Catching Rabbit Poop

[Olbunny]

When I had our rabbits in the greenhouse last winter I used corrugated plastic from an old advertisement sign. I made it so it was lower in the middle but it sagged a bit anyhows. That the urine would run to.I then cut a hole in the crease at the bottom n put a coffee can under it so I could collect pure urine. And then compost dry n mulch the poo n hay.
Mine is set up up be able to put a large snow sled under it. I have some I use behind my snogo. To catch the droppings n bring to the compost pile.
In our new set up. I'm trying 2 types. Once that is open n lets everything drop on the ground. Where it can be mulched. I'm building a drying system that stores the mulched manure in silos made from 3/4" chicken wire under a roof that will allow air circulation.
And under 2 pens I have the corrugated plastic under them. So I can collect straight urine in a coffee can. Or the urine/hay
combination n then mulch that. Store it in the silos.
My silos are built on a pallet so they could be moved but it also keeps it off the ground. I have corrugated plastic, real estate signs, on the bottom. Silos of chicken wire are 4'x2'xx2' tall. 2x4s on the corners and middles 2-1/2' tall to support a plywood roof.
I'm trying to develop a product worth selling or bartering.
Pictures of rabbits in greenhouse and current set up. I do have the sides on and roof reinforced now for the winter. And the hay in the greenhouse to try to keep away from the moose.
Which are now around here daily and it's 12 below outside

 

[Rabbits by Accident]

Corrugated roofing. Can be had in clear and green plastic, and galvanized metal

Thanks, that's what I thought. Many years ago when I had rabbits, I put aluminum sheets under the hutches. They were printing sheets my dad had gotten from the local newspaper. They just discarded them. I doubt I could get them now. I did find a couple sheets of fiberglass roofing in our 'save forever' dump pile Unfortunately, they are not wide enough, but we will make it work.

I like your solution, but wire is high right now I will keep my eyes open.

Liz

 

[Rabbits by Accident]

Which are now around here daily and it's 12 below outside

I love your photos! Thank you! Wow - and I cover up my rabbits when it gets below 50F LOL. Love the moose (from a distance where it's not an annoyance)

Liz

 

[KelleyBee]

How about suggesting that the members join this group? And stop supporting and making billions of dollars for an evil person.

Liz

AWESOME SUGGESTION! Besides, as forums go, rabbittalk.com is amazing. Most online forums these days are all but dead. I don't know what makes this one so alive and vibrant, but keep it up!

 

[KelleyBee]

I don't do face crook either.

@KelleyBee , that is a terrific arrangement. I simply use inclined 1/4" mesh under the hutch. Urine goes directly through and the berries roll into a bucket. I admire the elegance of your system though.

I don't know if this is what you had in mind, @Rabbits by Accident , but this works for me. Since hindgut manure is "cold", ie not full of ammonia or ammonia producing bacteria, it can be used as direct fertilizer. Urine, when exits the body is sterile. It does have uric acid. Urine, quickly begins to ferment and produce ammonia. For that reason it is good to separate them.

@HTAcres has success because the ammonia gets washed out in the chicken yard. Because of the ammonia content in chicken excrement (as it ferments) it is considered "hot" and not usable as a direct amendment. When I kept chickens we dug the yard out and used it directly, but the manure from the coop got composted first.

Ruminant manure is generally composted first since it too will ferment. But that actually depends on the time of year it is applied. "Green" cow manure, even though it is "hot" can be added to garden soil in the autumn and left to fallow over winter .

One should always compost pig manure to kill microbes.

Only farmer can talk shait and no one bats an eye.

View attachment 28249

I have an idea for a split (or perhaps double) waste collection system and will likely have it constructed come spring. The system I've shared here works for now, but there are a lot of flaws. For instance, the pellets that don't roll down often end up urine soaked sitting in the gullies of the corrugated plastic. Being brand new to rabbits and animal husbandry in general, I've not had a long time to experiment, tweak, and learn from others just yet, but if there us one thing about me you can count upon, it's the constant employment of new ideas from lessons learned by myself and others. I just love tweaking until I've developed a system (no matter what the endeavor) that works well. Stay tuned!

 

[ThunderHill]

I'm needing to put together a system for mine, also. Right now it all just falls on the dirt floor of the barn. I muck it out every few weeks and dump it into a pile to use in the garden when I need. But it's pretty gross all mixed together and this past summer we had lots of flies. I'm thinking of building 2x3 foot trays with hardware cloth bottoms, and positioning them beneath the cages, held off the ground by cinder blocks. The urine would pass through to the dirt floor and the poop would collect in the trays. I could then just dump the trays as needed, and also be able to easily remove them and hose them down, etc. It would take 8 of these trays to fully cover the ground under our hanging cages.

