Unwanted Concrete Pad.

[grumpy]

I've began another project.............Hah-Hah imagine that.

I've started tearing down the old dog kennels and shed that used to house
my coon hounds. They've been gone about 8 years. The shed's about 20
years old. Of course, wanting to do it "right", I poured a smooth-finish
concrete pad for the hounds that would be easy to clean. Now, as the space
is changing to being a grow-out area for market fryers, the concrete is
going to be a problem, a big problem.

Rabbit pee and concrete DON'T get along worth a flip!! And I surely don't
want the youngsters inhaling foul air during their grow-out process. The
footprint of the shed and concrete runs is close to 24 feet square, and it's
under a glorious shade tree that protects it until late in the afternoon. This
means insulation requirements will be minimal.

I've "racked" my brain trying to visualize an arrangement of cages that would
work without having to remove the concrete pad. Thus far, I've not been
very successful. I can't come up with any solution that would work. I talked
to my "bobcat-guy" last evening and explained what I wanted and inquired
about the costs of removing the pad and leveling the area.

"Grumpy," he smiled. "It'd probably take longer to load the machine than it
would to do the job." He chuckled at my next question. "It wouldn't cost a
helluva lot to do it, if I can just put the slabs of concrete on the backside of
the pond dam."

I KNOW.......!!! :x :x :x :x I said I would take some pics
when I started this deal. BUT, being old and plagued with Chronic CRS, I
flat forgot. It's been crazy around here with all that's been going on and
I'm lucky to remember the way to the barn. WHICH, BTW....I need to get
going, I've got morning chores to do and about 6-8 does that need breeding.
(((They should have been bred yesterday....but I was too pooped to pop.)))

Have a nice day, Y'all.

Grumpy.

 

[Dood]

I LOVE my concrete floored rabbit barn, I just put down a bit of peat moss to absorb urine and sweep it out every week. When I had a colony on dirt it was a stinky mess since you cannot clean it in any way and it just keeps accumulating urine which converts to ammonia over time.

And in the spring and fall I can give it a good scrubbing so it smells as fresh as the day it was poured

 

[grumpy]

I LOVE my concrete floored rabbit barn, I just put down a bit of peat moss to absorb urine and sweep it out every week. When I had a colony on dirt it was a stinky mess since you cannot clean it in any way and it just keeps accumulating urine which converts to ammonia over time.

And in the spring and fall I can give it a good scrubbing so it smells as fresh as the day it was poured

Hmmm....somethin' to consider. I "DO" like the idea of being able to scrub
and disinfect. Peat-Moss? What other substitutes would work good?? It
would be easy to allow "slots" along the bottom-plate to allow a good stream
of water to wash the floor down. I kinda like that idea, now that you mention
it Dood. I've got some 75 year-old, 6"X6"X16' beams that are going to be
used for the base of the structure. I could easily slip a fire-brick under the
beam every 3 feet to keep it up off of the concrete. Once it's all tied
together, it ain't gonna go any place. It'd be easy to block it off in the wintertime.

I've always been a "dirt-floor" guy and never really considered anything else.

BUT:
From weaning to market weight is the most stressful period in a rabbit's life.
So, it may be to their advantage to have an environment with less bacterial
build up and less challenge to their developing immune system. Gonna give
all of this some serious thought.

That's the beauty of this site. Expressing one's ideas opens up the
possibilities to alternatives from other members.

grumpy

 

[SuburbanHomesteader]

We just finished covering our dirt floors with patio block.

Dirt floors were turning into an epic fail. Wet spots from the rabbits - if they peed out into the aisle, then you had mud there.
We sweep daily, so everything gets covered in dust in no time. Plus any loose areas got scoured out so then there were pot-holes in
some places. My parents are elderly - when my dad nearly fell in the barn after stepping into a hole, I knew we had to do something.

Didn't want to pour concrete because of drainage issues. Came up with the idea of using 12-inch square patio blocks.
They allow the water to drain through quickly and easily. We still sweep every day and it's cut the time it takes to do that in half.
Fewer problems with flies. If smell gets to be an issue, we pour a bucket of water + vinegar over the bad spot and scrub with a brush
on a long handle. (Haven't completely hosed it out yet but that's the plan one of these days.) Makes feeding so much easier as we can
now move a cart through the aisles with no problem. Sweeping and scooping up poop on a smooth floor is also much easier.

All of that is a prelude to my saying that I, too, had concerns about rabbit pee and concrete. If you're still in the planning stage, I say
keep the concrete and design in a way to make it easy to hose out and then just do that as necessary.

And all of this may beg the question of whether or not it's really worth the work and the expense. Had to nurse my dad through one
hip replacement - not about to do it again! If it keeps mom and dad coming out to the bunny barn and makes it easier for them once they
get there, then YES, it's worth it. (And when the day comes that somebody else has this place and they don't want to raise rabbits - if you
can imagine such a person - then they'll have a real nice barn with a real nice floor.)

If I know you, Grumpy, you'll get it figured out! Good luck and take lots of pictures!!

 

[Zass]

We just dug all the dirt out of our rabbitry and replaced it with layers of crushed rock, pea gravel and sand to allow for better drainage.

We didn't really want to add water to an already too humid situation, so concrete was out.

The expense of water to wash floors with needs to be taken into account on a commercial level.

 

[Dood]

I use to use sawdust and wood chips (we get it by the semi-truck load for the horses and cows) but peat moss looks better in the urban gardens and I sell quite a bit of the swept up bunny berries as ready to use manure - it is also a good re-purposing of the 50 pound feed bags.

 

[SuburbanHomesteader]

Peat moss and bunny berries would go great in the garden! I bet you had folks lined up for those bags!!

