Best door design

I am almost done building a 2 tier wood and wire hutch. Haven't decided on a door design yet though.
Is it better to have them swing down, to the side? Or the top to the side and the bottom down? I know to cut them larger then you think you'll need and its not like I can't change the configuration later, j-clips being what they are.

My design swings in from the top, you can buy hooks to keep the door up there if you want the cage open. The good thing about that design is that it takes a rabbit longer to figure out the door is open if is does get left open by mistake. Pretty much the only bad design is swinging in from the bottom, it falls on the rabbit every time :x <br /><br /> -- Sat Sep 09, 2017 5:47 pm -- <br /><br /> Oh, and don't do swinging out from the top, you won't be able to keep it open.

my cages doors swing into the cage from the top. it has its pros and cons. pros are that there's little hooks so i can keep the door open and do stuff in the cage or get the rabbit out/in without the door being in the way, and like ozarkansas said they take longer to figure out how to open the door if you forget to latch it or something since they can't just push it open with their faces. the con is that if the rabbit is in front of the door and doesn't feel like moving, you have to push them out of the way. also, if you don't have that little hook to set the door on, it's a huge pain to try to hold it open with your arm/shoulder to grab the rabbit or clean. my old cages didn't have hooks and it drove me crazy. the new cages do, and it's a lifesaver

i have a hutch that was given to me with a door that swings outward from the top. it's bad. it won't stay open unless you hold it open, which causes issues when trying to get the rabbit out. doors that sing outward from the sides are okay, but if you forget to close them for one reason or another, they're super easy for the rabbit to open. BUT, they usually will stay open and out of the way.

it's really dependent on what minor annoyance you would rather deal with lol

shazza":23m9cqqn said:

it's really dependent on what minor annoyance you would rather deal with lol

Click to expand...

:yeahthat:

:yeahthat: Ditto

I didn't even consider having the doors swing in. I was thinking of having the top row of cages swing to the side outward and the bottom row sing down also outward. . . And then I was think I could put the hay rack on the doors so swinging down might not work. . . :trapped:

And now I'm thinking I should probably sleep on it and it might make more sense on more then 5 hrs of sleep in 48 hrs.

I have 3 types of doors on my multiple cages...

I have swing out from the side... my personal favourite... as I can put feeders/water bottles on them and they usually stay out of the way when I need to do stuff.... I have my rabbits in a horse stall that has a large piece of wood along the bottom so when a rabbit gets loose, they usually stay in the stall and have a merry time in the hay on the floor....

I have swing up into the cage.... the ones with the inside hooks are great.... I can leave the door open while I do stuff and as long as the rabbit doesn't get in the way when I shut it, not a problem.... cannot hang anything on the door....

I have swing down on the outside.... these cages are on the top of the stackers.... These work oK for me ... stay open, I attach the hay spring on the inside and I can easily access rabbits at 5.5 ft up without fighting with the door.... cannot put water bottle or feeder on the door.

Like you said you might need to change the configuration after you have a chance to use it for a while.