Riverwind Rabbitry & Farms

Many of you have asked about what kind of cages we use.  Here are just a few examples of some of our cages I have designed and built.  Perhaps you will see something you like, feel free to use any of them, or adapt your own style from them.

       FLEMISH GIANT NURSERY PEN (3Ft x 4 Ft)                We have inside the garage for cold winter birthing.

    OUTDOOR 2 STORY RABBIT CAGE (3' x 4' X 5' HT.)

 Here is a really neat example of a double decker and an attic that would be great for a flemish giant, or even a pair of rabbits.  With the ramps, it would give the rabbits plenty of exercise, provide shelter from sun/heat and wind/cold.  Also still portable enough  to move it from time to time to allow fresh grass grazing.  HOWEVER keep in mind to actually install a large  wire (2"x2" or even 2" x4") in the floor of the ground level to keep bunny from digging out to escape.  Below is a floor plan of this design.  NOTE the "Loft"  or  "Attic" is a small space that is only about 12"  tall, each of the other levels are 24"  tall which gives it a finished height of about 5ft. at roof peak.

   GIANT CHIN EXTERIOR CAGES

 This is a pair of my Giant Chin cages, each is 3ft depth by 4ft width.  The cage is divided in half with part of it being "enclosed" for a nesting area, with solid green door.  The other area has a wire door and is has a open "vent" window in the backside to insure good air flow.  These cages have slat wood floors made out of 2" x 6" boards with gaps between to allow spilled food and waste to fall to the ground below, where I have chickens that recycle it all.

 (6) HOLE RABBIT CAGES

  This is a new cage design I built in fall of 2009, it is all one unit with (6) holes total.  Each level has a 2'x3' and a 2'x2'.  My original thought was to have PAIRS with the buck in the smaller cage and doe across from the buck.  There is no wood used at all in construction so a blow torch can be used when emptied to burn off excess hair/fur, it also makes it easy to remove from inside and clean with water/bleach for disinfecting.  You may note there is a spot (also built of wire) below each cage to hold a drop pan for litter and waste control.  I did add a wooden frame bottom on roller cast wheels to make moving this 6ft. tall x 5ft wide cage around easier in the rabbitry for cleaning.

 SILVER FOX BROODER PEN

 This is my all time favorite pen I have ever built, it has went thru some modifications thru the years.  It is a (4) hole cage built for brooding our Silver Fox, (2) cages across the top and (2) cages added later on the bottom.  Overall depth of the pen is 2ft. by 10ft. length and approx. 5ft tall.  Each hole has an interior just over 1ft wide by 2ft deep, to use as a nest box, then an outside area 2ft x 4ft. (Behind the picket fence doors) Momma rabbit also can jump up on top of the interior area, creating a small "upstairs"  this works to allow momma rabbit a place to get away from her kits as they get up in age.  They LOVE these cages, I have dubbed them my "Bunny Brooder Condo's". The interior has a solid floor with VCT (commerical floor tiles) on the floor for ease of cleaning.  The exterior part of the cage is over baby saver wire and has a removable drop pan for litter and waste.

 These cages are built in our rabbitry, on a simple wood frame with drop / waste pans.  The area is 6ft tall with sloped roof and 6ft. wide.  I divided the area up differently to allow flexibility.  The top row as three 2'x2' pens, the middle row has two 2'x3' pens with a wire divider that can be opened to make ONE large 2'x6' pen which works great as a "Grow Cage".  The bottom row is two 2'x3' pens, which are large enough to add a nest box.  We use the 2x2 hole as "grow pens", or for smaller breeds, the Silver Fox pretty much all get a 2'x3' pen.  I left about 1ft clearance on the bottom so you can sweep under the pens.  I made the mistake in one of my designs of enclosing that and could never get to it to properly clean it.  We had some pens with a built in drain pans we hosed off, but replaced them this year with these pans we fill with pine shavings.  The water became more of a problem and the gardens and chickens LOVE the droppings out of the litter pans.  It has made good recycling sense, waste not want not.

OUTDOOR (8) HOLE FLEMISH CAGE (Each Hole Size 3x4)

This is a cage I built back in 2008 for my flemish giants.  It is actually eight 3' x 4' cages all under one roof.  From the drawing to the left you can see there are four cages on each size, two rows heigh.  The floors are 2" x 8" slat boards allowing waste to fall thru to the lower level and essentially to the ground.  Here some of our chickens make fast work of the spilled feed and bunny waste.  The upper cages actually have a complete upstairs in the "peak" of the roof, these work great for brooders, momma can get up top away from kits for some relaxation.  I installed some vents in the peaks of the roof to insure proper airflow.  The backs of each cage (facing one another) also is wire to allow air flow all the way through the cage.

 Here is a  semi-finished view of my above plans I built.  You  will note there is still a VOID under one side, where I have to finish another 2 cages back to back to complete the 8 HOLE HUTCH.  These  all have 2 doors, one that opens to the INSIDE Hutch, and another that opens to the OUTSIDE of the hutch, with a ramp that leads up for exercise to allow additional space in the PEAK upstairs.  You might notice the dark green "shade canvas" I put over the hutches this summer, it is easily attached and removed using bungy cord straps with hooks.