Wire shelving cage...

Saw shelving a few months back, and thought "wow, bet that would make a cool cage!"
The instant I mentioned rabbits, my dad drug me away, of course... :lol:

Last night, I found someone who did it! And it works!
AND THEY MADE VIDEO INSTRUCTIONS! It looks so simple!
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCpRIkUnyuc[/youtube]

Figured I'd share this here for anyone else who hasn't seen it.
I have no place for one of these now, but my dad was just talking about expanding my bunny shed... :twisted:

Love this, thanks for sharing! Will need some types of covering to protect from rain, but I think tarps or something of that nature would work.....

I was getting ready to watch this video and others like to do some expanding to my grow out area!!

My research questions were:

A. Is it any cheaper?
B. Can I find these shelving pieces 2nd hand?
C. Would the wire be ok for the rabbit's feet?

Will try and find time today to watch this video and check the hardware and 2nd hand shops this weekend!

I've scored shelving panels second-hand in the past and they've been very handy for impromptu containment of various critters around her. I've used them for a broody hen, goslings, dividers in the rabbit colony, and one one notable occasion to confine our goose Elsie when she injured her leg on the ice and had to be kept indoors for a few weeks while it healed. (She loved being a house-goose in our kitchen. )

The less-upscale, more disorganized thrift stores have the best pickings. In this neck of the woods that means St. Vincent de Paul, not Value Village.

MaggieJ":lql2pejo said:

I've scored shelving panels second-hand in the past and they've been very handy for impromptu containment of various critters around her. I've used them for a broody hen, goslings, dividers in the rabbit colony, and one one notable occasion to confine our goose Elsie when she injured her leg on the ice and had to be kept indoors for a few weeks while it healed. (She loved being a house-goose in our kitchen. )

The less-upscale, more disorganized thrift stores have the best pickings. In this neck of the woods that means St. Vincent de Paul, not Value Village.

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Thanks! I know just were to check around here...lol....

Do you think the wire spacing will be ok for growouts 8-16 weeks?
I'm worried the 8-10 week olds might break a leg??
(I do have some 0.5x1 I could put on the floor if I needed to)

I've seen the video before. He has a few other videos which are worth a viewing also.

macksmom98":12vb51h9 said:

Love this, thanks for sharing! Will need some types of covering to protect from rain, but I think tarps or something of that nature would work.....

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I believe this guy keeps his cages indoors in a shed/barn.

SarniaTricia":12vb51h9 said:

My research questions were:A. Is it any cheaper? B. Can I find these shelving pieces 2nd hand?C. Would the wire be ok for the rabbit's feet?

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A: It all depends. (Helpful answer, I know) After I saw the video awhile back I just did a quick pricing and the total was close to the price of actual real cages. (Your Milage May Vary) I looked up on Home Depot and the shelving to build a 2'D x 6'W x 16"H would cost $61. Plus you would need to buy tools and supplies for putting it together if you don't have any. In my area you can find actual cages for roughly the same price +/- $20.

Now if you can get the supplies on sale, have supplies laying around, or if some fall off the back of a truck; you could build it way cheaper. Or maybe it's easier to get shelving like this than real cages or cage wire. Or maybe saving $10/$20 dollars is worth building these cages. Or your area has limited options for cages and you can't really get a decent deal on real cages. Or maybe you like DIY projects. Or the shipping from a cage supplier is just too much for you. There a plenty of reasons to go this route.

B: You might? There's a chance you could find anything. But in all honesty you would be extremely lucky to find what you need cheap. Essentially you would need to find someone who bought way too much shelving and can't return it to the store. Otherwise you're looking at pieces that were cut to length. As far as many people would be concerned it would be worth more as scrap metal than collecting a bunch and trying to resell it. Now that doesn't mean you can't get lucky and find a majority of the pieces you need. But I would bet that if you wanted to build that cage, you'd have to go out and actually buy the shelving at normal prices.

C: I think the wire on most shelving like that would be ok for a rabbit's feet. The wire is think enough to handle a shelf-load of items; so there should be enough support for a rabbit without the wire digging into its feet.

my only concern with the wire would be that the openings are so long that it would be easier for feet/toes to get caught, especially those of kits. it reminds me of the european-style battery cages that are constantly getting ragged on for causing leg injuries in younger rabbits. it would be super simple to put something under/over it though as insurance.

shazza":1f43hor6 said:

my only concern with the wire would be that the openings are so long that it would be easier for feet/toes to get caught, especially those of kits. it reminds me of the european-style battery cages that are constantly getting ragged on for causing leg injuries in younger rabbits. it would be super simple to put something under/over it though as insurance.

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Yeah, but aren't they generally pickier about wire to begin with? :? Seems like there would be less to get snagged on, to me.
I've had a few screamer kits get stuck in the wire, and I use 1x1/2. Curiously, seems to happen more to some of my bloodlines *coughcough*theangora*cough* than others, when they're all the same general size by the time the nest is tipped. :hmm:

Nyctra":46680i99 said:

shazza":46680i99 said:

my only concern with the wire would be that the openings are so long that it would be easier for feet/toes to get caught, especially those of kits. it reminds me of the european-style battery cages that are constantly getting ragged on for causing leg injuries in younger rabbits. it would be super simple to put something under/over it though as insurance.

