supporting tiers of cages--cheap

[owlsfriend]

I don't have a lot of room in my shed. And Hubs has nixed the idea of another shed, so I've had to get inventive on cramming cages into the shed I have...I needed three tiers of cages....(want? Need?)

I love my cage builder. He cut himself out of a couple hundred dollars that I would have spent on legs....(except that I would now spend that money on more cages) when he told me the "trade secret". Get metal fence posts with holes in them....mine are U-shaped and 7 ft. tall. The trick is to get them into the ground straight (I have no tips on how best to do this, maybe someone could give us a hint on that.)

My cages alternate 36"X24" and 30"x24" and my "trays" or tubs are all 36X24 and 6" deep....so, I put the posts perpendicular to the wall so the blade of the post would make a right angle to the wall based on the size of the tubs and cages... My walls are made of chain-link, so I put the first row of tubs on the ground and used S-hooks to hang the wire cages (without trays) above them. Then I placed empty tubs on top of the cages and hung trayless cages above those. I have put a row of cages with sliding trays on top of those for a third tier. It's no problem feeding the top tier due to height, but getting rabbits out of those cages involves a step stool.

The tubs underneath overlap....they are cement mixing tubs from Lowe's, (but beware, recent tubs sold there are smaller) and cost less than $14 each--less expensive than polymer trays and hold three times as much. I discovered that the second set of posts has a tiny bit wider gap than the others, so I pull that tub first when I'm cleaning and pull the other tubs from that opening also. And that's the last one I put back when cleaning is done. This is where it pays to put the fence posts "sideways" as it forms less of a barrier to pulling the tubs...

You get the benefit of "legs" on your cages for a fraction of the cost.

 

[myrkari]

The fence post legs idea sounds great. I'd like to see a picture if you get the opportunity to take one?

I'm in England where wire cages aren't the norm at all, so I can't buy them, so I'm trying to gather as many tips and tricks as I can for making a nice new rabbitry that will suit my needs and not break the bank - and uses materials I can find equivalents of in this country! I'm sure I can get metal fence posts over here.

 

[TerriG]

Definitely want to see pictures! We are switching from wood and wire cages to strictly wire. Trying to figure it all out without absolutely breaking the bank. I need mine to stack or hang or something, because I need them 3 up too. I am going from 13 holes to about 40 with only adding one bank of cages. Just reworking everything. I look forward to seeing your set-up!

 

[DBA]

You can do it a lot cheaper if all of your cages are the same size.
My dropping pans are all about 3 inches deep. So, for this example, let's say three cages are 24, by 24 inches, 16 inches tall.
Take three pieces of 14ga cage wire, 24 inches by 6 inches.
Use J clips to attach a piece to each side and the back of a cage one inch up from the bottom, extending 5 inches below the cage. Now use even more j clips to attach the bottom of each of those pieces to another cage, one inch down from the top.
This gives a 4 inch gap between cages to hold the poop pan.

For the bottom cage in the stack use pieces of cage wire 24 inches by 11 inches. Again, attach it to the cage, one inch up from the bottom. Then attach a piece 24 by 24, 4 inches down. That makes a shelf for a pan. Then add a 6 by 24 piece to the front under the shelf. Attach those pieces at the corners, that forms a base, 6 inches tall.

If the stack feels like it wobbles any, set it up against a wall and in two or three places attach the back of the stack to the wall. The 14ga wire is plenty strong enough to be self supporting. I have a four stack of 24 by 36 cages that have no legs at all, its just the cage wire supporting it. Works fine, and right now I have a 9 week old litter of californians on one level, a thrianta with 4 kits on another level, a thrianta with 8 kits on another level, and the top level is currently empty, but I will be putting a divider in it soon making it two 24 by 18 cages to hold a couple of newly weaned mini lops. <br /><br /> -- Sun Jun 28, 2015 4:39 pm -- <br /><br /> I hope that description was slightly clearer than chocolate pudding.

 

[owlsfriend]

DBA, I like this also because if you off set the overlap with wider pieces of cage wire, you can make a normal cage have Baby Saver Wire!!!! Rather than line up the horizontal wires of your cage and the spacer cage-wire, line up the vertical and put together with J-clips, with a three inch offset overlap...you have kit-safe cages!

 

[Deer Heart]

I too would really adore pictures of this (I am a visual learner so even the most crude of scribbles are helpful) 8D

 

[Schipperkesue]

To pound fence posts in the ground straight...

Strap the top of your post to a stepladder with a bungee. Put the base of the post where you want it. Use a level on all sides to make sure the post is vertical. Once vertical, climb the ladder and begin pounding the post. after every 5-10 hits, check the post with a level to make sure it has maintained it's position. Once it is a foot or more in the ground you can remove the bungee and continue to drive it in.

 

[owlsfriend]

Any pictures I have tried to take of the fencepost hangers is back-lit by sunlight. (And I HAVE tried to get youall a picture.) Maybe if I wait until dark and turn on the shed lights I can get the photo to actually show something.....