Rabbit fencing. Works everytime.

Dave

I never implement my plan: It is to SHOOT THEM on their tail's end. haha

This post was edited by seysonn on Thu, Jul 11, 13 at 12:34

Fencing in a suburban area, feral cat in our new rural home. They do have a serious liking for beans, clover, peas.

I have barn cats that are half bobcat and I don't have any problems with anything in my garden. I don't even get any squirrels in my pecan trees though I have them all over down by the creeks on my property.If you don't have cats I would try a fence.

I am lucky that I have a fox in my neighborhood, who is doing his part! There are still rabbits, so because I don't have the time or money to build a true fence yet, I have wrapped bird netting very tautly around the base of my raised beds (attaching it to the trellises I have in place for my beans). They are also nibbling on okra and Mexican sour melons, so those beds got the same treatment with row cover when I ran out of bird netting.
Now, same question for chipmunks! I have one for the first time this year, and I think it is eating my squash.

Fencing has to be done very carefully, took me 3 seasons to fill in all the places rabbits wriggled through. Needs to be at least 12" deep also.

Cat is best. Got rid of my fencing once I had a cat. Just only feed them dry food, then they will be motivated to hunt. Takes care of the gophers too.

Repelling with chemicals has been ineffective for me. We have trapped some, shot others. I wonder how effective cats are with jackrabbits?

If building a fence again, I would take chicken wire that was 4 feet tall and bury it about 18" and leave the other 2.5' above ground. The area that becomes tricky is the gate. I would continue to be vigilant though, looking for weak spots that they exploit (as noted above) and I would continue to thin the herd.

As I work on improving my fence, many young seedlings go into milk jug cloches for protection until they are larger. Bean seeds are covered with row cover fabric to keep the rabbits (and birds) away. As they get taller, I take scraps of chicken wire and wrap around the base to help deter them.

Cat is highly effective against chipmunks. Most cats will take out the young rabbits but it takes a specialist to get the big ones.

When my rabbit cat was in his prime, he cleared them right out.

The cats in my neighborhood don't consider rabbits to be food, since they don't come out of a can. And the dogs are too obese to hunt. The rabbits won't go near the Havahart trap, no matter what I use for bait. So I use the 22 on them. They are pretty smart. They only visit during dark hours now. I'm too cheap to buy a laser sight, so I guess they've won.

The extent to which you have to go depends on what else is available for the rabbits to eat. I have a very large chemical-free yard which also has a lot of clover in it. I use 24" chicken wire around my beans, spinach, kale and lettuce. I don't have to bury it, and they leave everything else alone.

veeta is fortunate to have a resident fox. If you don't have a resident fox or cat, the next best thing is to use the marking tool that will send the message that you do.
We use Critter-Repellent's Fox Urine Granules around our garden with great success.

Here is a link that might be useful: Natural Rabbit Repellent

Thanks folks for the suggestions.
:)

Came home tonight to one already in the garden. Didn`t even know it was there until I opened the door to the backyard and it took off for the field behind my house.

Took a nap, woke up later, went outside and was on the porch looking at the bean patch. Saw a leaf just get pulled down and disappear. I knew there was another one in there. I went inside to get the pellet gun and then went back out to the bean patch. As I was walking towards it, another smaller "player" took off and headed for the field behind the house too. It never stopped. I didn`t have time to draw a bead on it before it also, disappeared into the tall grass.

Was looking over the bean plants. These guys are doing some serious damage to my plants. I need to do something soon before these guys eat up all of my hard work. I don`t think I have seen so many in all of my time gardening. If I could figure out when they like to eat, I might could make myself available to thin the herd accordingly.

These critters have GOT to go.

I do agree that they like clover. I have some in my yard but it was mowed two nights ago. I see them in the neighbors yards eating almost every day. Seems like now, they have figured out that I have something better. They are taking advantage of that.

The fencing idea sounds good.

The idea of having a cat loose on the property ( my yard is fenced in all the way around the back ) might work but I don`t have one. I like cats but not ready to "adopt" a new pet.

I know where the things are coming into my yard at, also where they leave it ( when they are in a HURRY to leave ).

