20 do-it-yourself drawings with the dimensions of rabbit cages and assembly video
You can make cages for domestic rabbits with your own hands. True, for the construction of a dwelling for animals, you will need wooden boards and a metal mesh with a fine mesh. They begin to build the structure with a frame, which is sheathed with wood or braided wire. If the animals are planned to be kept outdoors all year round, the most closed cages are made of wood.
Choosing a cage location
Pets should be kept in a special non-residential area, where the temperature is maintained from 10 to 20 degrees Celsius all year round, there is light, windows, doors, ventilation. Rabbits are usually kept in cages. It is undesirable to place animals outside, in the wind or draft.
Cells are portable and stationary. They can stand along the wall, in the middle of the room, in one, two, three tiers. The main thing is to provide free access to them. The cages are installed on wooden, metal risers or shelves, racks at a height of 50-80 cm from the floor in one, two or three tiers. The structures themselves must be free, durable, easy to maintain, not retain urine and feces. The optimal size is 0.5 sq. meters of area for one adult animal.
What tools and materials will be needed
A dwelling for domestic rabbits can be made of wooden boards, plywood, chipboard, plastic, metal mesh with a small cell, drywall. In the process, you may need thin sheet metal for cladding, a metal profile, a profile pipe or strong wooden slats for the construction of the frame. In order to make a structure, you need some tools: a grinder, a drill, a hammer, nails, rivets, screws, screws, a tape measure or a ruler.
Dimensions and drawing
One cage can contain one or more rabbits. The size of the structure depends on the number of animals, their breed and the age of the animals.
For adults
When constructing a dwelling for large rabbits, they first draw a model or draw a diagram, according to which at least 0.5 sq. meters of area. A single cage should have the following dimensions: length - 0.7-1.4 m, width - 0.5-0.7 m, height - 0.5-0.6 m.A self-made construction for males or females is placed at a height of 50-80 centimeters from the floor on special risers or shelves.
To save space in the room, you can make two-tier and even three-tier cells.
For the construction of a structure in 2 tiers, a drawing is drawn corresponding to two cells located one above the other. Between adjacent tiers, a gap of 15-30 cm is left for the pallet. The total height of such a structure is 1.5-2 meters. Dimensions of one cage: length - 0.8-1.4 m, width - 0.7 m, height - 0.6 meters. The distance to the floor is 50-70 cm.
For young animals
Rabbits up to 1 month old are kept in the same cage with their mother. Then they are transferred to self-feeding and transplanted into a more spacious box. For one small rabbit, 0.12-0.17 sq. meters of area. Rabbits are usually kept in multi-place, that is, group cages. The most convenient for breeding animals on the farm are considered constructions designed for 7-10 young individuals. Such cages can have the following (optimal) dimensions: length - 1.7 m, width - 0.7 m, height - 0.6 meters.
For giant rabbits
Adult animals of large breeds are kept in single boxes. Self-made structures usually have at least 0.7 sq. meters of area. The optimal dimensions of a rabbit cage are: length - 1.5 m, width - 0.8 m, height - 0.8 meters.
For a female with cubs
For a rabbit with rabbits, it is recommended to build a spacious housing of the following dimensions: length - 1.2 m, width - 0.6 m, height - 0.6 meters. There are designs with a nesting and aft compartment, fenced off from each other by a partition with a round manhole. The dimensions of such a structure are: length - 1.7 m, width - 0.6 m, height - 0.6 meters.
How to make a do-it-yourself rabbit cage
In large farms, rabbits are usually kept in metal mesh cages without bedding, inside of which a feeder and drinker are equipped. The stores sell ready-made designs. They are designed for 1-2 rabbits. These cages have a metal mesh top and a plastic or tin tray. They cost about $ 50-100. You can independently make housing for your animals from scrap materials.
Dimensions for video:
Wooden
The cheapest construction will be made of wooden boards. Hardwood (oak, maple, beech) is suitable for its manufacture. The wooden box should have a mesh door or a front surface with metal mesh to provide the animals with fresh air. In such a cage, rabbits will be warm and comfortable even on the street, but they will have to build a roof on top. True, it is difficult to clean the wooden floor from the remains of feces, it quickly begins to rot under the influence of urine.
