Quite often, owners of summer cottages keep not only chickens and ducks, but also rabbits on their backyards. To breed such livestock in a private household is quite profitable. However, rabbits, of course, should create good conditions in the compound. First of all, such animals need to equip comfortable and safe cages. Otherwise, the animals will develop poorly and gain weight.
Types of Rabbit Cages
To establish homes for such animals can be both on the street and in the barn. At the same time, it is allowed to place them not only in one tier, but also in 2-3. Farm owners usually use several types of rabbit cages:
Depending on the type, the cages for such animals can have a slightly different design and size. In any case, purchased trellised houses for rabbits are usually unreasonably expensive. Therefore, when breeding animals in a household or on a small farm, the cells are usually made independently.
What should be the size
The largest dimensions most often have cells designed to keep young animals. Rabbits of one litter aged 1.5-2 months are usually placed in one enclosure. Young animals are planted most often only after they have reached puberty, that is, before fights begin between them.
There are usually a lot of young in one litter - from 4 to 16. Therefore, the size of the cage for rabbits in this case, of course, should be significant. The larger the aviary for growing young animals, the better. In any case, at least 0.12 m 2 of free space should fall on one head in such a cage.
Rabbit houses are usually slightly smaller than enclosures designed for young animals. But such cells are often made as spacious as possible. In the dwellings of this type, rabbits give birth and care for rabbits. Therefore, in addition to the feeder and drinking bowl, a box of a special design is also installed here, in which the uterus further equips the nest. Typically, the cages for female rabbits have a width of 120 cm, a height of 60 cm and a depth of 70 cm. The mother box itself is most often made 40 x 20 x 40 cm.
Cages for manufacturing rabbits should also be large enough. A male who does not have the ability to actively move will subsequently be poorly performing his duties of increasing the livestock. It is believed that the total cell area for such a rabbit should not be less than 50 cm 2 . The height of the dwelling for the producer is selected taking into account the fact that the animal should be able to freely stand inside it with a “column”.
For ordinary repair rabbits, usually not too large cells are arranged. But such animals should not feel constrained in their homes. Most often, cages for repairing young animals have a length and depth of 70 cm, a height of 50 cm.
All DIY cage sizes made for the farm are suitable only for ordinary animals. For giant animals, of course, require more spacious homes. Cages for such animals make themselves usually more overall. The height of the houses is in most cases not less than 60-80 cm. The length and width of the cells for giants in their manufacture must be increased by a couple of tens of centimeters in comparison with ordinary ones.
Design features
In fact, the answer to the question of how to make a cage for rabbits is relatively simple. But before starting to consider the technology of manufacturing houses for such animals, you need to find out what these structures are.
Dwellings for repair animals and the male manufacturer are in most cases rectangular boxes with three mesh walls and one plywood. Floors in rabbit cages are often trellised. This is necessary so that the products of their vital activity do not accumulate in the houses of animals. Under the floors in the cells, special pallets are installed to collect and remove feces.
The houses made especially for rabbit-producers have a special design. Such cells are divided into two halves by a feeder. In the part of the house, a mother liquor is subsequently installed. The other half is intended for the rest of the rabbit from parental concerns.
The main elements of all types of cages for rabbits (and this is clearly visible in the photo) are:
frame made of timber;
plywood wall;
three lattice walls;
door
- a roof covered with some kind of roofing material.
What you need to know
Rabbits - animals, unfortunately, are not particularly hardy. In this regard, they are somewhat inferior to other living creatures. Therefore, when assembling cells for them, you should adhere to certain rules. For example:
in a handmade rabbit cage there should be nothing sharp - sticking out nails, hanging corners of the roofing material and other things;
the first tier of cells should be installed at a height of at least 70 cm from the ground;
the presence of drafts in rabbit dwellings should not be allowed;
the roof of the cell should reliably protect its interior from rain and the scorching sun.
Rabbits are fearful animals. They can make sharp jumps at any loud sounds - when the owners perform any work on the site, during a thunderstorm. In this case, the animal in a panic may hit on the design of the cage. Therefore, any sharp object can easily cause the death of the animal.
Directly on the ground, cages with these small animals cannot be installed because in this case they will be easily accessible to some animals - dogs, rats. If there are drafts in the rabbit cage, the animal will almost certainly become sick. These animals are not afraid of cold. But their body reacts negatively to drafts almost always. This is especially true for young animals.
Selection of materials
Cages for keeping rabbits, of course, must be made of reliable and at the same time safe material. The frame of such structures is most often knocked out of timber. Rabbits are known to be rodents. Therefore, a beam of too small a cross-section for the manufacture of cages for such animals is not suitable. A frame of houses is usually made using lumber 50 x 50 mm, well-dried and with not too many knots.
Sheathe cages for rabbits can be a regular mesh netting. But you should choose this material only if there are no stray dogs or foxes in the area. These animals are smart enough to try to tear the chain-link from the frame with claws and, if desired, get to the prey. And often they, unfortunately, succeed. In any case, it is worthwhile to fix the grid on the cell beam as carefully as possible. But it’s better to use a reliable metal grill for the walls of rabbit houses.
The floor for structures of this type can be brought down, for example, from ordinary wooden battens. In most cases, slate is used to protect the roof of the cells of the upper tier. Metal is not recommended for this purpose. Such sheets in the summer can be too hot in the sun, which makes it very hot in animal houses.
Sometimes the roofs of cages for domestic rabbits are foldable. In this case, of course, roofing material is most often used as roofing material. The hinged roof itself is usually assembled from a edged board or just plain plywood.
