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How to make a rabbitry

Breeding rabbits requires patience and knowledge of their physiology. Without this, it will not be possible to achieve results. In the wintertime, rabbits feel better in a specially designated heated room called a rabbitry. For home breeding, a small frame barn.

Mini rabbitry for multiple cages

The content of the article

1 What should be a rabbitry
2 Rabbit cages
3 Photo report on the production of a cage in a rabbitry from a galvanized profile
4 Photo of rabbit cages for installation in a rabbitry and outdoors

What should be a rabbitry

In order for the rabbits to feel normal, not get sick, grow well and reproduce quickly, they need to create a certain atmosphere. They are demanding on the conditions of detention, in poor conditions they often get sick. To prevent this from happening, they need the following conditions:

The optimum temperature is 14-16 ° C. The temperature in the rabbitry is determined in a place away from heaters, walls, windows and doors. Both overheating and hypothermia have a negative effect. When the temperature drops, more feed is required, which is disadvantageous. But a gradual rise or fall in temperature is not as destructive as sudden changes. From all this it follows that it is necessary to build an insulated rabbitry, with the possibility of heating and air conditioning. The most justified rabbitries built on frame technology, with mineral wool insulation (thickness is calculated depending on the region). No less attention should be paid to floor and ceiling insulation. The roofing material can be without insulation, it must provide protection from moisture. In this case, it is necessary to take care of the insulation of the floor. The cheapest way is to sprinkle a layer of expanded clay on the ceiling, apply a layer of clay mixed with straw on top, and then you can even throw dead leaves on the dried clay - for additional thermal insulation.
For normal health, certain conditions are required
Rabbits are demanding of air humidity - it is necessary to maintain 60-75%.
Drafts negatively affect the health of rabbits. This is another argument in favor of frame structures - with competent construction, there should be no drafts. However, the rabbitry must be ventilated because they need fresh air and the gases that come out of the urine and feces of rabbits must also be removed. But the speed of air movement should not be more than 0.3 m / s. Usually, an inlet is made, taken away by a movable grate at floor level in one corner of the rabbitry and an exhaust pipe under the ceiling in another. A damper can be placed in the chimney. With the help of a movable grate and a gate, the air speed in the rabbitry can be adjusted depending on the weather conditions. If natural ventilation is not enough, fans are installed in the exhaust or supply pipe with the ability to regulate the speed of rotation of the blades (there should be several modes).
The second factor that affects the state of the atmosphere in the rabbitry is the regularity of harvesting and the construction of the cages. About cages - a little lower, and here - about cleaning. It should be regular - at least 2-3 times a week. The main indicator is the presence or absence of a strong odor.
So that less ammonia is released, it is necessary to organize the collection of feces so that urine is separated from feces. If the collection goes into trays under the cages, a slope and a gutter are made in them, along which urine is drained into a separate container.If waste is collected through the gutters into the pit (if there are large numbers of rabbits), the ditches should be made so that urine seeps into the lower, mesh-separated gutter. This is a rather difficult task, since one part is separated from the other with a grid, and it is often clogged. To keep everything in working order, you have to often clean it.
The construction of a rabbitry is a big deal

The rate of weight gain and the density of the fur is also influenced by the illumination of the rabbitry and the duration of daylight hours. Rabbits are most active at dusk and at night. Bright lighting is undesirable for them. Adequate illumination level is 50-70 lux for adults, 25-30 lux for fattening young animals. At the same time, the duration of daylight hours is 16-18 hours, so backlighting is mandatory in winter, but dim. To make the maintenance of the rabbitry more comfortable in terms of lighting, they additionally install several lamps above the cages, but turn them on to the second switch (or to the second key). Another option is to install a brightness control (Dimmer)... It is installed instead of a conventional switch, allows you to change the illumination by turning the control knob.

Rabbit cages

The easiest way to keep rabbits is in outdoor canopy cages. But this option is available in regions with more or less mild winters. Often this type of maintenance is practiced at the beginning of the rabbit breeder's "career", but gradually they come to the conclusion that a rabbitry is necessary. It's just that over the winter, the livestock often decreases greatly, the feed consumption increases much, and the weight gain is very small. It turns out that it is more profitable to build a rabbitry and heat it.

The arrangement of cages in the rabbitry in two rows is convenient

On the other hand, in summer, outdoors, rabbits feel better, grow faster, and the air quality problem is solved in “automatic mode”. The length of the day in the summer in most areas is close to optimal, so it is often necessary to make both a shelter for rabbits and a closed rabbitry. At the same time, the cells try to make them lightweight, portable. With the onset of heat, they are taken out into the street, in the fall, before the cold snap, they are brought into the rabbitry. Summer time is used for repair and disinfection of the premises. It is best to whitewash the walls with lime mixed with chlorine solution. This is done in early summer. Chlorine quickly disappears, but it does its job - it kills fungi and parasites.