Any thoughts on this idea? Should it help with flies to have the poop mostly dry and separated from the urine? Thanks!

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

My rabbit has bottom wire cages, with trays on the bottom that came with them. The others in normal plastic bottom cages with litter on the bottom have small triangle litter boxes(Except Whilber, because he's a butt head). I also fill up the trays with litter found at most farm stores, which are usually used for horses. I think they're like big fat pellets. I also put gain scent pellets found at Walmart and such under that, so they smell better.

 

[KelleyBee]

I'm needing to put together a system for mine, also. Right now it all just falls on the dirt floor of the barn. I muck it out every few weeks and dump it into a pile to use in the garden when I need. But it's pretty gross all mixed together and this past summer we had lots of flies. I'm thinking of building 2x3 foot trays with hardware cloth bottoms, and positioning them beneath the cages, held off the ground by cinder blocks. The urine would pass through to the dirt floor and the poop would collect in the trays. I could then just dump the trays as needed, and also be able to easily remove them and hose them down, etc. It would take 8 of these trays to fully cover the ground under our hanging cages.

Any thoughts on this idea? Should it help with flies to have the poop mostly dry and separated from the urine? Thanks!

I think your idea is doable. However don't discount the value of the urine. It is worth collecting as well. Urine is nitrogen, so in the fall when you have an abundance of carbons (brown leaves, grasses, etc) pouring urine (nitrogen) over these carbon heaps heats them up exponentially accelerating their breakdown back to soil, as well as killing unwanted seeds and other pathogens that may be present in such a compost pile. Additionally, urine makes a fantastic weed killer. Just pour straight onto weeds and areas where you don't want vegetation to grow (more effective in hot dry weather than in cold wet weather). But, all winter long you'll want to keep pouring it on your leaf and dry brush piles. You can also use it to activate your regular compost pile if it has cooled. That said, coming up with a urine collection system is also well worth the effort and it totally removes the urine from your rabbitry.

 

[ThunderHill]

I think your idea is doable. However don't discount the value of the urine. It is worth collecting as well. Urine is nitrogen, so in the fall when you have an abundance of carbons (brown leaves, grasses, etc) pouring urine (nitrogen) over these carbon heaps heats them up exponentially accelerating their breakdown back to soil, as well as killing unwanted seeds and other pathogens that may be present in such a compost pile. Additionally, urine makes a fantastic weed killer. Just pour straight onto weeds and areas where you don't want vegetation to grow (more effective in hot dry weather than in cold wet weather). But, all winter long you'll want to keep pouring it on your leaf and dry brush piles. You can also use it to activate your regular compost pile if it has cooled. That said, coming up with a urine collection system is also well worth the effort and it totally removes the urine from your rabbitry.

Excellent points! That may end up being a "phase 2."

 

[Zee-Man]

There are a few poop threads active right now. But, @ThunderHill you might consider the system I use with a modification.



The mod would some sort of box for litter so that it soaks up the urine. I would suggest shredded cardboard boxes. There are a number of paper shredders capable of handling 12 sheets of paper at a time. Light cardboard like cereal boxes go through fine. The boxes from Amazon etc take a little more. Depending on how you feel about ink, junk mail is well suited for soaking up pee. Then toss the litter into the compost pile.

@KelleyBee , you have an excellent point about the urine. Now I have to put another bucket out there. I am a pretty serious composter!

[Edit] Oh! This IS the "other thread I was thinking of, forgive me the repeat!

 

[Buckingham Rabbitry]

AWESOME SUGGESTION! Besides, as forums go, rabbittalk.com is amazing. Most online forums these days are all but dead. I don't know what makes this one so alive and vibrant, but keep it up!

KelleyBee, I agree completely about the RabbitTalk forum. Another point is that some forums are negative and this one seems to be a lot more friendly. Could caring for our bunnies have something to do with that?

 

[ThunderHill]

Here's what I think I'm going to try. Build a wooden frame with the same footprint as my hanging cages, about 3' tall. The top tier will be a grid to hold the removable hardware cloth bottomed trays to catch poop. Right below that will be metal sheeting installed at an angle, down from each long side to almost meeting in the center at the low point, the full length of the hanging cages. Finally, borrowing from @KelleyBee, use a piece of gutter at the bottom to then deliver all the urine to a 5-gallon bucket.

Any thoughts on this idea?

