I have lots of netherlands I want to keep and I've been going over cage logistics without finding a good solution. Then I decided why waste space with individual cages and trying to raise them off the ground when most of my colors are not going to be show quality requiring pedigrees anyway. I think out of my current litter I have 2 black chin and 1 chocolate chin does and then 2 ermine bucks. I have a young blue otter doe and an adult chocolate doe. The chocolate will not breed no matter what I try but she got along fine in a cage with my buck for weeks. I have a broken chin buck carrying sable and self. Maybe I could put 2-3 does and a buck together.
What if I lay down 2 rolls of 30" wire to make 5' across and about 10' long. 3' high with top opening roof sections. Then I can just step into the colony to do stuff. I wonder about feeder and waterer heights at 3' since we like to use chicken items in colonies. I have to decide on a floor to know how high I'd have to raise things up.
if it's in a very sheltered part of the yard with plywood roof do we need any sides that aren't wire? We get feet of snow and subzero temps but the chainlink it would go against has some type of wood barrier rolled down one side and the other side has a structure a few feet away in the neighbor's yard. There are several trees over the area.
How do I keep dirt with wire sanitary? I could get a rubber mat and then throw down bedding but they are pricy so it would have to wait a year anyway. Plywood isn't really cheap enough to lay it down either and I had a MR dig right through the center of a plywood barrier and into the aglime underneath when they were in the stable. Scraping down plain wire is difficult and any bedding will pick up moisture from the earth. I don't think 5x10' is big enough to handle the droppings on straight dirt without it becoming a mess. :?
What if I lay down 2 rolls of 30" wire to make 5' across and about 10' long. 3' high with top opening roof sections. Then I can just step into the colony to do stuff. I wonder about feeder and waterer heights at 3' since we like to use chicken items in colonies. I have to decide on a floor to know how high I'd have to raise things up.
if it's in a very sheltered part of the yard with plywood roof do we need any sides that aren't wire? We get feet of snow and subzero temps but the chainlink it would go against has some type of wood barrier rolled down one side and the other side has a structure a few feet away in the neighbor's yard. There are several trees over the area.
How do I keep dirt with wire sanitary? I could get a rubber mat and then throw down bedding but they are pricy so it would have to wait a year anyway. Plywood isn't really cheap enough to lay it down either and I had a MR dig right through the center of a plywood barrier and into the aglime underneath when they were in the stable. Scraping down plain wire is difficult and any bedding will pick up moisture from the earth. I don't think 5x10' is big enough to handle the droppings on straight dirt without it becoming a mess. :?