Please help me think through this idea:

[trinityoaks]

For quite a while now, I've been thinking of scooping up the grain (oats, wheat, barley) that my rabbits spill and growing it in trays for bunny-safe greens. Thought I'd throw in some alfalfa seed (the kind you buy for sprouting) while I'm at it, maybe even seed for some other bunny-safe plants. Now that the bunnies are in an outside enclosure, we have a bunch of cage-sized, plastic poo pans that aren't being used, so I thought I'd use those for sprouting.

While I was browsing around on a site that sells sprouting seed and looking at their sprouting trays, I got the bright idea to put the poo pans back under the bunny cages, but right under the cages (maybe even attach them directly to the cage floor). I would punch nail holes in them for drainage, put in a layer of peat moss, and then about once a week spread the spilled grain evenly around the tray. If needed, we could spray down the whole tray to dilute the pee somewhat, but all of the liquid would be draining out instead of collecting on the bottom of the tray.

The grain would sprout and grow up through the cage floor where the bunnies could munch on it to their hearts' content, and I would save on feed.

What do you think? Would this work, or am I forgetting something?

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Brrrrilliant!

The only problems I foresee is the ammonia from the urine burning the young plants and the buildup of poo. So, instead of going through the entire sprouting process under the cages, why not let the plants get some growth and then put them under? Once the bunnies have "mowed the lawn", remove it for another couple days of growth and then replace it under the cage.

 

[Jessykah]

if the plants don't get enough sunlight, then they will grow tall fast, but spindly and not strong, then fall over when pooped or pee'd on. So like MamaSheepdog said, maybe have them under sometimes and out in the sunlight sometimes.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Good point about the sun Jessykah- kind of ignored the obvious, didn't I? lol. Maybe a mushroom crop instead!

 

[Jessykah]

:lol:

 

[Bramble Hedge]

Bunnies don't take very long to mow a section of fresh green feed especially if it is lovely tender new shoots, I would imagine that my own buns could devour a tray in a sitting each given the opportunity.

 

[akane]

There are a lot of potential health concerns having an animal poop and pee in a concentrated area where it eats. Generally not good. That's one reason wire is used in cages in the first place. You can't keep a rabbit in the standard size most breeders use sanitary and with clean food without separating them from their waste. It would take all of minutes for a rabbit to eat an entire tray down to the wire so there's no point leaving the tray in there. They'll just tear at the wire in frustration to get more while putting fresh pee and manure on it to spread parasites and grow potentially harmful molds for themselves to ingest. They won't pee evenly either so one section will stay too wet which is where you get the mold while damaging the plants. Rinsing the tray is only going to make the area wetter for more mold and drainage holes won't help keep the top dry enough when it's getting moisture every day. At minimum the trays will need rotated and rest periods. Maybe a day or 2 trimming a tray and then put in a normal tray or no tray if it's unneeded and then put a tray back in when it's recovered. Growing it 24/7 under the rabbits sounds like a disaster to me.

Another useful way to grow greens are rubbermaid containers. From the shoebox sized ones to the huge ones. You can get a thick enough layer of dirt to grow an extremely thick layer of finch seed, thistle seed, or sunflowers from the wild bird food section or lawn and pasture grass (avoid fescue that is not for pasture). We did this for guinea pigs. Then you can staple wire over the container and let them trim it occasionally.

The only way I would do a permanent container is a large, deep container with soil under a large cage such as my mini rex in 2x4' cages, a handful of young rabbits in a 42x30", or the netherland buck in a 42x24" cage. I would not do it with the concentration of a standard breeder cage because the amount of fresh waste is just asking for illnesses.