The Tea Chest Rabbit Hutch.

The Tea Chest Rabbit Hutch.

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As I mentioned in the previous blog that I would tell you how we my father and I converted the tea chests into rabbit hutches. I say we as he helped me build the first three, from then on I was able to follow on building from the original design. The material used in the conversion came from wooden boxes that once held Corned Beef tins from the Argentine that my father brought home from the shop. Other wood came from Messer’s timber yard in Queen Street, Maidenhead. Other hardware fittings came from Bill Church on Station Hill.

The top photo shows the front of the finished which I have drawn from memory. The door to the right opened up to the breeding chamber. The left was what I will call the day chamber where the food was placed with a small container of water. Both doors were held shut with a single button closer. The breeding chamber floor was covered with a layer of hay. While the day chamber had a layer of sawdust, of which plenty was available in the butchers shop.



The second photo is a drawing looking down from the top, showing the dividing wall between the two chambers.

The third photo drawing shows the entrance hole for the rabbit to go from one chamber to the other. These photos are of the hutches that I used for breeding; other hutches not required for breeding did not have the dividing wall and could hold four rabbits that were being raised for the table.

While the doe was having her young in the breeding chamber, one never open that door as she would more than likely kill her young? One had to wait until they ventured out into the day chamber to find how many young there were.