Location: outdoors, away from the house
Keeping rabbits in a basement or a closed room seems convenient to many people. In reality it is one of the riskiest options. In an enclosed space, ammonia from urine and damp build up. Removing them takes strong ventilation running all the time — and if it stops, both the rabbits and the family living above suffer.
For a small farm, the sensible choice is a roofed shed with partly open sides in the yard, away from the house and your neighbours’ windows. A structure like that ventilates itself with natural airflow.
Where the smell comes from
Rabbits themselves hardly smell. The "rabbitry smell" is ammonia, released when urine sits in wet bedding, wood or puddles and bacteria break it down. Dry droppings kept apart from urine barely smell, and flies do not breed in them.
So the main rule is: never let urine sit as a wet mass.
- Use wire or slatted cage floors so droppings and urine fall through.
- Put a sloped tray or gutter under the cages so urine drains to one point.
- Do not let trays overflow: empty them every 1–4 days, depending on how many animals you keep.
- Deep litter turns into a source of ammonia and disease once it gets wet — it is harder for a beginner to manage.
Rabbit manure is a good fertiliser and can go on the garden even without composting.
Cage size and stocking density
Research shows that density matters more than cage size. In a hot climate, at the end of fattening there should be no more than 18 rabbits or 34 kg of live weight per square metre — above that, deaths more than doubled. For example, a 90×60 cm cage can take up to 7 young rabbits to slaughter weight, while 8 rabbits in a 75×60 cm cage is too crowded.
A doe’s cage must fit a nest box and still leave her room to stretch out beside it. The inside of a nest box is roughly 50–56 × 35–40 × 30 cm.
Keep cages on one level: stacked tiers ventilate worse and get hotter in summer.
Shade and airflow
In an Uzbek summer, heat is the fastest killer of rabbits. In Tashkent region, daytime temperatures in June–August are usually around 33–36 °C, and rabbits cannot sweat.
- The roof matters most: insulate the roof before the walls. Metal sheeting gets very hot; reed roofing lets far less heat through.
- Make the roof overhang 70–80 cm so direct sun never reaches the cages.
- Let air come in low and at mid-height and leave high up. Plant fast-growing trees around the shed.
- Point fans to blow along the cages, never straight at the rabbits.
- In winter, do the opposite and protect them from draughts — cold moving air brings respiratory disease.
A note on winter
An Uzbek winter can still freeze newborn kits. They usually get cold from below, through the floor of the nest box. A sheet of polystyrene at least 1 cm thick under the nest box floor is a cheap and effective fix. In winter, check drinkers several times a day so the water does not freeze.
Feed and rodents
Store feed and grain in closed containers that rats cannot get into. Cages raised off the ground also protect rabbits from rats, dogs and cats.
Common beginner mistake: keeping rabbits under a metal roof, without shade, or in a closed room with no air movement. You can lose several animals on the very first scorching day. Plan shade and airflow before you plan cages.