Step-by-step instructions for making a cage:
- a frame is made from bars of a certain length;
- sheathe the base with boards on three sides;
- the floor can be made of slats and leave 1 cm gaps;
- it is advisable to make the roof hinged;
- a door is installed in the front wall;
- a mesh is nailed to the front wall or door.
You can build a structure where the entire front wall is a mesh door. The metal mesh is nailed to the wooden frame. A feeder can be attached to the door. Such a device will help keep the feed clean and remove spoiling food debris in time.
From a metal profile
In addition to wood, metal elements can be used to make housing for rabbits. True, such products have not only advantages (cheapness, ease of care), but also disadvantages. Mesh metal cages are not suitable for outdoor use. In the open air, such structures will begin to rust quickly. In addition, the mesh heats up strongly in the heat, and in the strong frost it instantly cools.
For a metal mesh cage, you first need to make a frame from slats, for example, from a metal profile, and then sheathe it with a mesh with the smallest cell. You can build a combined structure of wood and metal. The walls and roof can be wooden, the floor and doors are made of metal mesh.
Important! You can build a dwelling for rabbits using drywall or plywood as partitions or walls.In any case, it is better to make the frame of the future structure from a metal profile. The metal profile bends easily, lends itself to connection, installation at home.
From a profile pipe
A dwelling for pets can be assembled from a variety of materials at hand that are on the farm. First, you need to build a frame. The strongest base is obtained from a metal profile. True, you need a welding machine to connect the rails.
The frame is sheathed with wooden planks, metal mesh or plywood, plasterboard. The sturdy wood construction is suitable for outdoor animal keeping. If a metal mesh was used for construction, then such housing for rabbits is better placed indoors. In the tips for novice rabbit breeders, you can find recommendations that it is easier to make a rabbit cage from wooden materials.
Arrangement of the cell inside
Rabbit dwellings can have one spacious room or two sections: a stern and a nest. If the nesting compartment in the cage for females is not fenced off, then before the encirclement, a mother vessel is placed in it, that is, a closed plywood box with a hole with a diameter of 30 cm. Inside the structure, a feeder, a sennik and a drinker are equipped. These items are made from plastic, wire, sheet metal or wood.
True, animals will quickly gnaw through thin plastic, it is better not to use it.
Feeders are installed near the door, front wall or suspended from the front partition. For hay, they buy or make their own wire feeders, which are carried outside the perimeter of the cage, that is, they are hung on a door or a side, front wall. Drinking bowls are also attached to the front mesh partition. You can buy ready-made water fixtures at the hardware store. For example, vacuum or nipple drinkers for rabbits.
There must be enough room in the cage for the animal to be active. Some craftsmen make multi-tiered structures for their pets. Above they equip a nest, below they make a stern area with a spacious place for walking. You can keep rabbits in wooden boxes in a warm room in winter, and in summer you can move them outside to a portable corral from a chain-link netting, where they will eat pasture.
Interesting ideas of unusual cells
If you wish, you can build a real house for your animals with several rooms: a bedroom-nest, a kitchen-feeding trough and a huge living room, that is, a place for walking. Some craftsmen make bunk structures for rabbits. In the lower tier, instead of the floor, there is green grass, and the walls are made of a frame sheathed with mesh. Upstairs is a closed wooden sleeping box. The animals climb to the second floor along an inclined ladder board.
A cage for your animals can be made in the form of a country house, where the balcony is a feeder for hay and grass, and the windows are openings with a mesh in the side walls. On top of such a house there should be a roof covered with waterproofing roofing material. In winter and summer, such a structure can stand outside.
A cage with an animal can be made of solid wood materials and placed on a raised platform near the fence. The doors are best made of mesh. On a flat roof, you can put flower pots or a pallet with scented plants (dill, parsley, celery), which rabbits love so much.
