How to clean chutes

[Miss M]

I've got to find some easier way to clean the chutes in our rabbitry. It is set up so the waste runs forward, and we cannot get to the back of the cage rack, so it must be cleaned from the front. But the assortment of brushes we have makes this job very difficult. I have looked at various push brooms, but the angle of the handle is too great for it to fit beneath the cages easily.

What do y'all use to sweep bunny berries down the chutes?

 

[Jack]

squeegees, you can get a 2" rubber squeegee on a medium handle and just pull it all forward, then look at the garden section and get a straight hoe, cut the handle and now you have a long handled scraper.

 

[ladysown]

i use bathroom squeegee found at local dollar store. and then in the spring a hose works well every three months of so to get rid of leftovers.

 

[Miss M]

Really? A squeegee gets the hills and valleys of corrugated tin? That would be awesome!

 

[Jack]

A tall a one, or one that is cut into 1" strips so it can flex, or you can get a small brush that is designed to be used like a push broom, or.....
just find something that works, if you have to use toothpics and baling wire, form it from duct tape, find what works.

 

[Miss M]

if you have to use toothpics and baling wire, form it from duct tape, find what works.

:lol: Quite true... I really hope to find something a little simpler than that, though, I admit!

I reluctantly bought a deck broom, but I'll go exchange it for a squeegee! I'm so tired of this being so difficult! It was one thing when it was 4 rabbits, but we presently, with growout cages, have 18. The job will abruptly get easier when we send them to freezer camp, but it still isn't easy... our arms just aren't long enough!

Hopefully a squeegee with a handle will solve this problem!

 

[PhoenixFarm]

nTose bennet books say to make a scraper out of the same currogated material!!!

 

[Jack]

You could make one with a template of corrugated material, use a bike tire clamped flat between two pieces of wood or metal, bolted together, with a threaded hole for the handle.

 

[Miss M]

nTose bennet books say to make a scraper out of the same currogated material!!!

I did think about that, and it would work quite well, I am sure, if we were pushing it away from us. I think it would be more difficult to pull it toward us, though, but I could be mistaken.

I did find a broom (the squeegees were not rubber... they were some sort of thick, stiff foam. I would have had to cut it up, and I don't think it would have worked even then). Its brush continues up so that you can still scrub with the handle parallel to the floor, which is what I needed. I had Shay shorten the handle, and I ended up having to trim the bristles so the brush would fit beneath the cages, but it is making life much easier so far! <br /><br />__________ Mon Jan 17, 2011 10:43 pm __________<br /><br />

You could make one with a template of corrugated material, use a bike tire clamped flat between two pieces of wood or metal, bolted together, with a threaded hole for the handle.

Oh, I think I get it... so you're not actually using the metal, you're using it to cut the pattern from the bike tire? I may work on that.

 

[pfaubush]

I had this problem and found 2 solutions. The first one was a push broom with the bristles cut at about 1/2 length. The second one is to use the wood (yeah, yuck) that is shaped like the corrugated stuff (it is what you're supposed to screw the corrugated stuff to) and nail a thin board to that for a handle. This doesn't go over the screw very well (if you used the hex screws with the gaskets).

 

[Oakville Shooter]

nTose bennet books say to make a scraper out of the same currogated material!!!

I did think about that, and it would work quite well, I am sure, if we were pushing it away from us. I think it would be more difficult to pull it toward us, though, but I could be mistaken.

Right now, all of my cages are on one level, but I had them doubled up for awhile. I used the corrugated vinyl panels between the levels and used a scrap of the material to scrape them clean. It worked pretty good. I cut a piece of the material roughly 4x6", took a 1" dowel rod and cut the end something close to 45 degrees and screwed the scraper to the rod. With my set up, I had to pull the scraper to me instead of pushing away. As stated, it worked well.

 

[pfaubush]

Right now, all of my cages are on one level, but I had them doubled up for awhile. I used the corrugated vinyl panels between the levels and used a scrap of the material to scrape them clean. It worked pretty good. I cut a piece of the material roughly 4x6", took a 1" dowel rod and cut the end something close to 45 degrees and screwed the scraper to the rod. With my set up, I had to pull the scraper to me instead of pushing away. As stated, it worked well.

I may have to try this. I honestly never thought of using the same stuff, but some of my cages don't hang high enough for my modified broom. Hmmm.

 

[Oakville Shooter]

I may have to try this. I honestly never thought of using the same stuff, but some of my cages don't hang high enough for my modified broom. Hmmm.

That was part of my problem. It was hard to rake under the bottom row of cages as they were pretty close to the ground. Cleaning the divider wasn't too bad. The problem there was that I had to raise the divider in the back and slope it towards the front. The cages are close to the walls and I can't get behind them, so I wouldn't be able to clean the divider if it sloped away from me. Not too bad for the most part. But the only way that I could reach into the bottom cages was to squat down, sometimes kneeling on the ground. Right where the divider drained to. Some of these gutter systems that I have seen some of you post would help this immensely, I may have to look into setting something like that up. It almost never failed that as soon as I leaned down and would reach into the back of a bottom cage, the one right above me would decide that it was time ti urinate. That led to some mighty quick dodging and ducking. They never got me, but it was close on several occasions.

 

[Miss M]

I cut a piece of the material roughly 4x6", took a 1" dowel rod and cut the end something close to 45 degrees and screwed the scraper to the rod. With my set up, I had to pull the scraper to me instead of pushing away. As stated, it worked well.

Hmmmm... I thought it would be pretty difficult, but seems I'm wrong. I'll have to look into this.

It almost never failed that as soon as I leaned down and would reach into the back of a bottom cage, the one right above me would decide that it was time ti urinate. That led to some mighty quick dodging and ducking. They never got me, but it was close on several occasions.

Gutters are our friends!