How to build a rabbitry with your own hands: step by step instructions
Raising rabbits is not a simple activity. One of the components of their successful breeding is the correct maintenance of the livestock. The dwelling in which the animals are housed should be moderately large and comfortable; it should also be easy for the owner to monitor its cleanliness.
Rabbitry requirements
The rabbit house must meet these basic requirements:
- should be optimal in size;
- built from affordable materials in the ratio of price and quality;
- must be durable;
- have a strong frame;
- Designed so that it is convenient to assemble and disassemble;
- must comply with sanitary standards;
- when designing, the possibility of warming in the winter period should be provided;
- it should be convenient for the breeder to clean the cage, feed and water the animals.
Important! In the manufacture of rabbit cages, it is important to use only natural materials. Artificial can secrete toxins that are harmful to animals.
Varieties of designs and their features
There are several basic types of rabbitry - they are built depending on the needs of the rabbit breeder. So, one or several individuals can live in a cage, a mother with babies, only young animals. Also rabbitry can be two-level or three-level. Next, we consider the most popular and tested rabbit housing designs.
A single-level rabbitry is usually built for one animal. Its dimensions in width and height vary within 60 cm, and in width the cell can be from one and a half meters or more. If size allows, young rabbits can be walked in this rabbitry. Used in farms where there are few animals. The cage can be made of metal and wood with the obligatory presence of a door.
The approximate dimensions and drawings of the construction of the grid are as follows:
The rabbit house can be two-section. The design can be made of both wood and metal mesh. An opening partition can be made between sections for easy pairing. The frame of the aviary should be strong enough; instead of the floor, you can use both boards and the grid. The cage can contain two adults, a female with babies, young animals. The minimum dimensions of the entire structure should be at least one and a half meters in length, 70 cm in width and a meter in height; it should be remembered that the cell must be at a certain level from the ground. Wooden dwellings can be insulated in the winter, and metal cages can be transferred to the barn.
The mesh construction scheme is as follows:
A two-section wooden building can be the following structure:
To save space, any cells can be placed in several tiers.
For example, like this:
In three-sectional cells, partitions can be made for ease of mating. Sections are equipped at their discretion. So in one of them you can make a mother liquor - for this, a box with dimensions of 35 in length, 25 in width and 30 centimeter high is put in a cage. In it will be litter during the first 20 days of stay with the mother.
The scheme of a three-level cell is possible as follows:
A cell from a grid can be like this:
Compartment for mom with babies can be built as follows:
Structures developed at the Klenovo-Chegodaevo state farm are popular.
The rabbitry scheme is as follows:
Those who cannot devote much time to rabbits can successfully use the rabbitry created by academician Mikhailov. The cage design is designed to provide animals with a weekly supply of food and water. Lighting, an excrement system, winter heating and ventilation in the summer are also provided. In such a house, up to twenty-five individuals can simultaneously be kept. It can be adult rabbits, young animals, rabbits with offspring.
The drawing of such a home is as follows:
For the maintenance of large rabbit livestock, Zolotukhin cells are successfully used. The design is a three-tiered rack with two cells in each compartment. The floor in each part of the enclosure is located at an angle to the back wall and is made of flat slate or boards. Between them and the back of the building there is a grid 10–20 cm wide - it is on it, according to many years of research, rabbits relieve the need. Urine and almost 70% of solid stool pass through the mesh. Due to this, a small amount of feces remains in the main room.
In winter, a box of standard sizes is used to breed the offspring, which is placed in the compartment with the rabbit, and in summer, the mother and the kids are in the hay. The feeders are built into the door; there is no need to open it to replenish and clean it.
The scheme of rabbitry Nikolai Zolotukhin is as follows:
How to choose a place
It is important to choose the right spot for the rabbitry.
- Rabbits better tolerate cold than heat, so the sun should not be directly exposed to their house . It will be optimal to build a canopy over the cage. It will protect the animals not only from the sun, but also from rain and snow.
- You can not put the building on a place blown by the winds - rabbits are very whimsical to drafts . The place of rabbitry should be protected from them by trees, shrubs, and a fence.
- A good location would be a rabbit dwelling near farm buildings and a water source . With this placement, it will not be necessary to travel a long distance to feed and water the animals.
- Do not place cells near the compost pit . In it, as a rule, a variety of pathogenic bacteria multiply, and rabbits are very sensitive to various infections.
- Ideally, the rabbit housing should be located on a dry hill . Moisture and dampness should not accumulate in the place - on the contrary, they should leave it without hindrance. Animals do not tolerate dampness and can get sick.
- If possible, a dog enclosure or a chicken coop should not be located near the rabbitry . Rabbits are frightened by loud noise and its excess can affect their well-being.
Important! You cannot keep a large number of animals in one cage. Their accumulation can lead to the spread of infectious diseases and death.
How to build a do-it-yourself rabbitry
Experienced rabbit breeders argue that building a rabbit house with your own will be optimal. It can be done using the available drawings of convenient and tested designs, or improved to your liking.