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Yeah, but aren't they generally pickier about wire to begin with? :? Seems like there would be less to get snagged on, to me.
I've had a few screamer kits get stuck in the wire, and I use 1x1/2. Curiously, seems to happen more to some of my bloodlines *coughcough*theangora*cough* than others, when they're all the same general size by the time the nest is tipped. :hmm:

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One of my concerns as well...
The way the little ones get hurt, is that the foot goes through and the rabbit gets startled or moves quickly and the foot doesn't because it is in between the floor wires... Had a twit do this on a standard 0.5x1 wire floor... she lived to become a breeder at someone else's barn..

Yeah, I guess I could see kits slipping their feet through, but for the bigger buns like growouts, I think it would be fine. :?

I found some wire shelving at the dump station. They allowed me to take it a no cost. However I have 2 concerns. #1... I won't use the shelf for the floor. Mesh should be 1/2" by 1" max. I will consider using the shelving for the sides. Maybe the top. Biggest challenge is getting the right size hog rings. I would prefer to use J Clips but they are too small for the larger diameter wire. #2. Rabbits chew everything. The rubber coating will get chewed and ingested by the rabbits. I raise rabbits for meat and not sure I want them ingesting or passing rubber.

Randy Boschee said:

I found some wire shelving at the dump station. They allowed me to take it a no cost. However I have 2 concerns. #1... I won't use the shelf for the floor. Mesh should be 1/2" by 1" max. I will consider using the shelving for the sides. Maybe the top. Biggest challenge is getting the right size hog rings. I would prefer to use J Clips but they are too small for the larger diameter wire. #2. Rabbits chew everything. The rubber coating will get chewed and ingested by the rabbits. I raise rabbits for meat and not sure I want them ingesting or passing rubber.

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I used shelves in my construction and I found some lovely stainless steel zipties that were really handy and secure. check amazon.

eco2pia said:

I used shelves in my construction and I found some lovely stainless steel zipties that were really handy and secure. check amazon.

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Any problems with rabbits chewing the coating off the wire?

Randy Boschee said:

Any problems with rabbits chewing the coating off the wire?

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My shelves were powdercoated, and no, but eventually they will rust due to rabbit urine. It is hard to find something rabbit urine proof so I just accept it.

At our transfer stations, we can get old refrigerator racks so a lot of those get used in hutch building. They aren't used for flooring, though. We've had several broken legs by bunnies trying to run on the wire shelving and getting their feet and legs caught. The wire shelving does work well for walls and great for doors.

Other than wire racks, a wooden 2x2 frame with the 1/2" x 1" wire nailed to it has become the standard building block of our hutch system anymore. With a chop saw and small nail gun, it's really easy to build doors and floor plates out of 2x2s. The rest of the hutch is made of whatever we've got around the place, usually 2x4 or 2x6 frame with old tin roofing nailed to the side and for the roof.



That's the back of one of the big hutches. The upper level has 1/2" x 1/2" wire across it because we got a roll of that for really inexpensive at a yard sale. The lower level has the refrigerator racks scavenged from the transfer station. Scrap tin roof from the transfer station.

Rabbits fortunately aren't too fussy about their housing.

rabbits in paradise, lol. I am jealous.

I have seen several YouTube videos about this and I think it is a great idea. I do not have spare room in a garage or shed yet but I plan on trying to rig up something near my house when we do get rabbits. They sell a finer mesh shelf that you can use for the floor. When I priced it out it was about $200 to make 4 cages (I found Menards to be the cheapest) that would be 32"x36" and 16" tall. I think the biggest benefit is the sturdiness of the cages and since they are coated they should not break down over the years.

V/r
Jeremy

eco2pia said:

rabbits in paradise, lol. I am jealous.

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So far I've not told them it's 'paradise' but the bunnies do like the ti leaves. It's one of their favorite treats and it grows well, especially near the bunny hutches since there's always 'bunny berries' falling on the ti roots. They will eat the hapuu fern (the big fronds in the picture) but the buns prefer ti leaves.

In this case, we're about 2,500 miles away from most sources of building materials so the refrigerator racks we get at the transfer stations (the dump) help a lot on keeping hutch costs lower.

SarniaTricia said:

Thanks! I know just were to check around here...lol....

Do you think the wire spacing will be ok for growouts 8-16 weeks?
I'm worried the 8-10 week olds might break a leg??
(I do have some 0.5x1 I could put on the floor if I needed to)

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I prefer solid flooring and use old doors for floor and back wall ( structure and insulated) a pice of rubbery floor covering is easy clean. Cover with hay.Pick out wet spots. They tend to pee in one spot.Fluff the hay and poo falls to bottom. A metal dustpan to scoop it up. rubbery flooring can be wiped up or taken out and hosed off for big cleans..I like old windows for doors on front. I can lean in and reach farther . Heavy screening on each end for cross ventilation.Old pieces of furniture can be used for shelter, den boxes ... We have found all and scrap lumber, metal clad insulation panels (roof) and more at the local dump.

dlynn said:

I prefer solid flooring and use old doors for floor and back wall ( structure and insulated) a piece of rubbery floor covering is easy clean. Cover with hay.Pick out wet spots. They tend to pee in one spot.Fluff the hay and poo falls to bottom. A metal dustpan to scoop it up. rubbery flooring can be wiped up or taken out and hosed off for big cleans..I like old windows for doors on front. I can lean in and reach farther . Heavy screening on each end for cross ventilation.Old pieces of furniture can be used for shelter, den boxes ... We have found all and scrap lumber, metal clad insulation panels (roof) and more at the local dump.

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Local dump finds to build hutches is perfect! Keeps stuff out of the landfill and saves tons of money on buying commercial hutches. Plus when it's old and worn out - even for bunny hutches - it can go back to the dump.