What's your set up like?

[mytdogs]

I have had my rabbits for about a month now & i have been very unhappy with the set up I have. I have a trio in 3 cages with room in for one more cage..a grow out cage??

I tried to make something like a rack that holds 4 cages (2 up/2 down); with plastic slant boards going to the back where there is a plastic gutter to catch the manure. The gutters are also slanted to roll the manure into a bucket.

So far my brilliant "system" has failed all around. :x The buns drop sooo much hay that the slant boards & gutters are totally clogged with hay. I push the manure daily & it is always too clogged with hay to fit down the gutter without spilling all over the place & making a huge mess on the floor. The buns are on my back porch so i have to keep it a little neat. I am afraid to set up outdoor hutches because predators abound here much like the parasites. Eventually I want to set up a hoop house to keep them in but for now the porch has to make due.

I am thinking maybe I can make some kind of tray system to catch the hay/manure instead?? Any good tray Ideas? Seems like they will allow for overflow of some poop & urine over the edges but I can leave the current boards & gutter to catch that I suppose.

Anybody want to share some pix of their set up? :help: Or have any ideas what makes a good tray in bunny cage sizes- 24x24 or 24x30?

Thanks!

 

[R.Pines]

Our farm store sells cages that you can by legs for to make them stackable and they sell pans separately that go under the cages to catch the messes. Have you looked at any farm stores? Ours sells pans for your sizes in your post.

A 30x36 inch cage with legs and pans runs a total of around 55 bucks.

I have all my cages hung in a rabbitry that has a dirt floor. I gave up on pans catching everything because its to much work with a lot of buns like I have.
Plus its cheaper to need to buy just the cages and nothing else. A 30x36 cage is only $30 and thats cheaper than if I bought the wire and hardware and did it myself.
Its easier to just rake out the rabbitry once a week.

I would start looking at farm stores. Dont know what you have in your area. Here we have Farm and Fleet.

 

[Miss M]

We're working on building a small rabbitry right now. pfaubush provided pics on a thread I started a few weeks ago at i-m-baaaaaack-and-building-a-rabbitry-help-t763.html . We're basically working on the same type of setup you have, and I've been trying to think of ways to deal with the hay issue. I think I may shake out the hay, put the larger pieces in the hay thingamajigs, and compost the small pieces. The small stuff is mostly what falls through the wire with my buns. Your post makes me a little nervous, but I know it's been done successfully before... but maybe they didn't feed hay. :shrug:

If you didn't leave your gutter system in place you would probably have to install urine guards so the buns can't miss the tray. Hay can clog a tray that is a few inches away from the floor of the cage if you don't keep an eye on it, too. Someone on here hung some sort of screen below their cages, but above the waste sheets, in order to separate the manure from the urine. I bet it also separated the hay. It's on here in pictures somewhere, along with things she would have done differently.

 

[trinityoaks]

All our cages are 30x30. We have these dropping pans from Tractor Supply:

http://www.tractorsupply.com/pet-care/s ... n--2180597

If your local Tractor Supply doesn't carry them, you can order online and have them shipped to the nearest store for no shipping charge.

I don't have pics of our cage racks yet, but here's a diagram I drew for my husband. I hope you can read my chicken-scratching. Be sure to read the notes with the diagram in the album.

[album]183[/album]


We have hay racks from Bass on the side of each cage, so we don't lose a lot of hay (except when the does are nesting or have new litters). We put a layer of peat moss (from Home Depot) in the bottom of each poo pan, so any fallen hay just goes into the garden with the peat moss and the poo.

 

[Truckinguy]

I posted a pic of my new setup in the thread titled "New Setup" from back in February. I don't know how to link it here. It's working very well and keeps the urine and manure separated. I don't use hay, I feed a high fibre pellet and have had no digestive problems with my rabbits in the two years I've had them.

Here's the pic. It's not this clean now but very little smell.

 

[pfaubush]

Wow Truckinguy! I like the separation method! If I didn't have so many stinking rabbits, I would be so happy.

 

[Miss M]

Sorry I called you a "she", Truckinguy! I thought it was one of the ladies here that had posted that pic!

What was it you said you would do differently? Something about the screen being easier to remove and put back on regularly?

 

[Truckinguy]

That's ok, Miss M, you can call my anything you like, just don't call me late for dinner!

Not sure what I would do different at this point. I find that when the kits are very little the poop falls right through the screen and as they grow and the poop gets to the size of the screen it's a bit of a pain to scrape out as it tend to kind of sit in the screen as opposed to on top of it as adult poop does. Also, the screen collects the hair that falls through and if not cleaned out regularly can collect some urine. However, this system works pretty good, keeping most of the poo pellets dry so there is very little smell.

If the screen slid out like a drawer for cleaning it would be pretty convenient.... working on that. As always, everything around here is a work in progress, always something to improve or fiddle with!

 

[All Ears Rabbitry]

I have 45 holes, all KW stackers. Mostly 36x24 and 24x24 with a few 18x24 for jr fuzzies mostly (grow out holes). I had a friend that made her own stacking type units. She cemented fence posts in the ground and attatched hanging units to that. She did 36x24x18 hanging units, 3 per level. She already had the hangers, just needed to use less space. She used trays/pans for the upper 2 levels and let the bottom fall to the ground. I wish I had a pic, I might mimic a similar set up outside the barn after the awning is put up (would add misters) if I do a rare breed (which would be raised mostly for meat).<br /><br />__________ Tue Jun 08, 2010 5:49 pm __________<br /><br />Duh, forgot the most important part. She made inserts with mesh that sat halfway above the bottom of the pan. The urine went through the mesh into the bedding. The insert was CAREFULLY lifted out and the poo was collected. She wanted poo for her garden but didn't want it mixed with the urine.

 

[mytdogs]

Thanks guys.

My set up looks similar to Truckinguy's. Only with aesthetics in mind I put the manure troughs on the BACK! :slap: So, cleaning is not easy. I may try spinning the works around so I can get to the troughs easier. Problem is, I am vertically challenged & so reaching in the cages over the troughs may be an issue. I also think getting some hay racks should help a lot. I swear I loose more than half the hay I put in on the manure boards.

I did scatter some pine pellets (horse bedding) on the floor (bare concrete) to catch any "over-spray". I figure it will soak up any stuff & I can scoop it out just like a stall. I will probably set up some grow boxes out there too to grow greens for the buns...turn it into a green house. Saw dust on the floors should be no problem right?

Thanks again for all the ideas...some day I may have 45 holes...but not on my porch! LOL