Stablizing hanging cages

[lereg15]

Hey all! I have hanging cages, with chains and s hooks on all four corners of the cages. Every time the rabbits hop around the cage, the water is sloshing out of the #10 cans that I have for them, wasting the majority of their water. How do you all keep the cages from rocking back and forth? Could I add some more chain to the bottom of them as well?

I'm starting to have some long days of work and don't want them to run out of water while I'm gone, and don't know the best way to try and conserve the water that I've given them in the morning.

On a better note, I sold my first bunny yesterday!! The problem is that I need a couple of does first to mate the bucks with. I told them it would be about 5 months before they could have one, if all works out well. Also, I will be making them a cage for it as well!!

Thanks in advance for your input!!

 

[ottersatin]

Hi Greg,
you could try nailing the main cage in the row to the side of the wall.
Do this with long u bent nails and if necessary a length of chain.
Also, you might want to switch to Water bottles hung on the front of each cage.
The water remains in the bottle till they drink it.
I could send pictures if needed. I detest water Bowls, though I
like everybody else am forced to use them when were in the DEEP FREEZE!
I'm using Bottles again now, thanks to the warmer weather.
Ottersatin. ldtimer:

 

[lereg15]

This is what I have to work with. The cages are 'dropped' 6" from the top, and are situated in the middle of my frame, to try and keep their excrement off of my 2x4's. That would be a long nail, if I were to do that!!
BTW, I plan on doing the gravity waterers with the pvc, as soon as I can find the nipples locally. All they seem to have around here are the nipples for chickens.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

My cages all butt up against one another, so there is very minimal movement. You might try stabilizing them by running a couple of 1" x 2" boards from cage to cage and securing to the wire with large washers and screws. It will be a little more time consuming to take the cages down when necessary (because you will need to remove the screws), but I think it may work.

I would try just two boards initially, run from the top corners of the cages, but you may need two additional run from the front and rear faces of the cages. I would place those at least 6" up from the floor so they don't get soiled by the rabbits waste.

 

[Silver Cloud]

If it were me, on the bottom on I would mount four one front and one back on both sides, 1/2" conduit 2 hole hanger (saddle straps) to your top board cut a 1/2" conduit length long enough to go through the saddles. Sliding through the cage just under the top (great support). Like in this picture only from the bottom of your wood rather than another conduit. <br /><br /> -- Sat Apr 04, 2015 1:53 pm -- <br /><br /> Ours are set on a 4' length of conduit so we can slide our cages back and forward as we need them. We only have one bunny that thinks he is in the Indy 500 and will slide his cage a few inches after 20 min or so, For him we use a little plastic spring clamp (cheap at Walmart) clamped over the conduit at one top corner of the cage and he can't move it anymore.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

Great idea, Silver Cloud!

That conduit is surprisingly affordable, too- like $3 and change for an 8' length!

 

[lereg15]

Thanks guys!! For the time being, I can go with the 1x3 (because I have some), and see if that helps. I love the conduit idea, and may go with that for the long term, once I can get to the store and gets a couple of pieces!!

 

[Marinea]

We use conduit (EMT electrical conduit) and straps similar to Silver Cloud and they work great.

SC, I LOVE your sliding cage idea. If we ever have stacked cages, I might steal that.

 

[lereg15]

My cages all butt up against one another, so there is very minimal movement. You might try stabilizing them by running a couple of 1" x 2" boards from cage to cage and securing to the wire with large washers and screws. It will be a little more time consuming to take the cages down when necessary (because you will need to remove the screws), but I think it may work.

I would try just two boards initially, run from the top corners of the cages, but you may need two additional run from the front and rear faces of the cages. I would place those at least 6" up from the floor so they don't get soiled by the rabbits waste.

What I ended up doing, temporarily, is putting 1x3's on top of the cages, and using tie wire to tighten them up. It's now a lot sturdier, and even with them jumping around, hardly any water is sloshing now!!
Silver Cloud, I love your idea, and will definitely find a way to work to work it into my hutches!! I'm thinking I could just lower the top boards and running the conduit through the 2x4's so I can just 'drop' them one side at a time.

 

[MamaSheepdog]

What I ended up doing, temporarily, is putting 1x3's on top of the cages, and using tie wire to tighten them up. It's now a lot sturdier, and even with them jumping around, hardly any water is sloshing now!!

That's great! Glad it worked!

Duct tape, tie wire, zip ties, and both metal and plastic shower curtain rings should be part of every redneck toolkit!

Speaking of which, zip ties would be a great alternative to the tie wire- just a few snips of the scissors (or wire cutters) and you could remove the boards easily when you want to take the cages down for cleaning.

 

[lereg15]

What I ended up doing, temporarily, is putting 1x3's on top of the cages, and using tie wire to tighten them up. It's now a lot sturdier, and even with them jumping around, hardly any water is sloshing now!!

That's great! Glad it worked!

Duct tape, tie wire, zip ties, and both metal and plastic shower curtain rings should be part of every redneck toolkit!

Speaking of which, zip ties would be a great alternative to the tie wire- just a few snips of the scissors (or wire cutters) and you could remove the boards easily when you want to take the cages down for cleaning.

I forgot all about zip ties!! I have plenty of those too, lol. Im thinking I could just cut the tie wire too, but we'll see how easy it is to do when the time comes,

 

[Marinea]

Silver Cloud, I love your idea, and will definitely find a way to work to work it into my hutches!! I'm thinking I could just lower the top boards and running the conduit through the 2x4's so I can just 'drop' them one side at a time.

We did our first cage with the conduit running through the frame 2x4. Do yourself a favor and use the straps. Trying to get the conduit in and out of the wood is a pain in the butt.

 

[lereg15]

Silver Cloud, I love your idea, and will definitely find a way to work to work it into my hutches!! I'm thinking I could just lower the top boards and running the conduit through the 2x4's so I can just 'drop' them one side at a time.

We did our first cage with the conduit running through the frame 2x4. Do yourself a favor and use the straps. Trying to get the conduit in and out of the wood is a pain in the butt.

Ok, I'm sold on the straps then!! Although I may very well try putting them just through the 2x4's, just for the reason that I'm stubborn. When somebody says don't touch that, it's hot, I'm the guy that wants to see how hot it actually is and ends up with blisters, lol. The straps will be used though, eventually,

 

[FourRingCircus]

I have zero experience with hanging cages (not yet anyway, hopefully soon!) - I am planning on hanging my chains at an angle (out) rather than straight down. In my head it is like comparing the movement of a hammock to that of a tire swing - there should be a LOT less motion overall, and what there is will be limited. Curious to see what you ended up coming up with! I am in the process of planning out some new housing (currently using some cruddy old hutches) and am trying to find as many examples of what does and doesn't work to go off of.

 

[starshot]

I have always had hanging cages. I use an X with turnbuckles, so i can tighten when needed. Also ya only need it on 3 sides at most( only if they are off all walls or posts).

-- Tue May 12, 2015 9:09 am --

I'm not tech savvy at all so i will try to explain what i mean.
First off, you hang the cage(s) from the rafters or supports . You then take a wire with a turnbuckle , from the rafter to the opposite cage corner. You do the same for the other corner. When you get to the long side of the cage(if its more than 1 cage) you do not have to go all the way across, you can go from the rafter to about 2/3-3/4 of the way across, as long as the wires do an X someplace in the middle. I hope this helps, remember , the X wire just keeps the cage from swinging, not support( although if my cage wires fail I have heavy enough wire that it will).

 

[lereg15]

I ended up with putting metal bars though the top of the cages, through my wooden framing. They are now very sturdy and don't move around much at all. So much better than the chains, imo!!