Breeding and keeping pets involves a large degree of responsibility of the breeder and requires strict adherence to certain rules. One of the most important is the creation of acceptable conditions for the existence of the animal. They must be close to the natural.
Rabbits have a high degree of resistance to various diseases. They are unpretentious to food and conditions of detention, easily reproduce. But despite all this, animals need a properly organized home.
The construction of a house for pets should be approached correctly. This takes into account the number of animals, their gender composition and age.
What is needed for rabbit breeding?
To engage in breeding rabbits at home, special cash costs are not required. It is necessary to have cages for animals, drinking bowls, containers for food. All this is easy to do with your own hands.
Hay and twigs can be harvested in summer. Root crops and vegetables are easy to harvest in your own garden. The main expense item will be the vaccination of animals and the purchase of concentrated feed.
Recommended Rabbit Cages
In each cage, same-sex animals of approximately the same age, weight and nature should be housed. It is recommended to place adult animals and females with rabbits in one- and two-section cages.
The sizes of rabbit cells have standard indicators:
- length - 100-120 cm;
- height - 50 cm;
- width - 70 cm.
For young rabbits, wooden cages covered with steel mesh are suitable. Their sizes correspond to the sizes of animals. For example, for 10 individuals, a cell with the same dimensions as described above, but its length should be 170 cm, will be acceptable.
How to build a single-tier cage?
Many are interested in how to make a rabbit cage with your own hands. Of course, having the right materials is not so difficult. The article presents drawings of rabbit cages. It also gives recommendations on the choice of materials for work.
For keeping rabbits outside in the cell system, double single-tier rabbit cages are most popular.
The length of such cells is 220-240 cm, and the width is 65 cm. The height of the wall in front is 35 cm. The roof should be with one slope, equipped with a visor protruding 20 cm forward, and 10 cm on the sides.
Two compartments for feed are built in the cage. The floor is made of metal mesh. The mesh size should be equal to 18x18 mm or 16x48 mm. Wooden rails should be placed on the grid , the width of which is 2 cm, and the connector between them is 1.5-1.8 cm.
Do-it-yourself rabbit cages with the correct design should have a partition with a hole, the width of which is 17 cm and a height of 20 cm. It should be located between the nest and the aft compartment in order to prevent the rabbits from entering the feed compartment. A manhole is constructed at a height of 10-15 cm from the floor.
From the front side, two mesh doors are hung on the cage, which lead to the feeding compartment, as well as two continuous doors from the boards leading to the nesting compartment. On the doors leading to the feed, hangers with a removable structure and drinking bowls should be hung.
For feeding with coarse forage, nurseries are set between compartments. The basis of them are two frames made of wood, on which the grid is stretched. The mesh size should be 20x50 mm. The lower ends of the frames are aligned, and the upper ends are apart in the sides of the feed compartment. The result is a V-shaped manger for roughage.
What materials will be needed?
To build a single-tier cage for two individuals, the performer will need:
- Plywood with an area of 2 m 2 .
- A metal mesh with a mesh size of 18x18 mm or a welded mesh of 16x48 mm (1.3 m 2 ).
- A grid with cells 35x35 cm or 24x48 cm (0.6 m 2 ).
Making bunk cells
The level of costs for the construction of a bunk cage for animals is not so high. This is because the design is simple. In addition, cash costs will pay off in the first months of use.
What materials will be needed?
To make a cage with two tiers you will need:
- Two sheet boards made of wood fiber.
- Bars measuring 60x100 mm (4 pcs.).
- Fence fence (50 pcs.).
- Ruberoid 4x2 m in size for the construction of the pallet.
- Nails
- Paint.
What equipment will be required?
- Two deep bowls coated with enamel (their diameter should be 220 mm).
- Manure collection tank (approximately 300 mm high).
- A pair of electric boilers VPI-03 (used for domestic purposes, immersed in water).
- Transformers for lowering 220x127 V (4 pcs. For 8 cells).
- Five liter canisters made of polyethylene (4 pcs.).
Cage design
Rabbit cells need to be arranged according to how the light will fall. The blank closed wall, where nursery boxes and feeders are located, should face north. This protects animals from winds and cold.
The roof is constructed taking into account that it hangs 90 cm from the north and 60 cm from the south. The roof should be on the west and east along with the protruding beams.
Two-story rabbit cages contain a support frame, lower and upper tier. You can build a roof from the roof. As a rule, use transparent or translucent material. You can use roofing material.
The tier from above is a horseman, that is, it will serve as a place for growing rabbits after the end of feeding with mother's milk. This room is made from different cells. One of them should be larger than the frame.
The osadnik is divided into two parts by means of a feed mixer, which has exits on both sides. A common canister drinker is also installed here. Each compartment should be equipped with a folding feeder for compound feed, a manger for fresh and dry grass. They look like an opening door. The door is adjacent to the car wash.
The floor at the tier is horizontal. Its base can be made of wood slats, which are located at an angle of 45º, so that little rabbits could not injure their paws. All walls and doors of the cage are made of grilles. An exception is the north side.