Do rubber snakes work? Just a thought to throw out there if anyone has tried. I had someone tell me about that today at work. Might be a solution....not sure.

coach,
just saw your post.

I have thought about using chemicals to make the rabbits think that there may be predators around. I am intrigued by that idea. I think I read somewhere last night that blood meal works also.

This post was edited by hobbiest on Thu, Jul 11, 13 at 19:54

I had major problem with rabbits and yard rats (squirrels). That was in 2011. Now - 95% control. Here is what I did.

Plantskyddî Repellent && Repels All -- I purchased my first bag of Plantskydd in late 2011 and swore off the stuff because it did not seem to work. I then did extensive research on squirrel and rabbit behavior and learned that when the garden is actively growing is not the time to start the repellant use. In 2012 I started applying the Plantskydd in mid-February -- a very light dusting around the perimeter of my garden. The label says the stuff lasts for months but I decided to dust the garden area every 2-3 weeks until April. In April I put a heavy dusting all around the garden. We have a 6 foot privacy fence with a 4x4 post every 8 feet and on top of each post I put a tablespoon of the Plantskydd. I also put down the Repels-All the week after the Plantskydd each time. In 2012 I had ONE ""rogue"" squirrel. That monster was resistant to everything except red pepper and garlic. I mixed 50% red pepper powder and 50% garlic powder in a kitchen squirt bottle with mineral oil and put it on the ground around the little "rogue's" favorite spots to dig. Since it was just garlic and pepper I also put this around the top of each container. By the time my tomatoes and sweet peppers began to color and get ripe I had just about 95% control over these little monsters.

I grow exclusively in EarthBox (25+), Containers (15 +/-) and raised beds. I keep all of my containers and EB's on wood pallets to keep them off the ground. I sprinkle the Plantskydd and the Repels-All on the ground around the containers and not on the soil inside the EB's or containers.

From my research I have learned that using the same repellant each time is not wise. For my garden a fence was not possible.

Plantskydd is expensive and not readily available so this year I have used Organic Blood Meal after the Plantskydd ran out. I alternate it with the Repels-All and so far so good.

Not 100% but 95% is OK by me. We love stewed rabbit but in the city we are not allowed to shoot the little buggers.

Cheers,
DL

Disclaimer:: I am not in anyway affiliated with Plantskydd or Repels-All. I only report what works for me.

An electric fence has worked well for keeping rabbits and other small animals out of our garden. Wires are on removable poles at heights of 6 and 12 inches. Fence charger is on a cycle timer - off during the day, on at night.

Owning a beagle definitely helps. He pees in the yard and chases them away. He's never actually caught one, I'm not sure he'd know what to do if he did. :)

I scattered blood meal around my beans early this spring when I saw the rabbits were going to be a problem. I scattered more when it got wet and disappeared, I have yet to pick a bean, all the blood meal did for me was fertilize the beans. when the plants got big enough, the rabbits hid under the leaves and ate the blooms and beans off. I'm going to have chicken wire put all the way around on the outside of my board fence. That will close up some holes at least. I shoot some with the pellet gun, but can't get them all.

Yep! That`ll pretty much do it.........providing that you can be in the right place at the right time! LOL!

I have problems with rabbits. Without a fence I would never get broccoli.. I transplanted 30 a few years ago and woke up to having half the plants eaten to the ground. I decided to get some fencing when I came home from work that day but when I arrived home that night there were only 2 1/2 left standing.
I now use 3' chicken wire with the bottom 8" bent at a 90 degree angle at the ground. I then use garden staples to secure the wire to the ground then mulch over top to try and keep the weeds from growing. It's a giant waste of space but has to be done until I can eliminate the rabbits from the neighborhood. The fence is hideously ugly and an embarrassment but at this point it is only way I can grow certain crops.
I probably average 5-6 rabbits per year with the bb gun but after what I've seen this year - I'm not sure I'm making a dent with those rodents. 1-2 blackbirds with the bb gun usually gets them to move on however. Smart creatures.

We have TONS of rabbits that sit right next to the garden looking longingly at the vegetation (the adults - the babies get eaten by our cats).

As Dave said, buried rabbit fencing. We have never had a problem.