Life outside the city today attracts many, there is no usual fuss in nature, and in such conditions you can enjoy fresh air. On your site, you can grow cultivated plants, but you can limit yourself to flowers. Gradually, the idea of \u200b\u200bwhether to engage in breeding animals may come to mind. If we are talking about rabbits, then a house should be built for them.
Selection of optimal rabbitry sizes
Before you start building a rabbitry with your own hands, you should consider photos of such structures. In addition, it is especially important to think about what dimensions the house should have. Today, there are certain parameters that should be followed.
To accommodate two adults, it is necessary to build a two-section room. Its length can be 140 cm or more, while the width should have a limit of 60 to 70 cm. In height, the structure can reach 70 cm, while the minimum valuethis parameter is 50 cm. It is necessary to distribute feeders and bunker drinkers along the edges. This will eliminate the possibility that the animal will climb into them with its paws.
There is an inclined net between the sections where you can put hay. This design is called - sennik. In order to save space on the territory, the rabbitry can be made two-tiered. This design will be compact and will allow you to conveniently add feed, which will speed up the cleaning process.
Select options for group content
Before you get started, you should consider a photo of the rabbitries. In this case, it will be possible to carry out all the manipulations with your own hands. If you are thinking about the fact that you want to keep young animals, then the room for it must be built on the basis of certain parameters. The length of the structure can range from 200 to 300 cm. It should not be more than 100 cm wide. As for the height, it can vary from 35 to 60 cm.
When the age of individuals does not exceed 2 months, you need to calculate the volume of the cage, based on the number of animals. One rabbit needs an area equal to 0.12 m2.
Construction of a rabbitry for a doe and offspring: sizing
Every home craftsman who has at least minimal skills in working with wood can build a rabbitry with his own hands. For the female and her offspring, you will need 0.6 m2square.
For newborn rabbits in a cage, there should be a nest box that has the following dimensions: length within 35 cm, width - 25 cm, height - 30 cm. In such a box, mother and rabbits will feel calm.
Material selection
Before you make a rabbitry with your own hands, you must choose the material for it. It should be inexpensive, but strong enough. The described animals are rodents, this suggests that they will try any structure for a tooth. If you do not want the wooden frame elements to last for a short time, then they must be upholstered with metal. There is no need to buy it specifically, for this you can use tin from food and beer cans.
Galvanized steel is perfect for roofing. It will not take much time to carry out these works, and the life of the cell will increase by several years. The most inexpensive and simple material for the frame are wooden bars. Their cross section should be square, and the side will be 50 mm. It is not worth impregnating wood with an antiseptic, as it is toxic, which can adversely affect young animals.
The frame dries well, which will increase its durability. If you are thinking about making a rabbitry with your own hands, then it will need to be supplemented with a roof. It is installed in each tier. Moisture resistant material should be used for this part. Wavy or flat slate is perfect. If the building is plannedplaced on the street, then it is better not to use metal for the roof. This is due to the fact that it tends to get very hot in hot weather. The cell in this case practically turns into an oven.
Before you make a rabbitry with your own hands, you must also choose the material for sheathing the frame. For this, a galvanized chain-link mesh is usually used. Its cells should be square, and their side will be 20 mm. A steel mesh is used for the side of the structure, facade and doors. It is necessary to provide the structure with a compartment for laying hay, it will be located between the sections. In this case, a material with a square cell is used, the side of which is 50 mm. This will make it easier for the animals to feed.
Galvanized mesh with 25 x 25 mm or 10 x 25 mm mesh is used for the bottom. Laying of material is carried out on the bearing wooden laths. This section will make cleaning easier. Through large cells, animal waste will fall through. They won't stick to wood and galvanized surfaces that would have to be scrubbed down every time.
The receiving hopper can serve as a place where manure will accumulate. It can also fall on the ground. Solid flooring is not normally used. The reason is that it absorbs urine, and the feces just stick. Under such conditions, the microclimate in the cage worsens, and the boards begin to rot.
The bottom is better to make a lattice. For this, planed bars for the floor are used. A distance of 1 cm is maintained between adjacent elements.do-it-yourself rabbitry, you must remember that animals do not tolerate drafts, in this case they get sick. In order to eliminate such consequences, the back wall must be made deaf. The following materials are great for this:
- boards;
- polycarbonate;
- OSB plate;
- plain plywood.
If the structure is planned to be installed on the street, then the supporting frame is made of metal. In this case, a corner with a 45 mm shelf is used. After that, the filling is carried out with ready-made sections from a stamped mesh. Its fastening is made on a framework from a metal bar. An alternative would be a wooden frame.
Animals may have corns on their paws, which bring suffering to animals. To prevent this from happening, you can install a plywood sheet on the floor to protect the paws. But plywood will periodically have to be removed for drying and cleaning. The mesh will not be able to protect from snow and rain. The cage is best placed under a slate shed or shed.
Preparation of tools and materials
You can make a rabbitry not only from wood, but also from improvised materials, for this you should prepare:
- planed boards;
- wood beam;
- slats;
- plywood;
- polycarbonate;
- furniture dowels;
- grid;
- self-tapping screws;
- nails;
- wooden hinges;
- carry handles;
- latches.
One of the common cross-sections for wooden beams is 60 x 60 mm. Reiki can have the following section: 25 x 40 mm. The thickness of planed boards can vary from 25 to 30 mm. For partitions and walls, not only plywood and OSB, but also plexiglass are perfect.
About the internal arrangement of the cage
Before you make a rabbitry with your own hands, you should think about what its interior space will be like. For example, the floor is best done combined. Its front part has a sloping flat slate flooring, while the back area is made of metal mesh. Feeders are best made swivel, while you can easily fill and clean them.