Below is the uterine layer. It consists of two compartments: nesting and walking. It may also include the same components that are present in the upper tier.
The compartment for the slot has a removable floor. It is located below the rest of the tier area. The mother liquor will be placed in this compartment. Before the rabbit brings babies, she instinctively gets into it herself.
The rest of the nest should be stationary. It is provided with a wall with a manhole overlapping by a valve. It is better to equip the door to the nest with hinges from below so that in the open state it serves as a platform for the animal.
The walking compartment is provided with a floor of slats arranged perpendicularly. This provides structural rigidity. In the area for walking there is a canister drinking bowl, a folding feeder and a hopper feeder for compound feeds. The nursery door is hung on a rack of a back part of walking. A door should also be installed for the drinker.
A window is constructed in the floor of the walking compartment for the end of the conical shaft, which is fastened under the floor of the upper tier. The pitched shaft communicates with a hopper equipped with a removable door and a capacity for manure. Thus, rabbit cages will be cleaned by special doors, which will also make available containers for animal feed. The containers themselves are located under the inclined nets of the feeders.
At the bottom of the cell frame is a compartment for electrical equipment. At the same time, this place serves as a jig for rabbits. It must be locked. For convenient loading of feeders, it is necessary to build it folding outward.
The design of the feed for the feed has a housing with windows for rabbits, as well as a pallet. It is built from a grid with small cells.
All hinged components must be equipped with handles, hinges and latches, as well as, if necessary, mortise locks.
The side and front walls are tightened by means of a fine mesh, the working side can be covered with a mesh with large cells.
Bunk Cell Farm
To build a small farm on the basis of bunk cells does not need a lot of area. One cell occupies 1.4 m 2 . If you build a farm from two rows and use eight cells with an opening between them of 70 cm (measurement is carried out on the legs) and a passage of 110 cm, then the area of the farm will be 25 m 2 .
Each cage simultaneously contains up to 25 rabbits. In the lower part the rabbit will sit with a new offspring, and in the upper - the previous offspring.
Over the years, cells from two tiers were used on experimental farms and showed their high profitability and profitability. So their use is recommended to all farmers.
Making a family block - cells from three sections
To make rabbit cages with their own hands of such a design is a more difficult task. But such family blocks are very convenient for breeding animals. In the central part the male lives, and on the sides there are rabbits.
Partitions made of wood between the cell compartments are equipped with manholes with gate valves made of plywood. They are intended for easy replanting of females to the male and returning them back to their compartment.
What materials are the cages made of?
The basis of the frame can be bars. Walls on the sides, a compartment for a nest with doors and partitions are constructed from the lining.
A metal mesh is used for the front wall. In the nesting rooms, an attic is provided - this is the free space between the ceiling and the common roof, where female rabbits can relax.
An additional convenience is that the location of the feeders and drinking bowls is thought out in such a way that they are not susceptible to contamination and can be filled from the outside.
Cages for rabbits according to the design of the breeder N. I. Zolotukhin
The famous rabbit breeder N.I. Zolotukhin has been breeding these cute animals for several decades. Such rich experience helped him design a new cage for rabbits.
Breeder Cell Features
- The floor is solid. Its basis is slate or boards.
- There are no pallets in the cells.
- A narrow strip of mesh floor is located only along the rear walls of the structure.
- The back walls are installed with an inclination so that the waste of rabbits from the tiers located at the top does not fall on the rabbits in the lower tiers.
- There are no special mother liquors. The rabbit herself builds a nest for herself before childbirth.
- Grain feeders are mounted on the doors, flipped out to fill.
The rabbitry scheme is presented below.
How to make do-it-yourself cages for dwarf rabbits?
If you want to get dwarf rabbits at home , their cages are constructed in a different way. There are many different models in pet stores. But it is not necessary to purchase them. A cage for a pet can be made by yourself, and it will not take much time.
The structure consists of two walls on the sides, the size of which is 70x70 cm. The rear wall is mounted in such a way that under the cage a clearance is obtained. The height of the back wall is 55 cm, the length is 100 cm.
Meter slats are nailed to the bottom of the cage. A grid of metal is fixed on top of them.
The lid of the cage is made of mesh on the hinges. It is equipped with a handle. A pallet is placed under the cage.
How to choose a grid?
In the manufacture of rabbits, of course, you need a mesh. In order for the manufacturer to better navigate which mesh choice will be optimal, we recommend using a number of tips.
Many people ask themselves: is a galvanized wire mesh suitable for steel or aluminum? It is better to opt for a steel structure, as it is durable.
To make a cage from a tree with mesh doors and a floor, you should choose a mesh carefully so that it does not injure the paws of animals. Experienced breeders are advised to use it with small cells. Metal material is used. The thickness of the mesh is 2 mm, and the mesh size is 16x48 mm. For the construction of the side walls of the cage, a galvanized mesh is suitable.
For the construction of the door, any kind of mesh is used. It does not have to be welded. Allowed to use and wicker.
In the warmer months, animals can be kept in a enclosed enclosure. For her, a wicker design, the thickness of which is 1.2 mm, is suitable.