How small can a rabbit pen be and still be effective?

[huntemup]

I am thinking about building a rabbit pen. I would like to be able to use it for both adults and pups. I only have approximately 2 acres to use and do not want to go through the expense and it not be big enough to do what I need it to do.

[bluecollar beagler]

a two acre pen in my opinion is good for starting pups but if your going throw the big dogs down in it it better be a thick two acre pen!!!! just my 2cents.

[huntemup]

It is pretty much open woods. I planned on building brush piles. Any ideas/opinions appreciated!

[redpup]

JMO Not big enough for running hounds. I think they would get real faulty in a 2 acre pen. I don't care how thick it is.

[Norshore]

I have one about that size,very good for pups but to small for big dogs to get much of a work out. And mine is pretty thick.

[bluecollar beagler]

i feel the same way about the faults showing through...i would never put one of my adult dogs in a two acre pen, but if that is all you have to work with, do what you can. when i mean it needed to be thick i mean thick enough you couldnt crawl through it... not just brush piles piled up. ive seen 6 month old dogs run rabbits down with ease in a 2 acre starting pen.

[Greg Wells]

It would be a good starting pen & a good way to raise rabbits & stock your running grounds, but too small to run adult dogs.

[sbeagler]

agree with Greg great to start pups or raise rabbits. a small pen will teach dogs to gamble and leave there checks. if its thick 10 acres can solo an older dog for an hour o 2 but dont wont to many rabs or they get loose wont hunt as good. the prb with pens is the ground gets so tracked up can cause a dog to pop on old scent. nothing beats mother nature if you have rabs/access. rabbits run better in the wild longer too.

[huntemup]

Appreciate anyones' opinion. I was also thinking the same thing. Need bigger. Right now, we don't have anywhere close to run the dogs so it usually narrows it down to just taking them out on Saturday. Don't feel just one day a week is not doing the dogs justice. What I planned on doing was using the pen through the week, do one dog at a time for about an hour Monday - Friday. Then on Saturday take them out somewhere else. If I do not find something closer, might go ahead with it. Need something for the pups anyway.

More one question - Someone was talking about how a 2 acre pen would bring out faults. Can someone explain?[quote][/quote]

[bluecollar beagler]

sbeagler hit on it on his above post..

[huntemup]

Had to read his post again. Got it. Any recommendations on what wire to use?

[tapout]

Not to hijack your post....but I'm curious what size pen would most considered to be to small to solo or brace a an adult dog/s for say an hour a night. I want to do something similar but only have about 4 1/2 acres to use.

[Greg Wells]

It would be big enough to solo only if it was really thick (cover) & there weren't too many rabbits in it. Too many rabbits in a small area & your dog would just keep switching & finding a rabbit no matter what kind of checkwork he had. He could learn to reach, go backwards, etc. on a lose & still find a fresh rabbit. I don't even keep very many rabbts in my 30 acre pen because I want them to learn how to work a check the right way; by working inside out from the point of loss & recovering the check because of thier correct style or method that will produce more consistent successful results than just running around aimlessly & finding the loss by chance or luck.

[Shady Grove Beagles]

I feel that a 2 acre pen is too small for any but fairly young and only lightly started pups.A lot depends on what type of beagle you are keeping and what type of rabbits.If you keep the more conservative "medium speed,close and clean ,head down" type then they can probably run all day in there with no problems.LOL!!
If you keep a fast harder hitting type of hound then what guys mentioned [sight chases,switching rabbits,not searching,running around with their heads up ] can result. Wild rabbits are always better than ANY type of domestic rabbits.In fact I wouldn't give you a nickle for ANY type of domestic rabbits use in a pen except for VERY young dogs or the slow dogs.
I had a 5 acre pen that had plenty of thick cover.Put several different species of domestic rabbits in there that guys swore would run and gave them weeks to aclimate.I had 14 week old Ninja / Branko pups and they would run down and catch those rabbits one after another.
Had a good friend that had a 8 acre pen with good cover and I would even say that that pen was really kind of small to run grown hard going hounds in [even solo ] for more than 45 minutes or an hour as they would start picking off the rabbits.

[Panther Creek]

I knew a guy that had a startin pen that was couldn't have been more that 50 ft by 100 ft. He just used it to start his pups. once they were followin a track, he never put them in again.