How to make a cage for rabbits with your own hands: dimensions, photos

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-07 20:55

Quite often, the owners of summer cottages keep not only chickens and ducks, but also rabbits in their backyards. It is quite profitable to breed such living creatures in a household plot. 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

You can install dwellings for such animals 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 varieties of rabbit cages:

• designed for young animals;
• uterine;
• designed for adult animals;
• for manufacturers.

Depending on the type, cages for such animals may have slightly different designs and sizes. In any case, purchased lattice houses for rabbits are usually unreasonably expensive. Therefore, whenbreeding animals in a household plot or on a small farm, the cages are usually made by yourself.

What should be the dimensions

The largest dimensions most often have cages intended for keeping young animals. Rabbits of the same litter aged 1.5-2 months are usually placed in one enclosure. Young animals are seated most often only after they reach puberty, that is, before fights begin between them.

There are usually a lot of cubs 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 enclosure for the growing young, the better. In any case, one head in such a cage should have at least 0.12 m2 of free space.

Houses for rabbits are usually somewhat smaller than aviaries intended for young animals. But even such cells are often made as spacious as possible. In dwellings of this type, rabbits give birth and nurse rabbits. Therefore, in addition to the feeder and drinker, a box of a special design is also installed here, in which the uterus further equips the nest. Typically, cages for female rabbits are 120 cm wide, 60 cm high and 70 cm deep. The queen box itself is most often made 40 x 20 x 40 cm.

Cages for breeding rabbits should also be large enough. A male who is not able to actively move will subsequently perform poorly in his duties to increase the livestock. It is believed that the total cage area for such a rabbit should not be less than 50 cm2. The height of the dwelling for the producer is selected taking into account the fact that the animal should be able to stand freely inside it in a “column”.

For ordinary repair rabbits, most often not too large cages are equipped. But such animals should not feel cramped in their homes either. Most often, cages for replacement young animals have a length and depth of 70 cm, a height of 50 cm.

All sizes of DIY farm rabbit cages are only suitable for ordinary animals. For giant animals, of course, more spacious dwellings are required. Cages for such animals are usually made independently larger. The height of the houses in most cases is at least 60-80 cm. The length and width of the cages for giants in their manufacture must be increased by a couple of tens of centimeters compared to the usual ones.

Design Features

In fact, the answer to the question of how to make a cage for rabbits is relatively simple. But before proceeding to consider the technology for making houses for such animals, you need to find out what these structures are.

Dwellings for replacement animals and sires are in most cases rectangular boxes with three mesh walls and one plywood. The floors in rabbit cages are often slatted. This is necessary so that the products of their vital activity do not accumulate in the houses of the animals. Special pallets are installed under the floors in the cages,designed to collect and remove feces.

Houses made especially for breeding rabbits have a special design. Such cells are divided into two halves by a feeder. In a part of the house, a mother liquor is subsequently installed. The other half is intended for the rabbit's rest from parental worries.

The main elements of all types of cages for rabbits (and this is clearly visible in the photo) are:

• frame made from 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 economic animals. Therefore, when assembling cells for them, certain rules should be followed. For example:

• do-it-yourself rabbit hutch should not have anything sharp - protruding nails, hanging corners of roofing material and other things;

• the first tier of cages should be installed at a height of at least 70 cm from the ground;
• drafts in rabbit dwellings should not be allowed;
• the roof of the cage should reliably protect its interior from precipitation and the scorching sun.

Rabbits are shy animals. They can make sharp jumps at any loud sounds - when the owners perform any work onarea during a thunderstorm. In this case, the animal in a panic can hit the structure of the cage. Consequently, any sharp object can easily cause the death of the animal.

Cages with these small animals cannot be installed directly on the ground, because in this case it will be easy for some animals to reach them - dogs, rats. If there are drafts in the cage for the rabbit, the animal is almost 100% likely to get sick. These animals are not afraid of the 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 down from a bar. Rabbits are known to be rodents. Therefore, a beam of too small a section for making cages for such animals is not suitable. The frame of the houses is usually made using lumber 50 x 50 mm, well dried and with not too many knots.

You can sheathe cages for rabbits with an ordinary chain-link mesh. 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 off the chain-link from the frame with their claws and, if desired, get to the prey. And often, unfortunately, they succeed. In any case, it is worth fixing the grid on the cage beam as carefully as possible. But it’s better to use a reliable one for the walls of rabbit houses.metal grill.

The floor for structures of this type can be knocked down, for example, from ordinary wooden slats. 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 can get too hot in the summer in the sun, which makes it very hot in the animal houses.

Sometimes the roofs of cages for domestic rabbits are made folding. In this case, of course, roofing material is most often used as a roofing material. The folding roof itself is usually assembled from edged boards or simply from solid plywood.

