Heartbased Homestead
Well-known member
Hi all! I've been doing colony, with an oversized cage (dog crate) for the buck. The main factor for choosing colony vs cages was less daily chores, as they would share waterers, continual access to hay bale, deep litter, ect.
I think I've found a "hack", which has been working successfully for almost 6 months now so figured I'd share.
What I've been doing with the dog crate, since it's tall enough, is to allow the buck to create his own deep litter by keeping a laundry basket of loose hay on top, which keeps the hay clean and dry, yet he can still pull it from the top easily. When he eats, a little extra falls to the floor and naturally covers his bathroom spot. This method slowly raises the level of the floor, yet in 6 months I haven't had to muck it out more than once, and it all mostly lifts up as one piece due to the urine, and the heavy urine content it is great mulch for heavy feeders like pumpkin. There is no smell prior to mucking, the comstant hay covering keeps it clean and fresh.
(Bonus hack!)
I keep my buck on a hay-only diet mostly to keep him from getting fat while I feed my breeding does and the growing kits. He likes to push his way in and eat as much food as they get, even though he has the lowest energy and nutrition requirements.
I do not use pellets or commercial feed, and he naturally recieves supplementals when I throw in greens or treats, it gets tossed up against the wall of his crate so he can grab some too. I'll scoop him some sprouted grain every few days when I step inside the colony.
I love this method/hack for 3 reasons:
1. Low effort, high reward
2. Attends to different needs of colony members without extra mental/physical labor
3. Automates the feeding and cleaning cycles for cages and is stackable if cages are staggered with top hay baskets (I'll be adding another crate and hay basket soon so I'll post pictures of the set up in a few weeks).
Thanks for reading, y'all! Always open to alternate suggestions. Does anyone else use a deep litter method in their cages?
I think I've found a "hack", which has been working successfully for almost 6 months now so figured I'd share.
What I've been doing with the dog crate, since it's tall enough, is to allow the buck to create his own deep litter by keeping a laundry basket of loose hay on top, which keeps the hay clean and dry, yet he can still pull it from the top easily. When he eats, a little extra falls to the floor and naturally covers his bathroom spot. This method slowly raises the level of the floor, yet in 6 months I haven't had to muck it out more than once, and it all mostly lifts up as one piece due to the urine, and the heavy urine content it is great mulch for heavy feeders like pumpkin. There is no smell prior to mucking, the comstant hay covering keeps it clean and fresh.
(Bonus hack!)
I keep my buck on a hay-only diet mostly to keep him from getting fat while I feed my breeding does and the growing kits. He likes to push his way in and eat as much food as they get, even though he has the lowest energy and nutrition requirements.
I do not use pellets or commercial feed, and he naturally recieves supplementals when I throw in greens or treats, it gets tossed up against the wall of his crate so he can grab some too. I'll scoop him some sprouted grain every few days when I step inside the colony.
I love this method/hack for 3 reasons:
1. Low effort, high reward
2. Attends to different needs of colony members without extra mental/physical labor
3. Automates the feeding and cleaning cycles for cages and is stackable if cages are staggered with top hay baskets (I'll be adding another crate and hay basket soon so I'll post pictures of the set up in a few weeks).
Thanks for reading, y'all! Always open to alternate suggestions. Does anyone else use a deep litter method in their cages?
