Hanging vs. Stacked Cages

[Hoosier]

Here’s what is on my mind concerning hanging vs. stacked cages. What are your thoughts? Experiences with either kind, good or bad?

Stacked cages
take up less space,
rabbits can’t get nose to nose (good for fighting and helpful for some disease transmission, but bad for socialization)
Hard to get to bottom cage if stacked three high
Waste is just inches under cage


Hanging cages
Less placement flexibility if cage floor is long
Better ventilation
Waste can be a few feet under cage
Design may make it harder to get suitable trays or waste containers

Plan is to do modified version of the two styles. Hubby welds and we have some metal brace/post thingys that can be made into standing frames which the cages would hang from. Plan is to hang cages two high, using mortar mixing trays placed several inches below cages for waste containment. We intend to put the cages at a height comfortable for us.
We have a small horse stall that is 9’10” by 10’6” and has a wide front door and a small side door. Currently we have a long hanging cage that is 30” deep and 96” long. Neither of us enjoy having to fit our torsos through the door to adequately reach the back of the cage. We also want our California rabbits to have more room than they do in their 30” x 24” cages so we were going to get cages 24” x 36” from KD Cage. KD is only about 3 hours away and my mom is dying to go a road trip, LOL!!! Hubby wants to redo the lean-to the horse stall is under. There is currently an open fronted stall next to the ‘rabbit stall’ with a door that goes into the main barn. Hubby is thinking about joining the two stalls/removing dividing wall. My thought is with the cages hanging from frames, when we ‘remodel’ some day, the cages would be easy to fit into a new floor plan. Rabbits are primarily for our own eating, but we’ll sell some to family, friends, etc. As of now, we have three does and a buck and 13 babies born Oct. 5&6. We are considering keeping 2 does. Until the babies are processed/dispatched, two of the does and our buck reside in a 4-hole hutch that was given to us. The sections of the hutch are small (24” square) and it consists of hardware cloth/wire with a wood frame. We also have another hanging cage with a 30 x 30 hole and four ?18” wide holes. The doors are on the top and it is too long to be put in the horse stall. Likely, we may cut it up and make some cages from it. Right now, it is sitting outside unused. Any thoughts, suggestions, advice, etc. are welcome!

 

[bobqdevon]

We have hanging cages, and each are spaced apart from each other. I use 10' lengths of 1/2" conduit, drill holes for hanging wire, and put 3 cages per section, 2 cages high. For underneath, we use corrugated metal roofing, cut into 3' lengths and fastened together to make 10' wide, supported with wood strips underneath. These "pans" are angled to allow the waste to run into a central gutter which drains into a 5 gallon bucket. Hose down pans into gutter, hose down gutter into bucket, dump bucket into compost pile. No changing pans and using lots of pine shavings for us... I will post pictures next week once I get everyone moved over to the garage.

 

[grumpy]

If you have the space, linear rows of cages are much easier to maintain.
You can build drop trays to fit under the cages to catch the manure for garden use.

However, if space is at a premium, stacking cages with slanted drop boards work quite well. I've used both methods successfully.

Grumpy.

 

[Hoosier]

Bobqdevon, I look forward to seeing pictures. I am trying figure out how far out from the wall the cages would have to sit to make room for the gutter.
Grumpy, Tell me about your trays. What are they made of? I like how they are attached to the cage. I would love to have more space. Do you like the feeders in the front of the cage as opposed to being in the door?
Thank you both for your help!!!!

 

[TMTex]

@ bobqdevon - I like your idea of using corrugated roofing to transport the waste. I'm switching from single hutches to stacked hanging cages and the upper ones have plastic trays to catch the waste. I have to pull them out and hose them down every two to three days. A slanted roof between the upper and lower cages would save some manual labor.

In my case, I'd probably just have the waste drop to the ground and use my flat shovel to collect it for compost.

 

[bobqdevon]

Here's 2 pictures that I managed to get last night.

