Many owners of suburban and suburban areas are happy to breed rabbits. This fluffy pet is able to provide owners with not only valuable fur, but also high-calorie nutritious meat. The effectiveness of raising rabbits depends entirely on the proper maintenance, feeding and care of animals.
It will be useful for a beginner rabbit breeder to know how to make DIY feeders for rabbits. After all, high-quality and regular feeding has a positive effect on animal health.
Feeder Requirements
Before proceeding with the manufacture of do-it-yourself feeders for rabbits, you need to familiarize yourself with the basic requirements for these designs. Following these useful tips will increase the efficiency of using homemade feeding troughs and improve the quality of life of furry pets.
Rabbit feeders should be:
- Spacious so that there is no need to add food during feeding.
- It is easy to be cleared of the remains of a forage during operation.
- To avoid injury to the animal, the structure should not contain sharp corners and protrusions.
- A rabbit feeder should provide unhindered access to food.
- The design should exclude the possibility of getting the animal into the feeder with its feet, which leads to food contamination.
- The dimensions should be correctly calculated to ensure that all rabbits have access to food at the same time.
- The mount must be secure, the feeder should not be turned over.
- And, of course, the cost of self-made rabbit feeders should be less than similar industrial designs.
Types of fixtures
The importance of manufacturing a high-quality feeder is confirmed by the fact that rabbits are suitable for food 26-30 times a day. Therefore, this device should significantly increase the hygienic conditions in the cell and maintain a rational diet of the animal.
The following types of rabbit feeders are available:
- Hopper appliances are used for granular and bulk feed. The design solution of such a device completely eliminates the spread of food and allows you to load the amount of food that will be enough for several meals.
- Flute devices are intended for feeding animals with concentrated feed or root crops. A tube feeder for rabbits is the simplest design in this regard. Grooves allow you to simultaneously feed a large number of animals.
- Hay and grass are loaded into a special feeder, the so-called nursery. Such devices are very practical to use, but require constant replenishment of feed.
- Cup-type rabbits feeders are common when both bulk and granular feeds and concentrated foods are served. As these devices, metal containers can be used. Such feeders are often used for drinking.
- Bowls made of ceramic material are more modern designs, most often industrial production. They look very beautiful, but easily turn over.
Before making do-it-yourself feeders for rabbits, professionals advise beginners to print a drawing of the device. You can find out about the adaptation scheme from the reference literature. There you can also see photos of the rabbit feeders, of which there is a wide variety.
Benefits of Hopper Feeders
Bunker-type feeders are considered the most convenient and practical to use, therefore, they have several advantages over other types of devices.
Main advantages:
- profitability;
- spaciousness;
- convenience in operation;
- reliable protection of the feed from pollution;
- simplicity in leaving and service;
- cleanliness around the feeder;
- do-it-yourself bunker feeder for rabbits easily.
Grain and granular food when eaten by pets by gravity evenly fills the tray and is located at a certain level, does not spill out of its limits. This feature allows you to maintain cleanliness in the cage, which positively affects the health of pets. Bunker feeders for rabbits are widely used in farms remote from the owners.
Types of hopper feeders
There are several types of bunker devices, the choice of which in case of self-production is carried out depending on the preferences of the owner. The following designs are most popular:
- round feeder;
- a device having a transverse partition, which allows you to load various types of feed;
- combined fixture.
Materials used
Before making a feeder for rabbits, you need to decide on the material that will be used to make the structure, because rabbits are rodents. Experienced rabbit breeders often use feeders made of a metal profile or thin tin.
Also, bunker-type appliances made of wood (plywood, boards) are also very popular. Protruding areas of the wooden feeder must be protected with metal plates. There are many designs made of plastic pipe, plexiglass, slate. Glass, metal rods and wire can also be used as auxiliary material.
Production of galvanized hopper feeders
It is more practical to make a metal feeder. A sheet of galvanized steel with a thickness of 0.5 ml is great for this job. It is better to cut such a material with scissors for metal, since cutting with a grinder will lead to the burning of a layer of zinc, and the place of the cut will begin to become covered with rust. For the construction device, you need a drawing, which is easy to draw yourself.
The size of the rabbit feeders should be consistent with the size of the cage. For example, we can consider the manufacture of a feeder with optimal sizes.