Preparatory work
All wooden elements of the rabbit cage must be sanded before assembly. Otherwise, animals may later be injured. It is not worthwhile to process a bar intended for the manufacture of a cell with any antiseptic compositions. Rabbits in the future will surely gnaw the frame of the house, thus grinding their teeth. And an antiseptic can have a negative effect on the digestive tract of animals.
For convenience, before you start collecting the cage, you should draw its drawing, as well as calculate the necessary dimensions of the elements of its structure. If you wish, you can find a ready-made suitable rabbit housing scheme in the specialized literature.
How to make a cage for rabbits with your own hands: assembly of the frame
Further, for example, consider the process of manufacturing a bunk cell with built-in V-shaped senniki. The frame of this design is assembled as follows:
knock down four frames of timber 2400 cm long, 900 cm wide and 750 cm high;
on two frames by fastening from the bottom, they fill the floors from the slats diagonally to arrange the floor;
connect the frames in pairs in tiers with the installation of intermediate racks and a V-shaped frame under the feeder;
legs are attached at the bottom of both tiers.
Further:
stuffed on the upper beam of the frame of the first tier along the length of the board with a width of 15 cm;
establish a second tier on top of the first on the legs;
stack a piece of plywood between the tiers in such a way that with one end it rests on a board stuffed at the previous stage, and the other on the top of the back floor frame.
A photo of a cage for rabbits made with this technology using our own hands is presented below. In the picture you can see that the plywood laid at an angle will serve as a diversion of the vital products of rabbits on the first floor and at the same time as a roof for the second.
V-shaped frames for feeding troughs in a do-it-yourself cage for rabbits made according to this scheme can be stuffed from 30 x 30 cm racks. They are fastened in the plane of the walls, installing elements diagonally from the center of the lower beam along the length to the top of the intermediate support posts.
The distance between the floor slats in such a cage should be approximately 1.5 cm. In this case, it will be convenient for rabbits to live in a house in the future.
How to sheathe the design
First of all, when arranging a two-tier cage for rabbits, they self-embed the walls of the V-shaped sennik from the inside. To do this, use a grid of steel bars or coarse mesh.
Then proceed to sheathing the side walls. If a chain-link is used for this purpose, fastening is carried out using a stapler by shooting. After, between the corner and intermediate racks in both tiers, doors are knocked down from the timber. Previously they are sheathed with a chain link. The space between the rails of the V-shaped feeder in the plane of the front wall is left open. At the final stage, plywood is stuffed onto the back wall of the cage.
Production of the roof of the upper tier
In order for rainwater to subsequently easily drain from the roof of the second floor of such a cage, a 15 cm wide board is stuffed onto the front beam of its frame, as well as on the first tier. Next, between the top of this element and the rear beam of the frame, plywood is laid. At the final stage, the roof of the do-it-yourself assembled cages for rabbits is sheathed with roofing material.
Where to place
It is best to install the rabbit houses assembled with your own hands in such a way that in the mornings or evenings their inner space is illuminated by the sun, and during the day they are in the shade. Rabbits should be protected carefully from the scorching rays of the sun. Such animals tolerate heat even slightly worse than cold.
Also, keeping rabbits in hand-made cages will be successful only if such structures are installed on a site in a quiet place. Subsequently, nothing should frighten the animals. Placing houses, for example, near a fence bordering a road, a playground or next to a gazebo, in which noisy parties are held, is certainly not worth it.
What to install inside
Cages for keeping rabbits at home, among other things, must be equipped with everything necessary for the proper maintenance of these animals.
In the above version of the two-story house, the sennik is built in already at the assembly stage. However, rabbits are fed not only grass. Inside such a cage, additional feeders should also be installed. Such containers, if desired, can be fixed on the doors or installed directly inside the house. The main thing is to use easy-to-care materials for making the feeder. Most often, such structures are made of tin.
The edges of the metal feeder should be bent. Otherwise, rabbits may cut themselves. Drinking bowls for keeping rabbits are now used in most cases nipple. You can buy such designs and finished stores. Drinkers of this type are inexpensive. However, in small towns in stores, finding such structures can be problematic. Therefore, many farmers prefer to make containers of this type with their own hands.
You can make a nipple drinker on your own using approximately the following technology:
holes are drilled in a section of a polypropylene pipe and nipples are inserted into them;
they attach another section of a pipe of larger diameter to the structure made in this way by means of an angle fitting and an adapter;
they fix the structure, for example, on the back wall of the tier so that the main part with nipples is located horizontally, and the segment connected to it is vertically.
Nipples for a homemade drinker of this variety can be ordered, for example, via the Internet. Such items are inexpensive. Fix the nipples in the pipe using sealing tape.
Furnishing a house for a female
Such cages for rabbits, in addition to drinking bowls and feeders, as already mentioned, are also equipped with queen cells. Install the design in the cage for the rabbit before the birth, after the plucked down is seen on the floor. A mother liquor is usually made in the following way:
from plywood sheets with a thickness of 3 mm using wooden slats 2.5 cm, a box is knocked down taking into account the dimensions of the cage in which it will be installed;
in the side wall of the mother liquor, at a height of about 8-15 cm from the bottom level, a round, wide enough hole for the rabbit is cut out;
a lid from a piece of plywood is fixed to the end of the box on the door hinges.
The Laz is raised above the floor so that rabbits do not subsequently fall out of the nest. The lid in the mother liquor must be made folding. Thanks to this design, it will be easy for the farmer to subsequently check the nest for the presence of stillborn cubs immediately after the rounding. Inside the mother liquor should be put more fresh, well-dried hay.
Care for rabbits is important carefully, because they are very vulnerable, easily susceptible to various diseases, including stress. They prefer silence, security. There is absolutely no need to disturb them, so try to make the cells as comfortable, spacious and durable as possible.