View attachment 1

 

[Hoosier]

Thanks for the pics! When you get time, would you mind getting one from the end/side and/or a backside view? Your bunnies look very happy!

 

[bobqdevon]

I will try to get a picture from the side tonight when I go out there. The back side looks exactly like the front side. Then there's a central gutter that each side's pan leads into, and a gutter for each level. The top gutter feeds into the bottom gutter, which feeds into a 5 gallon bucket, for easy waste disposal. It beats the plastic pans and pine shavings.

All of our cages are 30" deep, the front side is 36" wide cages and the back side is 30" wide cages. The plan is to extend across the garage with an additional 3 cage wide setup, bringing out total to 24 cages hanging, and some hutches as we have a few larger bunnies in need of more space. But the hutches can be done in the same manner, independent of the main system by using their own gutter and bucket setup.

 

[grumpy]

Bobqdevon, I look forward to seeing pictures. I am trying figure out how far out from the wall the cages would have to sit to make room for the gutter.
Grumpy, Tell me about your trays. What are they made of? I like how they are attached to the cage. I would love to have more space. Do you like the feeders in the front of the cage as opposed to being in the door?
Thank you both for your help!!!!

Here's my original post on the trays....Hope this helps.

rabbit-poop-t16550.html

Be glad to answer anymore questions you have.
I'm trying to get that third novel out and
ready for sale by the 6th of December.
So I may not be on this site for a few days.

Grumpy.

 

[Fire-Man]

I posted this about a year ago meals-on-wheels-rabbitry-t12968.html ----I use old window screens under my hanging cages(white metal frame directly under the cages), they were free but they are easy/cheap to build any size you need. Would probably not cost much more than wood and Being they are made out of metal If one needs to be cleaned I lay them in a big tub of water to soak for a day then just spray them off. I been using the same ones for years. If the screen gets a hole in it---it is very simple to replace the screen wire in the frame.

I too, dry all the poop that I do not use in the worm beds and store in bags till gardening season.

 

[PSFAngoras]

I use stacks, but on my 10th of an acre space is a premium. Trays are cleaned once a week at a minimum, but I also have only seven permanent rabbits with the kits creating a revolving number that's usually between 12 and twenty, so it's a small rabbitry. I imagine cleaning trays when your numbers get pretty high up there isn't as time efficient as just spraying down a slanted drop board.

 

[bobqdevon]

Here's the best side picture I can get. The chicken brooding pen is in the way of getting an actual good photo...

 

[Hoosier]

Thank you so much for the end picture!!! It helps me understand it much better. It's late here and I need to head to bed. Will comment more another time.

 

[grumpy]

Hoosier,
I hang my hay-feeders on the doors.
I like the feeders affixed to the fronts of the cages.
They're more stable there than on the door.
grumpy.

 

[bobqdevon]

I have one hay feeder on the door, on Alice's cage (the one on the right). That's because she likes to charge Fernie. All the rest have them inside on the left, partly doe to my OCD issues, and mostly since I attach their nest boxes on the right front of the cage, as you can see in Alice's cage.

 

[skysthelimit]

If I could, I would have all hanging cages. As it is, space is an issue, so most are two high, some three. The stacked one are above my head, and that's a pain frequently.

 

[Ramjet]

Here's the best side picture I can get. The chicken brooding pen is in the way of getting an actual good photo...

My setup is very similar to this (corrugated plastic instead of tin radiates less heat) ... tho rather than keeping waste off of other rabbits , it keeps it off my patio and with only one row of cages I just angled it long ways and have waste drop directly into a bucket.


I'm in the process of building a dedicated rabbit shed and plan to do double rows of cages this time angling the plastic to the rear like in this photo and just allowing it to fall to the ground.
My shed will be open on the bottom (2ft) and again at the top of the walls (~4inches)with a roof overhang to keep the rain out to allow for circulation of air as heat is a major issue here in South Texas. Cinderblocks on each corner will be used as the foundation allowing for the open bottom .... no need to catch waste.

It should be finished in the next week / 10 days , pics when I get it done.