The floor surface described above is chosen for the reason that most of the rabbits relieve themselves at the back wall. This is where the grid should be. 70% of stool gets there. The rest of it is scattered on the floor, but the droppings will be dry, so it will be easier to clean up. You can use bedding for arranging in order to teach young animals to urinate at the back wall. The material must absorb moisture. In the buildings described, it will always be dry, and you will spend less time cleaning.
Building a rabbitry
We build a rabbitry with our own hands based on a wooden frame. To do this, the rails are pre-cut and connected with self-tapping screws. There shouldn't be any twists. The level checks horizontal surfaces, and vertical- a square. The front and rear frames are assembled first. Using short jumpers of the floor and ceiling, it is necessary to connect into a single structure. On this we can assume that the frame is ready. Now you can start installing the door bars and the sennik.
The floor will be slatted, the gap between its elements will be 10 mm. After completing this work, it is necessary to cut plywood and mesh. This is done in order to fasten to the frame with self-tapping screws. If you are faced with the task of how to make a simple do-it-yourself rabbitry, then you should do the roofing. For the first level, you must use a moisture-resistant OSB sheet.
It should be cut in such a way that the edge of the sheet protrudes 15 cm beyond the cage. For the second tier, corrugated slate is used. It is fixed to the inclined bars of the frame. Now it remains only to install OSB doors, bunker feeders and drinkers.
Production of all-season option
Do-it-yourself winter rabbitries are quite often made by home craftsmen. Initially, it is necessary to prepare a drawing, only after that you should start working. The design described above can serve as the basis, after which it should be insulated. It involves the use of expanded polystyrene or polystyrene, from the plates of one of which rectangular parts are cut.
First you need to measure the sides of the frame. The sidewalls must be made in such a way that the frame ribs are covered with thermal insulation. With elastic glue, the insulation must be fixed to the sheetmetal. This is only necessary so that the structure does not fall apart when sheathed with plywood and boards.
If you want to know how to build a rabbitry with your own hands, then the next step is to make parts from plywood and boards that will be used for sheathing. The elements are connected to each other with nails and screws. The result should be a box with an inner and outer wall, as well as a layer of thermal insulation.
The door should be made of bars, the cross section of which is 20 x 40 mm. This part should be in the form of a frame. Details are connected by furniture corners. From the inside, a fine-mesh mesh is fixed, which has a high margin of safety. Fastening is carried out with construction brackets. This measure is necessary so that rodents do not damage the wood. The edges of the mesh are bent so that the wire does not peek out from different sides.
The door is hinged to the structure. A hook or latch is installed outside. The door will be needed for feeding and transplanting animals. By making a rabbitry with your own hands, the drawings and dimensions of which are mentioned in the article, you should facilitate the maintenance of the structure. To do this, it is installed on supports, their height should be approximately 1 m. For this, a timber in the amount of 4 pieces is used, which has a square section with a side of 100 mm. Blanks should be made from it, which are connected diagonally to each other in order to obtain a rigid structure.
The distance between the supports is maintained, which is selected in accordance with the parameters of the rabbitry. In the bottom separate and located in the lower tierrabbitries, it is necessary to provide holes, their diameter can vary from 10 to 20 millimeters. The edges of the sheet iron around the circumference are knocked down. The structure is mounted on supports and fastened with self-tapping screws, which are sometimes replaced with brackets or other fasteners. Having made a simple do-it-yourself rabbitry that has been insulated, you can install it outdoors. If you plan to place it in a barn, then thermal insulation and roofing may not be used.
Using a rabbit hutch
Do-it-yourself rabbitry from animal cages can be made by modernizing the design. To do this, the floor must be made of boards according to the principle that was described above. It is not advisable to make it continuous, because the surface will have to be cleaned in a timely manner, but in practice this measure turns out to be troublesome and impractical. Manure on a solid base will constantly accumulate in layers, and in winter it will also freeze.
Leaving the floor mesh is unacceptable and even dangerous. It often happens that rabbits get their paws into the cells and injure themselves. In cold weather, a metal mesh can freeze to an animal, which is especially true for soft parts of the body. In fact, this turns into serious injuries, and sometimes death of animals.
You can make separate fragments of the floor from a fine mesh. The cage should not be cramped, you should not save material. It is not recommended to reduce the size of the rabbitry, with your own hands you need to make a house for animals, the parameters of which will correspond to those that werementioned above.
Arrangement of the ventilation system
The ventilation system can be equipped with axial fans, which are arranged in a checkerboard pattern. They must be removed from the floor by 70 cm. Otherwise, you may encounter hypothermia, so you also need to ensure its heating. Heaters are usually used for this.
Do-it-yourself rabbitry ventilation is installed along the entire length of the cage. In small rooms, you can get by with a natural flow of air. The cost of artificial systems is higher. If you plan to install exhaust ventilation, it is better to place boxes between the cells, directing their slots towards the manure trench. There will be no draft as the air speed will be reduced.
Ventilation ducts must contain filters that will trap mosquitoes and mosquitoes, which are the distributors of myxomatosis - the scourge of rabbit breeding. The organization of the optimal microclimate is also ensured by the constant cleaning of manure. The risk of disease will be reduced through the use of slatted floors in the cages.
In closing
Rabbit can be made by yourself. There is no need to purchase expensive material for this. It is quite possible to get by with what you find in your own barn. However, in the process of work, certain rules must be observed.
For example, the frame is removed from the surface of the earth, not only to facilitate the care of animals, but also to reduce the risk of developing diseases. Altitude can be taken fromtaking into account your own preferences, but if there are also children in the house, then you can also involve them in the process of caring for rabbits.