The manufacturing procedure is as follows:
- A conventional hopper feeder consists of a rear and front wall, as well as a tray. A limiter is also made so that the feed is not raked out by the rabbits. Work begins with the manufacture of the tray. The cut fragment from the sheet is folded along the fold lines taking into account the allowance at the joints of about one centimeter, which will be necessary to connect all the parts.
- The back and side walls are made of a whole galvanized sheet to reduce the number of joined surfaces. Dividing into three parts, this part is bent in width.
- The front wall also bends in three parts in width.
- Further, all the details are folded into one design. At the joints where the allowances were made, holes are drilled. Connect with bolts or rivets.
- To exclude the entry of debris, make the top cover.
Metal profile fixture
It turns out very neat feeder made of profile metal with a section of 100 × 40 mm.
The manufacturing procedure for the feeder is as follows:
- Make cuts with metal scissors after marking the profile. Excess areas at the bend are removed.
- To remove small debris from the tray, the lower part of the profile is perforated with a drill.
- Then give the workpiece the shape of the finished device. Rivet holes are made at the joints.
- To fix the feeders on the cage, two hooks from pieces of the profile are attached.
This simple device is used to feed one pet. If you need to distribute food to several rabbits, you will have to hang several such feeders on the cage.
Hopper feeders from auxiliary material
For the beginning rabbit breeder, several designs made of material that can be found in any farm will be interesting. It can be a piece of plastic pipe, any can and a simple plastic container.
We take two plastic bottles with a wide neck. From a board or plywood we make an L-shaped frame. We attach one bottle with a pre-cut side part with screws to the bottom of the frame. And to the vertical strip of the frame with clamps we fix the second container, directing its neck into the window of the lower bottle. We cut off the bottom of the vertical container to the end to make a lid, fill in the feed, and the feeder is ready.
A similar, combined design can be made from a piece of polyethylene pipe and a galvanized metal profile. The feed tray is made from a profile and fastened to the lower shelf of the L-shaped base. A piece of pipe is attached to the vertical frame, having previously cut a recess at one end to spill feed.
You can make a tin can feeder. At a distance of 5 cm from the bottom, the cans are cut through the slot to the middle of the container. The front wall is cut and fixed with rivets. Everything, the device is ready!
Flute Type Device
This design is almost the simplest of all types. This confirms the photo of the rabbit feeder. It is not difficult to make it with your own hands, the main thing is to understand what its peculiarity is. There are many varieties of flute devices, it all depends on the location and method of attachment of the device.
From the name it follows that by design it is an ordinary gutter made of various materials (metal, wood, plastic). Such feeders are used to feed concentrated feed or root crops.
The simplest device is a device made of a plastic pipe. It is simply cut, and the ends are closed with plugs. The groove feeder inside the cell is attached to one of its walls. Devices of this type allow feeding several animals at the same time.
Nursery rabbit feeders
Such devices are more in demand in small farms. They are intended to serve pets their favorite treats - grass, hay. Since such devices are located most often outside the cell, this allows you to keep it clean. A nursery is mounted on the bright side of the rabbit’s dwelling. In appearance they resemble a nursery for pets, hence the name of the device.
The order for the manufacture of creches
The simplest design is a V-shaped model. Having collected all the simple materials for the manufacture of the device (plywood, sheet metal, wire or mesh), we get to work.
The order of operations:
- In accordance with the dimensions of the door on the cage, we cut out two side walls.
- We cut out the grooves on the sidewalls for attaching the entire structure to the cage.
- Using a wooden block we fasten the side parts of the feeder.
- The front part can be cut out of plywood, but better from tin, it is stronger and not subject to moisture. We attach this part to the sidewalls.
- But the back wall, through which the rabbits will get food, can be made of mesh. If the door in the cage is lattice, then the back wall can not be installed, the pets will get food through it.
Cup feeders
On cup devices it is especially not worth stopping. They are known to all beginner rabbit breeders. After all, any bowl can become a cup feeder.
The positive side is its versatility, you can serve any food. But the main problem is that the bowl is often turned over and the feed is quickly contaminated.
Modern industry offers many options for various ceramic feeders, which are in demand among beginner rabbit breeders.
When making the feeding device yourself, you need to remember an important rule - any feeding trough should be convenient not only for the pet, but also for the person who is serving the animal. The rabbit feeder must necessarily meet hygiene requirements, which is the main factor in maintaining the health of a furry pet.