Dimensions and construction of rabbit cages

Rabbit cages vary by breed. The larger the rabbits, the more space they require. On average, the height of the cage is 500-700 mm, the roof can be sloped back, then the height at the back is 50-100 mm less. The depth of the cage is 50-70 cm. The width is more difficult - for males and females, cages of different sizes are made. In the cages for rabbits, it is advisable to fence off the mother chamber - a closed small-sized volume in which the rabbit will arrange a nest. Without taking into account the mother liquor, the length of the cage for males and females is the same - 500-800 cm.

Photo example of a rabbit cage

There are several options for the mother liquor device:

A cube made of boards of a suitable size is placed in spacious cells, in which a hole is made for a passage.
Immediately, during construction, part of the cell is fenced off for the mother liquor.
On the sidewalls of the cage, wide removable doors are made. Before the rabbit's offspring should appear, the doors are removed, the mother cell is hung (reliable fastening is necessary).

The optimal dimensions of the mother liquor are: depth 80 cm, width 60 cm, height 40 cm (or as it turns out according to the dimensions of your cage). It is desirable to make a shelf inside the cell or above the mother liquor. On it, the rabbit will hide from the annoying baby. In this case, she will not trample them accidentally, as happens if there is no shelf.

The queen cell attached to the cage for the rabbit

Hinged to the cage queen bed for the rabbit

A hole is made from the mother liquor into the main cell. It should not start level with the floor; there should be a sill of at least 5 cm.In the early days, he will keep the babies inside the queen cell.

How to make the floor

Regardless of the type of rabbit keeping, the cage should be dry. Therefore, a solid floor is made very rarely, it is better to have a crevice, with large gaps or from a metal mesh with a small cell. If the floor is made solid (from a piece of moisture-resistant plywood or OSB), then it is made inclined towards the back wall (it is also possible to the front, but this is less convenient). At the back of the floor, a grid or mesh is nailed through which urine is poured out, excrement falls out.

It is better to double the floor in a rabbit cage - the first level is made of wooden planks or metal grating

It is much better to make a double floor - the first is slatted, the second is solid. For a slatted floor, take wooden planks 20-25 mm wide, stuff them with a gap of 15 mm. All waste, both liquid and solid, normally falls through such gaps. Rigid mesh with thick wire and small meshes can be used instead of slats.

Mesh floor made of galvanized wire - also performed well

The lower floor level - the pallet - is usually made of galvanized iron, preferably from a single piece. In this case, a slope is formed (usually in the center of the cell or between two adjacent ones), and a groove in the center. The height of the pallet is 25-35 mm. Less is inconvenient, more is unnecessary.

One of the options for organizing the flow

To make the metal last longer, it can be treated with drying oil. If it is necessary to splicate the pieces, make the connection so that everything flows down, and it is advisable to coat it with bitumen mastic so that no sewage flows onto the rabbitry floor.

The lower floor level is made of galvanized

Rabbit cages are queen cells from the sides. The lower level of the floor is made of galvanized steel, a trough for urine drainage and easy cleaning is formed

In this case, the lower tier of the floor must be movable so that it can be pulled out and washed / cleaned. For this, corners are packed, on which a sheet of metal rides, like on a sled.

It is not necessary to make the lower tier of the floor for each cell. It can be common for two or three located side by side. If these are cages for rabbits, usually a common tray is obtained for two cages - on the sides of the queen cells. If the cages of young animals or males are located in a row, three cages can also be combined.

A tray in a rabbit cage can be shared across several cages

Sometimes flat slate is used as the lower floor. But in this case, it is possible to organize the drain only backward or forward and only into the gutter that goes along the cell - the sheet cannot be bent in any way.

Doors

Doors are made mainly with a mesh. A frame is knocked down from the bar, onto which the mesh is pulled. Tighten nails or self-tapping screws so that their points do not stick out inside the cage. It is better to stuff the net so that it is "flush" from the side of the cage. So there is less chance that rabbits will gnaw through the door. Those who are more friendly with welding, boil the frame from a small corner, pull the eraser on a steel wire 3-4 mm in diameter and weld this wire to the door.

A large door is more convenient in size - it will be more convenient for you to serve the cage. Constipations are ordinary hooks or latches, they also make a piece of a bar in the old fashioned way, which turns on a nail nailed in its middle. But this kind of constipation is very unreliable.

