 m². 0.54 ÷ 0.2 = 2.7, so only 2 growers fit (round down when counting animals that fit into a space).
Why should the buck be kept in a compartment of his own?
Solution: Bucks fight each other; a buck kept with does would mate at uncontrolled times, and he may disturb or harm young kits. Keeping him apart lets the farmer plan matings and keep breeding records.
Summary
Sources and credits
The Rwandan examples, worked examples and practice questions are written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