Preparatory work

All wooden elements of the rabbit cage must be sanded before assembly. Otherwise, the animals may subsequently be injured. It is not worth treating a beam intended for making a cage with any antiseptic compounds. The rabbits will subsequently gnaw on the frame of the house, thus grinding their teeth. And the antiseptic can have a negative effect on the digestive tract of animals.

For convenience, before you start assembling a cage, you should draw its drawing, as well as calculate the required dimensions of its structural elements. If you wish, you can also find a ready-made suitable scheme for a rabbit dwelling in specialized literature.

How to make a cage for rabbits with your own hands: assembling the frame

Next, as an example, consider the process of manufacturing a two-tiered cage with built-in V-shaped senniks. 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 below, floors are stuffed from slats diagonally to equip the floor;
• connect the frames in pairs into tiers with the installation of intermediate racks and a V-shaped frame under the feeder;
• legs are attached at the bottom of both tiers.

Next:

• stuffed on the upper beam of the frame of the first tier along the length of a board 15 cm wide;
• install the second tier on top of the first on the legs;
• a piece of plywood is laid between the tiers so that one end rests on the board stuffed at the previous stage, and the other end rests on the top of the frame of the first floor at the back.

A photo of a cage for rabbits, made by hand using this technology, is presented below. In the picture you can see that the plywood laid at an angle will serve as a drain for the waste products of the rabbits of the first floor and at the same time a roof for the second.

V-shaped frames for feeders in a do-it-yourself cage for rabbits made according to this scheme can be stuffed from slats 30 x 30 cm. racks.

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 the house in the future.

How to properly sheathe a structure

Firstthe turn when arranging a two-tier cage for rabbits with their own hands is upholstering the walls of a V-shaped sennik from the inside. To do this, use a grate made of steel rods or a coarse mesh.

Then proceed to the sheathing of the side walls. If a chain-link is used for this purpose, fastening is carried out using a stapler by shooting. After that, doors knocked down from a bar are installed between the corner and intermediate racks in both tiers. Previously, they are sheathed with a chain-link. The space between the slats 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.

Making 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 board 15 cm wide is stuffed onto the front beam of its frame, as well as on the first tier. Further, plywood is laid between the top of this element and the rear beam of the frame. At the final stage, the roof of the do-it-yourself rabbit cage is sheathed with roofing felt.

Where to post

It is best to install do-it-yourself rabbit houses in such a way that in the mornings or evenings their interior is illuminated by the sun, and during the day they are in the shade. From the scorching rays of the sun, rabbits should be protected quite carefully. Such animals endure heat even somewhat worse than cold.

Also, keeping rabbits in cages made by hand will be successful only if such structures are installed onarea in a quiet location. Nothing should scare the animals in the future. Placing houses, for example, near a fence bordering a road, a playground, or next to a gazebo where noisy parties are held, is definitely 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 variant of the two-tiered house considered above, the sennik is built in already at the assembly stage. However, rabbits are fed not only grass. Additional feeders should be installed inside such a cage. 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 the manufacture of the feeder. Most often, such structures are made of tin.

The edges of the metal feeder should be bent. Otherwise, rabbits can cut themselves on them. Drinking bowls for keeping rabbits in our time are used in most cases nipple. You can buy such designs and ready-made store. Drinkers of this type are inexpensive. However, in small towns in stores, finding such designs can be problematic. Therefore, many farmers prefer to make this type of container with their own hands.

You can make a nipple drinker yourself using approximately the following technology:

• holes are drilled in a piece of polypropylene pipe and nipples are inserted into them;
• are attached to the fabricatedanother length of pipe of larger diameter by means of an elbow fitting and an adapter;
• fix the structure, for example, on the back wall of the tier so that the main part with nipples is horizontal, and the segment attached to it is vertical.

Nipples for homemade drinkers of this variety can be ordered, for example, via the Internet. These items are inexpensive. Fix the nipples in the pipe using sealing tape.

Building a house for a female

Such cages for rabbits, in addition to drinkers and feeders, as already mentioned, are also equipped with queen cells. The structure is installed in the cage for the rabbit just before the birth, after the plucked fluff is seen on the floor. The mother liquor is usually made approximately as follows:

• from plywood sheets 3 mm thick 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;
• to the end of the box on the door hinges a cover made of a piece of plywood is fixed.

The hole is raised above the floor so that the rabbits do not fall out of the nest in the future. The lid in the mother liquor must be made hinged. Thanks to this design, it will be easy for the farmer to check the nest for the presence ofstillborn cubs immediately after birth. Inside the mother liquor, you should put more fresh, well-dried hay.

It is important to take care of rabbits 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 cages as comfortable, spacious and durable as possible.