 

[akane]

Hate dirt for animals. It absorbs far worse than concrete and makes a smelly mess if you have humidity of any kind. "Potholes" are also a frequent problem from cleaning areas that get a lot of pee. Then there's the chance of rainwater and it all just makes a muddy, stinky mess. Concrete is great. You can throw a cheap cut to size rubber mat on it if you really want to. Just putting some bedding down and rinsing it occasionally should be fine though. We never had smell build up with horses peeing on the concrete when we had many tied up in the center aisle every day for shows or when we put in a temp pen on a concrete slab because we had one too many horses versus stalls. Rabbit pee is much better than gallons of horse pee. A thin layer of most anything will do. Ag/barn lime, shavings, pine pellets... we used wheat hulls for a floor once. A little dusty when moving it around but quite absorbent and composts fast.

 

[ilovehome]

I am currently trying to decide whether to use my cinder block/concrete floor building for the new rabbitry to keep the elops ears above freezing. We are also considering adding sides to a carport and keeping the dirt floor. We have been very concerned that the urine would ruin our cinder block building. Plus it is so humid here year round that my current rabbitry doesn't have but one wall, and three sides of chain link fencing. This allows for the ventilation needed in the south. I think I read somewhere that epoxy on the concrete helps. Any experience with this?

 

[akane]

You can probably seal it with the same thing they use on block basements. They tried to do that to our smoothed concrete garage and it just chipped horribly. On rough concrete like cinder blocks it should hold the same as a block basement and prevent moisture from either direction. Even in humid weather we kind of liked our horse stable concrete to sweat. It would keep the temp about 5F cooler inside. We don't see as high of temps for quite as long (we do usually clear 100F for a month except this is one of our coldest years) but we do see humidity. 70-95% at the wettest months and 45-60% the rest of the year.

 

[grumpy]

The kennel structure was formerly a chicken coop with a penned outside run.
Once I got my hounds, I poured the concrete pad "around" the building and
put a smooth finish on the concrete instead of a brush finish.

Once the building's gone, I'll have that space of nothing but dirt with concrete
around three sides. I mentioned those fire-brick for raising the exterior walls.
Well, I've got several hundred of them that could easily be lain to fill in the
dirt where the building used to set. It might not look real neat, but I'd not
be stepping off into a hole!! LOL.

I saved all of the wire covered panels that were the dividers for the kennel
runs. It's my plan to use those as the exterior walls with them partially covered
with repurposed metal off of the roof I replaced on the barn a year or two ago.
I've got that humongous pile of dunnage lumber to use for structural
reinforcement and nailers for the metal.

It "sounds" sort of cobbled-up, but I'm sure the finished product will look
pretty darned good. Lots and Lots of fresh air circulation for the fryers.
I just disconnected the power source to the old kennel last night and will
rewire the building once I'm finished. All of the interior pens for the hounds
were built in panels of wire and wood put together with deck screws.
I'm just about finished removing all of them, then I can start the destruction
of the building itself. There's a lot of good framing lumber in it that I'll salvage
and use on the new building.

The only "NEW" materials I should have to buy is for the roofing and support
rafters. Plus, I've still got that big pile of high-density insulation I can use for
the ceiling and lower portions of the outside walls. A poor man's got poor ways.

grumpy.

 

[SuburbanHomesteader]

Right there with you on re-using and recycling building materials. About the only thing we buy new are screws, hardware, and electrical switches and outlets.

We're lucky enough to live near a town that has an auction house. First Monday of every month they auction off tons of stuff - most of the time there are building materials. Lost count of the number of times dad and I have bought something for $2 and then looked at each other and asked "What are we gonna do with that?". Sooner or later, we find a good use for it - whatever it is. Heck, I don't think we paid more than $5 for any of the windows in our out-buildings. Most of them are double-pane double-hung with screens included!

Auctions. I call them "Garage Sales for Men". The ladies go to a Garage Sale and see an item for $1 and say "I'll give you 50 cents." We men go to an auction and the guy says "Who'll give me $5?" and we say "I'll give you $6!"

Is it no wonder the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world? :lol:

 

[ilovehome]

Dood, do you have trays, and the floor is just where the excess falls, or is the floor where all the urine lands?

 

[Dood]

Straight to the floor.

U use to have trays but I got anoying pulling them out and cleaning each one and I started dumping them on the floor and sweeping it up and finally did away with them.

 

[grumpy]

I've got most of the run panels removed and the interior sleeping pens
dismantled. But, here's an idea of what I'm working with and the space
that's going to be re-built. This photo was taken about 10:30 this morning.

The dog house itself is about an 8X10. Every wasp in Clinton County decided
to call this old building "home"....LOL. First time in my life I've ever intentionally
bought a can of Wasp and Hornet spray. The place was "loaded" with them.

Got all of the wire panels stacked up against the barn. Plus, my old roofing
off of the East-side of the barn as well. Yeah, I know, the barn could use a
fresh coat of paint.
Those big doors haven't been pushed shut in nearly 20 years. They were
a bear to open and close back then. I just left them open.

Thanks for lookin'.
Grumpy.

 

[TwoAcreDream]

I like your projects grumpy

I would be leaving the concrete as is and working with it.

Not sure about your area but here it has been raining a lot.
A solid floor beats a dirt floor anyday.

My bunny room is added on to our garage. It has a dirt floor.
I use drop pans for my cages. Sometimes when I clean water
dishes, some of that water gets on the floor. Most of it goes
into a bucket and then outside to get dumped though.
Because of the hay racks, I get hay on the floor. About 1x
a week, I just rack it up and take it out to the chickens.
After a year using this set up, it still works good. After I clean
the drop pans, I sprinkle shavings in them.
Years ago, when I had my other setup, it did have a concrete
floor. I used line cages. Cleaned 1x a week and just shoveled
the droppings out the door into a manure spreader.