I think the rabbits are smarter than me.

[Artichoke Lover]

I’ve tried several kinds of fencing to keep out the local rabbit population. I feel like I should have given up after one found a way around chicken wire buried at foot deep and 4 tall and decided to raise babies in the garden. This year I ddI an experiment and planted some in the fence and some out of several of our mutual favorite crops.(Note this was behind a new type of fencing several hundred feet away from the old garden. And what did I find. Everything inside the fence is decimated the rabbits chewed holes in fence which frankly is not surprising. The big surprise was the fact that everything outside the fence is completely untouched this is in 2 different plots. I’m honestly wondering if they know that there must be something good if it’s behind the fence. Either that or the grass is always greener on the other side applies to cottontails too.

 

[Dirtmechanic]

I’ve tried several kinds of fencing to keep out the local rabbit population. I feel like I should have given up after one found a way around chicken wire buried at foot deep and 4 tall and decided to raise babies in the garden. This year I ddI an experiment and planted some in the fence and some out of several of our mutual favorite crops.(Note this was behind a new type of fencing several hundred feet away from the old garden. And what did I find. Everything inside the fence is decimated the rabbits chewed holes in fence which frankly is not surprising. The big surprise was the fact that everything outside the fence is completely untouched this is in 2 different plots. I’m honestly wondering if they know that there must be something good if it’s behind the fence. Either that or the grass is always greener on the other side applies to cottontails too.

I liked the book Watership Down. Your post made me think of smart rabbits and how well they can hide. I wonder if they have a warren in your garden already.

 

[AMKuska]

I liked the book Watership Down. Your post made me think of smart rabbits and how well they can hide. I wonder if they have a warren in your garden already.

I loved watership down too!! It's one of my favorite books.

 

[digitS']

I think the rabbits are smarter than me.​

Nah, they're not. We have Mountain Cottontails here. I've wondered about the name. I watched carefully for rabbits when I lived at the foot of Cedar Mountain in the Belmont District with forest all around my home. I never saw a single one. If they are "mountain" - why aren't they in the mountains instead of the ex-urbs?

The people tolerate them and the coyotes show up too seldom to make their lives very difficult there. I've walked within 8 or 10 feet from Benjamin Bunny and he didn't move. Smart? I hit one with a rock and had him act like, "where did that come from?"

They seem to have learned that I don't want them in the garden. That's unlike the tree squirrels here at home. They seem more at ease around me now than ever. They will chase after a thrown rock, apparently curious as to what it is. It's better for me to throw Garbanzo the Dog's metal bowl at them but it is still, "I was wondering why that thing was getting bigger. Then, it hit me!!"

Rodents. One day, rabbits ate about half of a new planting of bush beans. I was in the garden spraying with neem oil. I thought that it may not poison the rabbits but the neem smelled terrible, surely they would go somewhere other than the little beans for something to eat. Nope. They ate the other half before I was out there the next day.

Dad tried to trap the rabbits getting in his garden with various goodies in a live trap. For all their skill at squeezing thru a fence, they didn't seem smart enuf to find a way into the trap.

Steve

 

[Dirtmechanic]

Our cats brought 2 rabbits into the house last week. I do not have problems with rabbits in the yard. Or mice. Or chipmunks. Or birds. I wish I did. All my problems are in the house. Or walls. Or closets. Or window blinds.

 

[heirloomgal]

@Artichoke Lover
I've not had much experience with rabbits in the garden, but I remember reading once that dusting with powdered blood meal repels them. It sounds a bit ghastly though! Apparently any smell they don't like could, possibly, keep them at bay. I've read cayenne powder can keep cats away, maybe it might work for rabbits too.

 

[flowerbug]

well, yes, if you have a fence they can chew through or squeeze through or get under or over then they're going to eventually be a problem. the main vegetable gardens here are fenced and the fence isn't that good so the rabbits can climb up and squeeze through, but they rarely do because there isn't much around the fence that is attractive to them and there's not much in there through the winter to be attractive. we have had to hunt and remove rabbits from inside that fence, but not too many over the past 20yrs.

last year and the year before i started putting up better fencing as a deer deterrent but also to help cut down on deer and groundhog traffic besides the rabbits. it has helped, but i also still hunt rabbits that come into the yard inside that fence because if i didn't i'd hardly ever have any crocuses survive or many of the other plants here that i hope can eventually reach flowering stage.

however, this only slows down some of the damage as it is not a completely enclosing fence. deer come through once in a while and make a mess of things here or there, rabbits if i see them i'll chase them off or get them by hunting. sadly. i'd much prefer to have a completely enclosing fence because then i do know i'd have a lot more chance to get flowers and other crops to full maturity. not that i am illusioned about getting every one of them, but a much better chance.

and also don't get me wrong. i don't mind sharing some of what i do with wildlife, i just want to be sure that i get something for me efforts in return, it's just too bad we can't train them to eat the things we don't quite care so much about, or the approved decoy crop areas or something...

 

[heirloomgal]

Our cats brought 2 rabbits into the house last week. I do not have problems with rabbits in the yard. Or mice. Or chipmunks. Or birds. I wish I did. All my problems are in the house. Or walls. Or closets. Or window blinds.

I can't quite riddle this out @Dirtmechanic....can you give a clue about what this might be alluding too?

 

[Dirtmechanic]

I can't quite riddle this out @Dirtmechanic....can you give a clue about what this might be alluding too?

We find the birds in our window blinds, I just dug a dead mouse out of a closet wall etc. I wish the cats would not bring them in, but in reference to the rabbit problem solutions for the garden everyone mentions here the cats are 100% effective. We buried those 2 rabbits I mentioned.

 

[Artichoke Lover]

We find the birds in our window blinds, I just dug a dead mouse out of a closet wall etc. I wish the cats would not bring them in, but in reference to the rabbit problem solutions for the garden everyone mentions here the cats are 100% effective. We buried those 2 rabbits I mentioned.

Our cat tries the rabbits around here I are huge for cottontails! I swear they are bigger than my chickens! Needless to say the cat hasn’t had much luck. I’m not interested in killing or trapping them though. We don’t have a big enough population to cause problems most of the year and they seem to draw predators away from my chicken coop.