Hay rack from scrap cage wire tutorial

I was cutting some doors into some new cages today, and thought I'd create a tutorial on how I make my cage racks from the scrap door wire. The same methods can be used to make any size rack you wish. Hope this helps!

Step 1. The wire which in this case is the waste from cutting a door opening into a new cage I built.



Step 2. Bend the wire into a semi-circle



Step 3. Bend the excess wire on the bottom of your rack as shown. This keeps hay from falling through the rack. Young kits can also reach the hay from underneath if unable to get from the sides.



Step 4. Remove excess wire ends from sides and top. Leave the two top end wires and two bottom side wires. These will be used to form the cage attachment points.



Step 5. Bend the two top wires and two bottom side wires into a "U" shape. This is what you will attach the feeder to the horizontal wire on the cage with.



Step 6. Attach hay rack to cage. I usually have mine inside the cage, but they can just as easily be attached to the outside. There is a picture each way, and also one with hay in it.

Very nice and professional looking!

:judges:

Yes, very nice! :razz:

Very well made! Great idea When I make my wire cages I'm going to make these. Thank you!

Those are great! I need to make some

:thankyou: I have been breaking my noggin trying to figure out how to make one that one diva doe would eat out of! These will also work on my runout pens too!

very nice and professional! I love it!

Really cool! I love when you can use something that would have otherwise gone in the trash.

Thats really nice looking. Looks like you bought it from the store. My cages are made from Hardware cloth so I had to do a similar thing with the hardware cloth leftover but it doesn't look anything near as good as that. Nice job.

I know what I'm doing tomorrow!!

Very nice Lastfling, thanks for sharing.

I'm trying to decide whether to build or buy some more cages. So far, unless I can find cheaper wire, it's about the same price to buy cages from a local cage builder.

Very nice... Thanks for sharing this tutorial.

One quick question..... If used Inside the cage... is there a chance of a youngster ( or oldster even) poking them self on the bottom wire ends ???

Random Rabbit":2w2o7hk7 said:

One quick question..... If used Inside the cage... is there a chance of a youngster ( or oldster even) poking them self on the bottom wire ends ???

Click to expand...

If you are concerned about that, You can stop at the Hardware Store and pick you up a 1" long bolt, a nut and 2 big flat washers. Put one washer on the bolt, stick it up through the bottom, put the second washer on the inside with nut and tighten. Problem Solved

Fire-Man":2navyfdo said:

Random Rabbit":2navyfdo said:

One quick question..... If used Inside the cage... is there a chance of a youngster ( or oldster even) poking them self on the bottom wire ends ???

Click to expand...

If you are concerned about that, You can stop at the Hardware Store and pick you up a 1" long bolt, a nut and 2 big flat washers. Put one washer on the bolt, stick it up through the bottom, put the second washer on the inside with nut and tighten. Problem Solved

Click to expand...

Never, say never, but I've used them for several years now and haven't had any issues. The bottom wire ends are pretty close to the cage side and a rabbit would really have to try hard to poke theirself. Fire-Man does have a pretty good solution though if it's a concern.

Good job a lot better than the hay rack I made out of wire. Now I know what I will be doing this week.

I hang mine on the outside of the cage ... much easier to fill, and the top cage wire is usually 1"x2" which is plenty of room for them to get their nose through to get the hay Even dem big ol' buck noses

This looks great! Thanks for sharing!

I have made seven of these racks so far! More to come as I build more cages.

I also leave the wires on the sides and just use them to anchor the hay rack instead of having to cut them off :laugh2: