Ok so I'm seriously asking here, not trying to be smart or anything but was always told rabbits raised on the ground. Would die really quick . How quickly is quick supposed to be exactly because it's been a few months now and these things are just fat lazy and happy . Is it just because they get moved ever so often or does my ground possibly not contain the stuff that should hurt them ? Or when people say quick is it really talking in years not weeks or days ? Eveyone I asked around here can't seem to give me any kind of answer

Been awhile since my daughters had 4h rabbits but in the summer we would put the in an easy to move chicken wire pen and let them graze in the yard. real simple affair. could move it in a few minutes . let them out of the hutchs several hours a day. we had no problems with it.

Never raised any on the ground so can't say but like any other livestock I would think that there might be a possible build up of pathogens like worms. Again I dont know if that's the case but your moving them to new ground is wise without any other knowledge on it.

Butchered a cotton tail last night that was full and I mean full of tape worms, maybe people who had trouble keeping them on dirt were suffering tape worms?

Coccidia is the main culprit. It's a parasitic protozoa common in wet warm soil. Adult rabbits, unless they are immunocompromised, usually have no ill effects from coccidia. Most coccidia is fairly species specific.

Young rabbits, especially in hot weather will bloat up from the coccidia that lives in their guts. It's usually fatal once they bloat. If they survive, they are resistant to it in the future. Sulphamethadioxide, also known as Di-Methox, which is a coccidiastat, works great as a cure. It used to be cheap, but now you need a prescription.

When I raised pups I could buy a gallon for $44.00 that contained 1857 times the concentration vets now sell as Albon, which has syrup added for flavor, for $200.00 plus.

Avoiding sick rabbits, keeping the pen on dry ground and moving the pen frequently will make the chances of coccidia infections less. If they do get it, lime on the ground will kill it making it harder to spread.

At high densities of rabbits, on the ground, you would likely eventually have problems.

Keith

Interesting so I was actually about to be liming my yard here in a few weeks to help with my soils acidic levels, that would basically kill off the main culprit then right ?

Hydrated lime works better than agricultural lime. Both make it harder for the oocysts to sporulate. Both also dry out the soil, making conditions for coccidia less favorable. Oocysts are a dormant form of coccidia, which have a hard protective coating, that allows them to pass from a host and wait for up to very long periods of time to be taken in by another. If they can't sporulate, they can't reproduce in a host's cells.

If you do ever have a problem and can't get Di-Methox, most feed stores sell a goat wormer called Safeguard. The active ingredient is Fenbendazole. The dosage, for most mammals is 1ml or 1cc per 5 pounds of weight. It's not a cociddiastat, but will weaken coccidia enough to give the immune system a chance. Coccidiastats kill coccidia. Most other drugs just weaken it.

Fenbendazole is great for worming dogs. A three day treatment will even kill anchor, hook and tape worms as well as large round worms. It's safer for young puppies than Ivomec. I used to worm puppies at 4 and 6 weeks with Fenbendazole, vaccinate at 7 weeks, 10 weeks and 16 weeks and Ivomec puppies at 8 weeks, 12 weeks and 6 months. Ivomec kills the microfilaria that cause heart worm. Ivomec kills mange and ear mites. It somewhat limits ticks and fleas.

Imidacloprid eliminates fleas entirely and kills ticks. Bayer Tree and Shrub and the cheap knockoffs all work great for fleas as long as they are just imidicloprid and inert ingredients. I can do all the vaccination and parasite treatments for one of my adult dogs for just a little over $14.00 a year. A vet will screw you hard on that.

Keith

Always interesting to read about rabbits since I too have some. Keith you sure are good on advice, thanks

I was 10 years old and had rabbits in an old building, Baby rabbits everywhere and a dumb kid trying to figure where I went wrong never made a dime and at 10 learned a valuable lesson.

Just know, with added lime and rabbit crap as fertilizer, you better keep the lawnmower blades sharp because you're gonna be mowing at least 2X week. At least.

But you will have a pretty yard for people to gawk at and you to mow.

So when you building the next rabbit tractor for rabbit overflow?

You know I'm right!

That dieing on the ground but is pure hogwash, I know a lot of people that do just that and have no greater morality then if they were raised off it, as long as sanitation is t he same

At one time my cousins raised thousands of them in pens outside on the ground
Just fine,

It’s the lack of sanitation that’s the great killer when ground raising rabbits that kills them off, the same can be said for poultry, pigs or cattle or other livestock kept and raised in small areas