March 2011

Bunny Hutch:

Most people get cats and dogs as their domestic house pets. Well, that is not the case here; we got a Rabbit!! Excited about this little addition to our home. He eats all locally-raised veggies, and greens. His litter is compostable for the garden, and he happens to be rather cute and soft.

My first project was to get him some space of his own. I was going to build a hutch completely from scratch, until one day while I was waking down our street, I realized there was the most amazing answer to my problems - a hutch out on a neighbor’s lawn with a sign that read “FREE”. Luckily the hutch was light enough for me to carry back to our house, which was in sight. This hutch was a small three- level kitchen cabinet, which had once housed extra pots or dishes.

As I start my journey home with my hutch, an elderly Russian woman came out of nowhere and insisted on helping me carry it back to my home. I let her help me the last twenty feet. She didn’t speak a lick of English, but she was so helpful and excited about my find.

During the next few days, I turned the unwanted kitchen hutch into my indoor rabbit hutch. I replaced the entire wooden door interior and the plastic window with a fine wire mesh that I picked up for under $10 at the local hardware store. I used my staple gun and scissors to do the rest.  I then added two holes to the existing shelves, for my rabbit to go up and down.  I allowed extra room on the bottom level for the litter box.

It has been almost four months now and he loves it. The top level is where I keep his water and food with the litter box on the bottom. The middle level is where he hangs out when he wants to be by himself or play with his toys. 

You might be wondering if that is where he lives 100% of the time. No, he doesn’t; he has free range of the kitchen, and I keep one of the doors on the hutch open at all times. He is very good about using his litter box, and I don’t want to be the cause for him not making it to his box.

This was such a nice and easy project that I get to enjoy daily. Luckily the color and size don’t take over our kitchen or our table area. Reclaimed furniture is the way to go for such projects in my book!