Just built a hutch, need advise about lock

[Thumperina]

We finally finished the hutch. None of us neither a carpenter nor an expert, we were trying to spend as little as we could. It was supposed to have more wired surfaces but we finally decided to make a "winter" hutch that can be transfered into "summer" hutch when it is warmer - we plan to replace some solid wood with wire. It is far from being perfect and it is rather dark right now.
The door is missing a lock. What kind of lock could you recommend? We will find the way to keep the door up when rabbits let out. We don;t seem to have any racoons or other "smart" predators here but who knows...We might add short legs (but it is rather heavy by now).
Another question: top "doors" just lie flat (we dont plan any locks for that part). Is it safe to have top "doors" without any lock? I don;t think any animal or a bird is able to open them to get in. Am I right?

 

[Thumperina]

 

[Thumperina]

 

[Blue eyes]

Is this hutch going to be kept outside?
Is it made of particle board?
What kind of paint did you use?

It appears at quick glance that if a bunny were on the inside shelf, that he could push the lid open and escape. Either a weight would have to put on, or, better yet, a lock or clasp.

 

[Thumperina]

Thanks for coming in!
The hutch is for outdoor use.
I am not sure what a particle board is. Thin wood (roof, walls, etc) is a plywood. Otherwise (base or support wood) are just regular pieces... I don't know how to explain (maybe my husband could answer better later). It seems to me that the roof is pretty heavy for bunny to push up. There are two pretty large pieces there. But we could put something on top for the weight.
Paint is exterior "house" paint.

 

[erinmoveit]

You may have an issue with the paint. All the rabbit toys that I have that are colored are colored with food coloring or other natural additives. Bunnies love to chew and I would be worried about them chewing on the wood. I am not an expert on this, so I may be wrong and the kind that you used could be fine.

I think it you were to raise it off the ground it would reduce some of the risk involved in having an outdoor hutch. You don't have to worry about snow, but if it rains, how easy would it be to flood the hutch if it was on the ground? Even if you raised it and then had wire on the sides and bottom so that they could run around on the ground without being able to escape.

 

[tamsin]

Wow, that looks like a lot of hardwork! I like the bunny sized flap

Bolts work well for closing doors, I would put bolts on everything just to make sure the bunny can't push it open, the wind can't blow it up and predators can't break in. The other option is a screw in eye (loop) on each door and putting a padlock through to keep them together.

You might want to line the floor inside with lino as even painted they tend to rot where urine sits. You can get usually get lino offcuts quite cheaply.

Depending where it will sit, you might also need to felt the roof, particularly if it's flat. Again, where the water sits it tends to warp/rot quickly. You can get roofing felt like you use for sheds to cover the top board with - it glues on with special glue.

Make sure you've got all the edges and bottom painted with outdoor paint to protect it from the rain.

 

[Thumperina]

You may have an issue with the paint. All the rabbit toys that I have that are colored are colored with food coloring or other natural additives. Bunnies love to chew and I would be worried about them chewing on the wood. I am not an expert on this, so I may be wrong and the kind that you used could be fine.

I think it you were to raise it off the ground it would reduce some of the risk involved in having an outdoor hutch. You don't have to worry about snow, but if it rains, how easy would it be to flood the hutch if it was on the ground? Even if you raised it and then had wire on the sides and bottom so that they could run around on the ground without being able to escape.

thanks for the input!
We do have an old hutch which is kind of similar to this, but smaller, and it is painted the same way. We haven't had any problems with chewing. My bunnies are strange bunnies - they don't even chew what they are given to chew (well, they chew pine cones and something like natural straw sticks). I need to mention that they spend a lot of time out of the hutch (in the bunny-proof yard) so they probably are finding something to chew there.
It very rarely rains or snows here. So boring!!! We will certainly need to lift it up to set it off the ground, but not much. For now, we don't even know how to transport the hutch to the backyard - it is too heavy. We will need to make wheels or make it fly

 

[Thumperina]

Wow, that looks like a lot of hardwork! I like the bunny sized flap

Bolts work well for closing doors, I would put bolts on everything just to make sure the bunny can't push it open, the wind can't blow it up and predators can't break in. The other option is a screw in eye (loop) on each door and putting a padlock through to keep them together.

You might want to line the floor inside with lino as even painted they tend to rot where urine sits. You can get usually get lino offcuts quite cheaply.

Depending where it will sit, you might also need to felt the roof, particularly if it's flat. Again, where the water sits it tends to warp/rot quickly. You can get roofing felt like you use for sheds to cover the top board with - it glues on with special glue.

Make sure you've got all the edges and bottom painted with outdoor paint to protect it from the rain.

thank you!
We used to put tarp over the old hutch when it was raining - it seemed to work well (you need to know it is going to rain and to be home to do it), we will need to see about putting felt on the roof.
Is not lino a little bit slippery? I haven't decided what to have on the solid floor yet. In the old hutch we had wire, and hay in the part that was solid, but with this hutch I don't want to put any hay on the floor. They shouldn't pee and poop onto food (hay) so hay will probably be available in the feeder. I will try to put a litter box somewhere in the hutch - they use it pretty well when stay in garage overnight.
We will consider lino, thanks!

 

[erinmoveit]

they also have textured lino, but is still a little slippery compared to some of the alternatives (like wood). You could always lino just for sanitation for urine rot purposes, but give them fleece or blankets to walk around on.