Size calculations
The overall dimensions of the structure will be within two meters of a length, a meter of width and 55 centimeters of height. At the same time, 20 centimeters of the latter will fall on the sennik, and the remaining 35 will be the inner height of the cell. One animal will occupy an area of 1 meter by 50 cm.
Did you know? Rabbits are considered to be rodents, but this is not entirely true. In the animal community, they are representatives of the order rabbit-like, which, together with a separate detachment of rodents, is included in the group of rodent-like .
Materials and tools for work
For the construction of rabbitry you will need such materials:
- two beams with a square section of 5 by 5 cm 2 meters long;
- three beams with a square section of 5 by 5 cm, length 190 cm;
- two bars with a square section of 5 by 5 cm 1 meter long;
- five bars with a square section of 5 by 5 cm, length 90 cm;
- four beams with a square section of 5 by 5 cm 55 cm long;
- six bars with a square section 30 cm long;
- measurement of a grid measuring two meters in size with window sizes 12.5 by 50 mm and a wire diameter of 2 mm;
- a grid for partitions with window sizes of 25 by 25 mm and a wire diameter of 0.8 mm;
- 3 x 3 mm slats for the production of partitions;
- a metal mesh measuring 190 cm by 90 cm with 5 by 5 cm windows and a wire diameter of 1.6 mm;
- cladding boards with a width of about 10 cm, the total footage of which is about 10 meters;
- boards for door frames 3 by 5 cm;
- corners;
- hinges for fastening doors;
- locks for doors;
- sheet metal measuring 1 meter by 2 meters;
- pieces of iron;
- eight rails 1 meter long;
- materials for a nipple drinker, namely a pipe with a diameter of 2 mm, a plug, a direct coupling, a tee, four nipples.
- hammer;
- roulette;
- self-tapping screws;
- corners;
- hinges for fastening doors;
- locks for doors;
- drills on 9 and 25;
- drill.
Phase of construction
The construction of rabbitry can be divided into several stages. First, the main frame is made, after the door, and at the very end of the roof. The time spent on the construction of the building is one daylight hours with the appropriate skills.
Frame and Assembly
To build a frame, you need to do the following:
- Take two bars of 2 meters and two bars of 1 meter and connect them with screws so that a rectangle is obtained.
- Between the long bars, insert three 90-cm bars so that the distance between them is 50 cm. They should be parallel to the meter bars. The result is a rectangle of bars, divided into cells.
- A grid with 12.5 by 50 mm windows with a wire diameter of 2 mm is fixed on this frame with self-tapping screws.
- The mesh is fastened with screws along the entire perimeter and along the transverse beams. It will be the floor of the cage.
- Bars 55 cm long are vertically attached to the corners of the frame with the help of corners and self-tapping screws.
- In length and width they are reinforced with beams, which are mounted at a distance of 35 cm from the frame. Accordingly, these are bars 190 and 90 cm long.
- Long beams are reinforced with 30 cm long bars. They are attached perpendicular to the long beams at the points of their joining with the transverse bars of the lower frame at a distance of 50 cm.
- Then partitions are made. They are made of slats with a section of 3 by 3 cm. They are made in the form of a rectangle. The length is equal to the distance between the 30-centimeter bars, and the height is measured from their beginning at the frame to the end of the second long beam. Approximately their size along the perimeter is 90 by 35 cm.
- A grid with windows of 25 by 25 mm, a wire diameter of 0.8 mm, is mounted on top of the perimeter partitions from above.
- When the partitions are ready, they are fastened with screws and angles to the transverse bars and 30-centimeter bars.
- A board 90 cm long and about ten wide is attached to each partition from above. A feeder will subsequently be mounted on it.
- On top of the entire structure with installed partitions, a grid with 5 by 5 cm windows is fixed with screws. It should cover the entire frame with partitions from above.
Video: building rabbitry
Did you know? Rabbits are considered to be rodents, but this is not entirely true. In the animal community, they are representatives of the order rabbit-like, which, together with a separate detachment of rodents, is included in the group of rodent-like .
Sheathing
After the construction of the frame, it is necessary to sheathe it with wooden boards.
- First, nail them to the side walls of the cell in all width and height . As a result, the front and back of the frame are not wired.
- The back is sutured to the beginning of the sennik, that is, to the end of the second long bar . Between the bottom of the cage and the boards below, approximately 2 cm in height is left. Through this opening, unnecessary animal waste from the back will be scrubbed.
Roof
The roof of the cage is slanted towards the back wall. To fix it, you need the following:
- At a distance of 3 cm from the top along the length of the cage, with the help of corners, the remaining beam is 190 cm long. It is parallel to all long bars.
- Eight laths about 1 meter long are perpendicularly attached to this beam, which descend to the rear wall. They will have a roof.
- Sheet metal is fastened with self-tapping screws along the entire perimeter of rabbitry. In places of joints with racks additional overlays are made to prevent moisture from entering the main room.
Doors
Cage doors are made and fastened as follows:
- Boards for fastening doors are nailed to the side walls and partitions. In width they should overlap the casing and the upright, and in length should be 30 cm and cover the long crossbars. Under the board are wooden pads that add width.
- It is necessary to attach the boards to the frame with self-tapping screws.