 

[RabbitsOfTheCreek]

Here's what I think I'm going to try. Build a wooden frame with the same footprint as my hanging cages, about 3' tall. The top tier will be a grid to hold the removable hardware cloth bottomed trays to catch poop. Right below that will be metal sheeting installed at an angle, down from each long side to almost meeting in the center at the low point, the full length of the hanging cages. Finally, borrowing from @KelleyBee, use a piece of gutter at the bottom to then deliver all the urine to a 5-gallon bucket.

Any thoughts on this idea?View attachment 28296

Really nice drawing! I think that looks like a great idea. How will you control the smell?

 

[ThunderHill]

Really nice drawing! I think that looks like a great idea. How will you control the smell?

Thanks! I don't think smell will be an issue if I dump the urine daily. @KelleyBee do you have much smell with your current system? Also, how much urine collects in your bucket daily for how many rabbits? Honestly with the airflow through the barn, there isn't much smell now, with it all just piling up on the dirt floor (except when I muck it out - that stinks!)

 

[KelleyBee]

Here's what I think I'm going to try. Build a wooden frame with the same footprint as my hanging cages, about 3' tall. The top tier will be a grid to hold the removable hardware cloth bottomed trays to catch poop. Right below that will be metal sheeting installed at an angle, down from each long side to almost meeting in the center at the low point, the full length of the hanging cages. Finally, borrowing from @KelleyBee, use a piece of gutter at the bottom to then deliver all the urine to a 5-gallon bucket.

Any thoughts on this idea?View attachment 28296

That's quite similar to my plan. Well done! When do you plan to implement?

 

[KelleyBee]

Thanks! I don't think smell will be an issue if I dump the urine daily. @KelleyBee do you have much smell with your current system? Also, how much urine collects in your bucket daily for how many rabbits? Honestly with the airflow through the barn, there isn't much smell now, with it all just piling up on the dirt floor (except when I muck it out - that stinks!)

I am using a 2.5 gallon bucket. I have 6 breeder rabbits collecting into it. Aside from emptying each day, I always do a quick rinse of the gutters into the empty bucket, which fills the bucket about not quite half way with water and whatever urine was lingering in the gutters. This way, as they urinate overnight, the urine collected in the bucket will be diluted in water, reducing the smell (think about water in the bowl of a toilet vs just urine in the bowl, which would have the weaker smell of urine?). Empty the next day, rinse gutters into empty bucket, etc., repeat. And I agree, allowing it to accumulate on the dirt floor is too much urine and ammonia build-up. The bucket way gets it removed every day.

 

[ThunderHill]

I am using a 2.5 gallon bucket. I have 6 breeder rabbits collecting into it. Aside from emptying each day, I always do a quick rinse of the gutters into the empty bucket, which fills the bucket about not quite half way with water and whatever urine was lingering in the gutters. This way, as they urinate overnight, the urine collected in the bucket will be diluted in water, reducing the smell (think about water in the bowl of a toilet vs just urine in the bowl, which would have the weaker smell of urine?). Empty the next day, rinse gutters into empty bucket, etc., repeat. And I agree, allowing it to accumulate on the dirt floor is too much urine and ammonia build-up. The bucket way gets it removed every day.

Yes, that makes total sense! I'm going to try to build it within the next few weeks, I think. I'll post pictures!

 

[HTAcres]

I'm not happy with Facebook. I'd rather you didn't.

I didn't - I don't without permission.

 

[HTAcres]

I recently paid my membership here - now I feel unwelcome.

I actually was going to suggest to that group that they think about signing up elsewhere as well like this forum. I always preferred forums in the past. I only joined FB to start with because I was still raising kids and the friends of that era started networking there. Each of us is called to operate differently - I'm trying to help as many people raise rabbits as possible as it is one more step towards independence.

Personally I am now convinced most of our government is evil. I still drive on the roads, however. And I pay my taxes because they can force me to do so. A simple no would have worked. An explanation was fine. The piling on was a bit much.

I wish each of you much success in your rabbit ventures and in all else. I suspect we are all going to need as much help as we can get.

 

[eco2pia]

@HTAcres I get how you feel this was piling on, but please don't feel unwelcome--I think all that was happening here was that so many people in our "real" lives use facebook as a given and those of us who do not get a lot of flack from it, again, in our real lives. I think what happened here was not intended to be directed at you personally, but at facebook itself, and the sudden realization that "Hey, me too, I found my people!!"

I quit facebook after my darling 96 year old grandma started posting racist memes during the 2016 election. It was a super personal decision, completely unrelated to you, or even social media in general. However you would not believe how many people have mocked me for my decision. It is a relief to find that I am not the only human not on FB. It makes sense though--If we don't like facebook and want to still communicate, we would be likely to find forums, right?

I am sorry it felt like an attack, I really do not think it was meant that way at all.