One of the easiest rabbit cage constipation options

If carpentry is not your forte, to make the door stiffer, you can fill a block obliquely. He will not let the door warp (as in the photo above). Note that the block is stuffed on the outside so rabbits cannot chew on it.

Roof

You can cover rabbit cages with any inexpensive material. But it must be remembered that overheating and hypothermia are destructive for rabbits. Therefore, simply throwing a piece of metal or any material based on it will not work. It is better to use a material with low thermal conductivity. For example, you can fill plywood (moisture resistant, construction), OSB and any other similar material.

If the cages will stand outside, without a canopy, something must be laid on the sheet material to protect it from precipitation. In more northern areas or when installing the cage in the shade, roofing material or more modern waterproofing material can be laid. It can be glued to bituminous mastic instead of being welded.

The roof of the rabbit cage (summer rabbitry) can be made of slate

Another option is to lay slate, better - wave. Moreover, it is better to raise it above the cage by 15-25 cm. This will create an air gap, it will not be hot in the cage. And the resulting gap can be used for drying / grazing the grass. Dried in the shade, it retains more nutrients.

Sennik, drinkers, feeders

For rabbits, not so much equipment is needed - a sennik, feeders for bulk small feed, drinkers. The design of drinking bowls should be such that it can be easily removed - they must be washed, water changed. For these purposes, they usually adapt some kind of trays, for which they make a "seat" from a strip of metal, fixed on the door (the most convenient option) or on the wall, close to the door.

Feeder from a piece of galvanized profile

You can make a feeder out of wood, but the edges must be covered with tin.

The edges of the wooden feeder, so as not to gnaw, are covered with tin

If you have some skills in tin work, you can make the feeder from galvanized sheet.

Feeder (left) and sennik (right) on the front

To get rid of the dusty part of the feed, several small holes are made in the bottom of the trough.

What materials to make the frame and walls

The frame for the cages in the rabbitry is made from a wooden bar or from a supporting (wall) galvanized profile for drywall; welded frames from a metal pipe are quite rare. They are the most reliable, but also the most difficult. More suitable for stationary installation in a rabbitry.

If you know that the cells will stand nearby and do not plan to move them, you can make a single frame for the entire length of the bar

The lightest cells are obtained from the profile, but the choice of materials is very limited - heavy ones cannot be used. When using a bar, there are no questions about the weight of the material, but there is a problem - rabbits gnaw wood. Therefore, they try to make cells so that there are fewer protruding corners - they cannot gnaw flat surfaces.

In this rabbitry there are cages made of galvanized profiles and plywood

As you saw in the photo, the walls of rabbit cages are made of different materials - plywood, OSB, wooden boards and planks. Often they use who has what. The most problematic areas are covered with tin or a mesh is pulled on top - this also does not provide an opportunity to gnaw wood. There are cages that are almost entirely made of mesh. Young animals for fattening feel good in them.

Photo report on the production of a cage in a rabbitry from a galvanized profile

This option is suitable for those regions where timber is expensive or for those who have a lot of profile remnants after construction / renovation. When making cages, the dimensions are adjusted to the existing molding - small deviations in one direction or the other are permissible, but the rabbits should be spacious in the cage.

Frame assembled

This cage was built for a female with rabbits up to 20 days old. It consists of two sections. The main part is 55 * 75 * 55 cm, the mother cell is 35 * 55 * 30 cm. There is a reinforced profile on the racks, the usual work on the crossbars - as usual with drywall - fasten the pieces with self-tapping screws with a screw (fleas).

Profile fixing example

The floor in the main part is made of a bar 2 cm thick, 5 cm wide. The planks are attached to the profile with self-tapping screws. It is necessary to screw in the self-tapping screws so that they can be easily unscrewed - if (or rather, when) they gnaw the bar, it will be easy to replace it with a new one.

The floor in the main part is slit

In the mother liquor, the floor is solid, without cracks.If in winter you are not sure that your rabbitry will be warm enough, it is better to make a double floor in this part, and fill the gap with insulation - even expanded clay. In this case, even with a sharp cold snap, the babies will not freeze - their mother usually warms them from above. If the bottom is warm at the same time, they will not get sick.

The uterus is made without gaps

The height of the mother cell is 20 cm below the main cell. From the inside, in the cage, you get a shelf on which the rabbit will flee from the annoying baby.

Everything is upholstered with plywood, view from the side of the cage

To prevent gnawing at the outer joints of the plywood, we close them with perforated metal corners. You just need to look for those that are thicker. We cut the edges of the corners at 45 ° so that they do not bulge or stick out.