- The frames for the door are made of slats. Their size should be such that between the frame and the board for their fastening there should be a gap of 5 mm for free movement of the door.
- The battens of the frame must be fastened together using patch corners.
- Each door is trimmed with a grid with windows 25 by 25 mm and a wire diameter of 0.8 mm. When attaching the doors, the grid will be inside the cage.
- Doors are mounted on the frame using awnings.
- The locks are screwed.
- The adjacency of the doors to the frame can be adjusted by self-tapping screws screwed into the frame.
Ladder
In the arrangement of the cell, you can use the so-called ladders. In the production version, they are a plastic grid of different sizes, which is placed at the bottom of the cage. It can be made independently from thin wooden slats.
We recommend that you find out which mesh is needed for rabbit cells.
Arrangement inside
Rabbitry must be equipped with feeders, drinking bowls, ventilation, if necessary.
In the rabbitry described above, the feeders are attached to the boards, which are nailed up on the partitions. They can be fixed there with self-tapping screws. It is also possible to mount the feeder in the door. It is better to fix it so that it can be turned over and it was convenient to clean it.
In rabbit houses with a mesh floor and ceiling, which are installed on the street, as a rule, additional ventilation is not needed. It occurs naturally. If you still need to do it additionally, it is enough to drill a few small holes above the heads of the rabbits in order to increase the flow of air. However, if animals are kept in barns, additional ventilation is necessary. It is made using corrugated pipes and an anemostat (a device for adjusting the amount of air flowing through the pipes). Anemostat can be purchased at the online store of manufactured goods.
Different types of drinking bowls are used in the cells. The most convenient are nipple ones - they are made, as a rule, from a plastic pipe with a diameter of 2 mm, plugs, tees and nipples. Read more
The cage can be equipped with an additional visor, which improves the washing process. It is made of a piece of iron about 10 cm wide and is installed along the length of the cage below the doors. This design reduces the ingress of dirt back into the rabbit housing when water removes manure. Also, excrement does not get on the door.
Important! The mesh used to equip the cage must be fixed so that no sharp corners or wire residues remain in any place. They can cause injury to the animal.
How to warm in the winter
Sometimes in winter, it may be necessary to insulate the cage. You can make heating with felt, old blankets, hay, needles. Also for external insulation, such a heat insulator as polystyrene is perfect.
A small frost in itself will not bring harm to the animals, it is important to avoid high humidity in the enclosures. It is necessary to make sure that snow and other precipitation do not get into the cells. For this purpose, sheets of iron are suitable, with which you can beat rabbitry from the outside.
Seasoned rabbit breeders, without using artificial heating, line the entire cage inside the hay. Rabbits heat it with their breath and it retains heat well.
В сильные морозы можно содержать животных в сараях. Именно для этого все клетки проектируются таким образом, чтобы их было удобно переносить. Также есть проекты отопления и подогрева воды в зимний период. Did you know? Зайцы по своей природе одиночки. А кролики живут группами, и поэтому являются социальными животными. В этом главное отличие данных ушастых друг от друга.
Уход за крольчатником
Кролики — достаточно прихотливые животные и требуют должного ухода. Если делать его не в полном объёме, существует большой риск инфицирования животных различными заболеваниями.
Подстилку в клетке нужно менять по мере загрязнения, желательно раз в сутки. Кролики могут есть экскременты и с ними в организм попадают различные вредные бактерии. Очень часто именно грязные клетки являются причиной падежа поголовья. Read also
Кроме подстилки, следует держать в чистоте кормушки и поилки. Первые нужно ежедневно чистить от грязи и остатков корма, особенно если последний был растительного происхождения. Загнивание пищи грозит заболеваниями. Вода в поилках всегда должна быть чистой. Сами приспособления для питья нужно регулярно очищать от зелёного налета, который часто в них образуется.
По мере загрязнения необходимо мыть клетки; можно просто смывать остатки экскрементов и грязи водой. Хотя бы раз в несколько месяцев, а в летний период и чаще, нужно обрабатывать кроличьи жилища кипятком и дезинфекторами. Горячая вода, как и химические средства, убивает множество болезнетворных бактерий.
Features of keeping rabbits
Содержать кроликов непросто. Кроме хороших клеток, нужно обеспечить им правильное сбалансированное питание. Можно кормить зверьков специальным комбикормом, а можно готовить еду самостоятельно. В последнем случае важно не перекармливать животных едой, содержащих большое количество белка — от этого у них развивается ряд заболеваний. Корма для кроликов всегда должны быть свежими и высокого качества.
Ещё одной составляющей кроличьего здоровья является постоянное наличие свежей воды в достаточных количествах. Поилки должны быть сконструированы и размещены в клетке таким образом, чтобы в них попадало как можно меньше грязи. В зимний период важно обеспечить животных водой комнатной температуры. Для этого нужно или часто менять её, или оборудовать поилки подогревом.
В процессе разведения кроликов каждый кроликовод сталкивается с инфекционными заболеваниями, которыми эти животные болеют достаточно часто. Для их профилактики нужно следить за чистотой вольеров, в которых содержатся животные, правильно поить их и кормить, а также делать необходимую вакцинацию.
