For those of you that have built and own a starting pen

[cris axtell/coal hill ken]

I also have safe piles were the rabbits can get away from the dogs when they get to pressured. Build them out of wood pallets or logs. I have no woodchuck holes in my pen.

[jeremy rice]

chad if you got the money buy he horse fencing put it up with round corners then put your rabbit fence up to it. did that on part of mine wish I would of on all of it. Also I didn't like the hog rings caused it to rust. I used zip ties. and this is going to cause controversy but don't like coated wire. Reason being after two years in the sun hot cold the coating gets brittle like plastic does litteraly could flick it and it would breake was so shocked specially for the cost of the stuff. So I replaced all mine with a heavy gauged galvanized that a turkey farmer got for me been up 2 years now and no rust sturdy and strong of course its tied to the horse fencing but that helps keep unwanted dogs and critters out. Got some money in it but worth every penny should be around when the baby gets home from college good luck buddy

[rabbitatfarm]

Interesting post. I'm thinking about a small puppy pen too--just something to be sure they get to see and chase a rabbit. I'd only use it for a very short time or maybe to help guys get pups started. I did fence part of a busy road so I learned a few things. I used high tension wire stretched tight top and bottom. Then I used a combination of hog rings and zip ties to attach 2 x 4 welded wire. The fence is not to keep rabbits in, but to keep dogs off the road. The way to make rounded inside corners is to run your wire around the outside corner post. I wondered how that worked; but as you attach your wire on the inside of your line post, when you get to the corner the wire has to "round" to attach to the perpendicular line. I would not mow beside the fence; it just makes it easy for sky predators. I would add agate to allow a tractor in for mowing when the small trees get too tall or to set back/expand shrub thickets. In a way, I have a starter pen as I have lots of good habitat and a good rabbit population and the land to support them. I also plant food plots: corn, cowpeas, millets, oats and other crops. I like the pen idea because I have more control of the "training" session. Just my two pennies.

[Rcoff]

Not much else to add that hasn't already been covered, except maybe cover. In my 2 acre pen if there isn't enough cover in the winter because of snow, it's too hard to get the pups to drop their noses so I planted switch grass last spring to hold up to the snow. Also, my rabbits get ran every day so I feed them corn, gives them stamina. If I miss a few days, dogs start to catch rabbits, it really helps to give them energy.
Thanks,
Bob

[Joshua and Stephanie]

I like to stack a few skids on top of each other and pile x mas trees on top. A lot of times you can pick trees up after christmas and they last all year. Good cover in the spring also for the babys

[S.R.Patch]

Make your pen look like that little sweet spot you look for to take the hounds when your out hunting...